Memorial Service Planning Workbook: Templates, Scripts, and Practical Officiation Tools

Planning a memorial service involves dozens of interdependent decisions — the order of elements, the tone of the eulogy, the choice of readings, the pacing of the service — and many of them must be made quickly, in close collaboration with a grieving family who may not know what they want until they hear a suggestion. This workbook course provides the practical tools to navigate that process reliably. By the end of this course you will be able to use structured templates to plan a complete funeral or memorial service, conduct a tribute interview with a bereaved family, draft and refine a eulogy from raw material, prepare a full service script, and manage the day-of logistics of a ceremony. What you will learn: - The family consultation intake form: what to gather in the first meeting, how to ask sensitively, and how to document responses - The tribute interview guide: ten open questions that reliably surface the stories, qualities, and moments that make a eulogy personal - Eulogy drafting template: a three-part structure (who they were, how they lived, what they leave) with sentence-starter prompts for each section - Service structure checklist: a modular template for sequencing elements (welcome, tribute, eulogy, readings, committal, close) with time allocations - Reading and poetry selection: a reference list of non-religious, interfaith, and secular texts appropriate for memorial use, with guidance on selection criteria - Committal and graveside service template: a shorter format for when the main service and committal are separate - Celebration of life planning guide: how the format differs from a traditional funeral in tone, structure, and family involvement - Day-of checklist: equipment, printed materials, timing, family communication, and contingency planning Each chapter provides a template with worked examples, then blank versions for your own use. The course includes a complete worked sample service from intake through to final script, showing how each template feeds into the next step. Reflection prompts after each stage invite you to assess your comfort level and identify areas for further practice. This course is suitable for aspiring celebrants, religious or community leaders who occasionally lead memorial services, and those who have been asked to officiate and want practical tools. No prior experience is required. This course is informational and does not substitute for formal celebrant training or jurisdiction-specific legal guidance on solemnization.