Scattering Your Loved One's Ashes? Follow These Four Tips

If your loved one had a request to have their ashes scattered after they pass away, you might be wondering the best way to go about doing it. This moment is essentially a small ceremony in their honor, so follow these tips to ensure it goes perfectly.

Choose the Right Location

The most important part of the process will be to find the right location to scatter the ashes. It should have a great deal of significance to the person that passed away, such as the location where they got married, a lake that they visited frequently as a child, or even a park that they loved to visit. One thing you should consider when selecting a location is if it is easily accessible. If they loved traveling overseas, you may not be able to travel out of the country to scatter their ashes.

Find Out about Restrictions

Before you start telling friends and family about the ceremony to scatter the ashes, do your research to figure out if there are any restrictions about the spot that you have picked. You'll need to look at county and state level regulations, since it may be covered in one and not the other. For instance, a common restriction you'll find is that you may need a permit to have the ceremony if it is on government owned property. Make sure you have the legal detailed figured out before moving any further when planning a ceremony.

Pick the Guests

Ceremonies to scatter ashes tend to be much smaller than a memorial service. Some companies, such as American Cremation Society (Ridgemoor Chapels), know that you should invite close friends and family members to be a part of it. This is often due to some degree of traveling being involved to reach the location, and the ceremony itself being short and informal.

Make Travel Arrangements

Once you know how many people will be attending, start making the necessary travel arrangements. If you're scattering the ashes in a lake, you'll likely need to have a boat available to do it. If the location is far away, you may need to book hotel rooms. Get these travel details worked out sooner rather than later to avoid any problems on the day of the ceremony.

With these four tips in mind, you'll have everything ready to go for the ceremony. You can start writing any speeches that you'll want to give, or plan to just speak from the heart and say what comes naturally.

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