Ideas for a Memorial Service

You will want to allow your guests time to chat and remember the person of honor together.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't provide them with some structure. You may want to give guests about 90 minutes of mingling time before you begin a bit of planned programming.  A few ideas to consider:

• Project a slideshow (with uplifting music) of great photos of the person of honor, collected from guests prior to the event.
• Show a few home movies of the deceased.
• Have guests come up to the mike and share funny anecdotes that involve the person of honor.
• Read a "selected eulogy" that begins, "Here are a few things you may not have known about [the deceased] if you attended his/her funeral," and then paint a picture of who the person of honor really was, using telling details that will ring true with friends and family. For example, did he eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day? Never missed an episode of Seinfeld, even the reruns? Frequently incorporated her working knowledge of Latin into everyday conversation? Again, ask for contributions from guests.  You may learn a lot of things about the person of honor that you never knew!