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Two Together: Save £100!
Save £100 when you purchase two funeral plans together. Call us for more details.
Two Together: Save £100!
Save £100 when you purchase two funeral plans together. Call us for more details.
14 minute read
Now that direct cremation is becoming ever more popular in the UK, people are becoming more curious about the cremation process.
In the following article, we want to set out the cremation process in detail, as well as answering basic questions about what happens at a cremation ceremony. That way, you can better understand the process of cremation.
At a cremation service, the body of a person who has died is brought to a crematorium. With an Aura direct cremation, they will be transported in a private ambulance from where they are resting.
If it is an unattended direct cremation, there won’t be any mourners present. An attendant at the crematorium will speak a few words out of respect to them, and then they will be committed to the cremator.
If there are guests in attendance, then there will be a ceremony conducted by a celebrant.
The ceremony will usually feature a eulogy to the person who has died, as well as music special to them. Very shortly following the ceremony, the coffin will then be cremated.
There are a number of things that need to be carried out before a body is ready to be cremated. Firstly, depending on where the person has died, they may need to be urgently collected and brought to a mortuary, where they can rest safely.
Following that, a doctor or coroner will need to declare the death of the deceased, also supplying the reason. Should the family want an open casket, they will need to make sure the body is embalmed so that it is suitable for viewing. Contrary to popular belief, however, embalming is not a legal requirement in the UK.
Medical devices, such as a pacemaker, will need to be removed, so that they don’t damage the cremator. And finally, the deceased will be washed and dressed gently, so that they are ready. They will then be sealed inside their coffin, and brought to the crematorium for the cremation.
When you buy an Aura funeral plan, our trusted partners will look after you on your way to your cremation. You will rest with dignity, and be respectfully prepared and cared for.
You should also know that Aura will not charge you for any of those extra matters: urgent-collection fees and device-removal fees are included in the price of our plans.
We will now explain the cremation process in more detail, step-by-step, comparing it to the format of a traditional funeral so that you can better see the difference. Please remember that the experience will be different depending on whether or not mourners will be there.
The first step on the day of the cremation, once the preliminaries have been taken care of, is to bring the body from where it is resting into the crematorium.
With a traditional funeral, the body is normally transported inside a hearse, often with some floral tributes to the deceased. But with an Aura direct cremation, we transport the body in a private ambulance to the crematorium. It’s just as dignified, but the process is significantly cheaper.
The coffin of the deceased, containing their body, will be placed upon the catafalque before the arrival of any mourners to the crematorium. This removes the need for the pallbearers that are part of traditional ceremonies. A catafalque is simply a framework that is designed to support the coffin, usually made of wood.
This approach takes the pressure off of the family to bring in the coffin themselves, which can be a stressful moment. It also makes the ceremony less formal, and puts less focus on the deceased, which many people prefer.
The mourners will be directed to their seats by the celebrant, and some music that the deceased liked in life will be playing as their loved ones arrive. Even for unattended funerals, the family can choose some music.
For an unattended funeral, the coffin will be brought directly into the crematorium from the private ambulance and placed on the catafalque, where an attendant will be waiting. The attendant will then say a few words in mark of respect, before the coffin is taken to be cremated.
If you opt for an attended cremation service, it will usually be led by a celebrant who has been chosen by the family. They will have devised an order of service together that reflects the life of the person who has died. You can find a large network of independent celebrants here.
With Aura, there are two attended ceremonies to choose from. We have the Wonderfully Imagined: Intimate, lasting for 15 minutes; and the Wonderfully Imagined: Attended, lasting for up to 45 minutes. With the first option, there can be up to 15 attendees, and with the second, as many as the crematorium can accommodate.
The celebrant’s eulogy will usually explain who the deceased was, reflect on important milestones and relationships in their life, and make room for special anecdotes about them. It may also include poetry or prose readings that were significant to the person who has died. The celebrant will make sure to work with the family beforehand in order to gather the information that they need.
There may also be music in the ceremony, which often has a moment set aside to hear a song or two that was dear to the deceased.
An unattended direct cremation won’t have an order of service or a celebrant, but, with Aura, the family can still choose music to play for their loved one before they are cremated. An attendant at the crematorium will then speak a few words out of respect, before beginning the cremation. There isn’t a formal committal for unattended direct cremations.
The ceremony concludes with the committal, which is a moment signifying the deceased’s passing from the world of the living. It is the final moment for loved ones to say goodbye to them before they are cremated.
Normally, at this moment, the coffin will disappear behind a curtain. Depending on the crematorium, it may be possible to request that the curtain stays open. The committal is usually the moment when music is played, and there is an opportunity before the curtain is drawn for loved ones to lay effects on the coffin.
It takes roughly between 1 and 3 hours to cremate a body. After the funeral ceremony, the coffin will be taken from the ceremonial area in the crematorium to the cremator facility, on the same site.
The nameplate on the coffin will be checked against the records to make sure that the deceased is properly identified. The cremation attendants will also have an identity card for the remains so that they can match the ashes to the coffin that went into the cremator afterwards. The coffin will then be placed inside the cremator, and the cremation will begin.
After the body has been fully cremated, and the cremator has cooled down to a safe temperature, the ashes of the deceased will be gathered with a rake. The handles of the coffin will be extracted from the cremator, should they have been made of metal, but if they were made of plastic, they will have melted away.
The ashes, once gathered, will be placed into a container of some kind. With Aura, the ashes will be personally hand-delivered to the family inside a scatter tube, so that they can be easily given to a location dear to the person who has died.
The cremator is thoroughly cleaned between each use to make sure that there is no contamination. The urn will then be fitted with the identity card to ensure that the ashes do not get mixed up with someone else.
After the service, if there were any mourners present, they will leave the crematorium. Some families like to organise a celebration of the deceased’s life, or a wake, immediately after the funeral. Others like to leave some time to pass.
Within 21 days of the cremation taking place, Aura will hand deliver the ashes back to the family, or have them scattered at the crematorium’s own garden of remembrance, depending on the preference of the deceased or the family.
A direct cremation is a simple kind of funeral, usually without any mourners or most of the typical formalities associated with tradition.
Direct cremation is fast becoming a favourite option for people in the UK for three key reasons:
Put simply, direct cremation is a kind of funeral that provides an alternative for those who don’t feel comfortable with the traditional set up. There won’t be a hearse, pallbearers, a funeral procession or floral tributes. There doesn’t even need to be solemn music or black clothing, if that’s not what the deceased wants.
In effect, it’s a funeral that provides the best of both worlds: It allows those who want to slip away unnoticed to do so. But it creates space that lets others bring more of their personality into proceedings, too.
Another great benefit of direct cremation is that, due to the fact there is a lot less formality, they are normally significantly cheaper than a traditional funeral. We are glad to say that our direct cremation plans start at less than half of the average cost of a funeral in the UK, based on figures given by SunLife.
Now that we have explained how the cremation process works, we will answer some common, more general questions that people tend to have about cremation.
A crematorium is a place where the cremation of the dead can be performed. A crematorium will have at least one purpose-built ‘cremator’ (otherwise known as a crematory, retort, or a cremation chamber) which is used to cremate the bodies of those who’ve died.
Beyond that, crematoria also normally have a ceremonial space where funerals can be conducted, allowing a funeral and cremation for the same person to be conducted on the same site.
Depending on where the deceased has passed away (i.e., if it’s not in hospital or a nursing home), they will need to be urgently brought somewhere that has mortuary facilities. That is so that they can rest with dignity in a place that has adequate temperature-regulation measures.
Embalming can temporarily halt the decomposition of the body, which allows for a little more time if the family would like to visit their loved one in the Chapel of Rest. However it’s important to remember that a body cannot be immediately cremated after death, as certain paperwork is required before it is legally possible.
There are various pieces of paperwork that you will need before a cremation can be organised. If the death was expected (i.e., it happened as a result of old age or illness), the first thing is a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD). It’s needed to officially register the death.
Depending on whether the death occurred at home or at a hospital, it will be provided by a GP or by the Bereavement / Patient Affairs Office. You can read our article for more information about what to do when someone dies. If the death was unexpected, then instead of the MCCD, you will need a Coroner’s Certificate.
Once you have registered the death, you will be given a Death Certificate by the registrar. You might need multiple copies for different admin purposes, which you can request, but there will be a fee each time. The registrar will also give you a certificate for burial or cremation, which states that a burial or cremation can now legally go ahead for the person who has died.
Before a body is cremated, the crematorium attendants take care to remove jewellery from the deceased so that their family can have it back for sentimental reasons. However, sometimes the family prefers to remain with the person who has died.
They also make sure to remove medical devices and pacemakers in advance because there is a risk that they can explode and damage the cremator during the cremation. Medical devices can be recycled, but they can also be returned to the family.
Often called ‘grave goods’, it’s natural for people to want to include mementos in the coffins of loved ones. It’s something that can comfort the giver in grief. And, for sentimental reasons, it can also feel good to know that those we’ve recently lost will have something of ours for themselves, too.
However, it’s important to remember that important and sentimental items, for instance a wedding ring, or a special piece of jewellery, will be consumed in the process of cremation. That means that you can’t get it back after.
Certain items are not allowed to be cremated with the deceased. For instance, anything flammable, such as alcohol, can’t be included, as it can damage the cremator. Certain types of clothing made from things like treated leather, latex and vinyl are also not crematable, as they lead to toxic and very polluting fumes when they are burned.
It takes between one and three hours for a body to be fully cremated and reduced to ash. The size of the body, as well as the type of cremator used will impact the cremation time.
Bodies are never cremated together unless specifically requested. For instance, a mother and child, or twins could be cremated together, and have their ashes combine. But two strangers will never be cremated together.
Aura, within 21 days of completing the cremation, will do one of two things with the ashes of the deceased. We can either hand-deliver the ashes to one of the deceased’s family members, so that they can either be retained, divided, or scattered at a time and place of their choosing. Or they can be scattered in the crematorium’s own garden of remembrance – whatever is preferred by the family or the deceased themselves.
The Federation of Burial & Cremation Authorities (FBCA) was founded at Wembley in 1924. It’s an organisation that devised a code of conduct for burial and cremation activities. It represents 85% of all burial and cremation authorities in the UK.
Its Code of Cremation Practice is voluntary. It aims to shape behaviour and practises surrounding the attitude and approach to cremation arrangement by those who work in the industry. It covers things like hiring practices; conduct; correct identification; and attention to the ashes.
There is also the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD). It’s an organisation that helps its members to drive higher standards of care of those who have died. It also offers objective advice to members of the public on how to choose the right funeral for them.
Aura’s cremation costs vary depending on whether you are looking for a funeral in the here and now, or whether you are planning one for the future. Cremation arrangements can be made at the point of need from £1,095, where our funeral plans start at £1,595.
These prices are both less than half of the price of the average funeral in the UK, according to the SunLife Cost of Dying Report 2024, which is a fact that makes us proud. We know how much of a difference this can make to families who are struggling to pay the high prices of funerals.
If you’d like to ask us any questions about the cremation process, or if you’d like to discuss our prepaid direct cremation plans, we’d be pleased to hear from you. Why not give us a call on 0800 066 3346? Please also feel free to request a free quote directly from our website.
