The Value Of A Memorial Guest Book

If you’ve landed on this site because you have recently lost a loved one please accept my sympathy.

Organising a funeral is not one of life’s pleasurable tasks. There’s such a short time to prepare for something of such emotional importance, at a time when focusing on practical issues is often difficult. Yet as a rite of passage, it is deeply significant and meaningful and we want to make it special. There is much help to hand. Funeral directors can really help and can give most of the guidance you require. You just need to ask.

However, there are things only family and friends can do, like contacting the names in the loved one’s address book and inviting people to the funeral. And it’s likely you will not know some of the guests, yet they were, in some way, part of your loved one’s life.

On the day of the funeral we can sometimes be so intensely wrapped up in our own feelings of loss that everything passes in a blur.

You may be able to briefly speak to each guest, but later, when you try to recall who was there, you may wonder about how they knew your loved one, and wish you’d asked more. And stories are left untold.
That is why a funeral guest book, sometimes called a condolence book or memorial guest book, can be such a treasure. By encouraging guests to contribute a memory or story it helps you appreciate the fullness of the life just passed. Sometimes it’s through those little things that other stories unfold, to enrich your sense of connection and help heal some of the loss.

The wake is the best place to leave a memorial guest book. If you are having a small private wake, then you may wish to leave it out at the church or crematorium and then take it with you to the wake. Don’t be afraid to announce it. Ask the guests to write a few words, perhaps a short story or memory, about your loved one.

Later you will have great comfort reading all the warm messages of condolence, and it will remain a keepsake in your family to pass on to the next generation.

Angelis Publications has a range of Guest Books suitable for funerals and memorials: