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Daniel Szczesniak

Daniel has been working in the funeral industry since 2010, speaking directly to grieving families as they made funeral arrangements. He began researching and publishing funeral articles on this website as part of his role as product and marketing manager at Urns Northwest. Having written hundreds of articles and growing the site to multiple millions of views per year, Daniel continues to write while providing editorial oversight for US Urns Online's content team.

Latest from Daniel Szczesniak

Ideas for funerals on a budget

15 Ideas for a Beautiful Memorial Service on a Budget

Planning a beautiful memorial service on a budget is a goal anyone can obtain. There are definitely many costs to a funeral for a loved one, but there are also many steps you can take to ensure that you get competitive prices, find affordable alternatives, and make informed choices that make sense with your funeral budget.

Here are our 15 affordable ideas to consider for a beautiful memorial service on a budget.

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When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

Funeral Poem for a Friend: When to the Sessions (Sonnet 30)

The death of a dear friend or loved one is not only a time for grief and mourning; it is also a time for remembrance. It is a time, as William Shakespeare put it in Sonnet 30, for “sessions of sweet silent thought” in which we “summon up remembrance of things past.” The joys of companionship, shared experience, and fond memories are perfectly captured and contrasted with sadness and grief in Shakespeare’s beautiful sonnet on the passing of a treasured friend.

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14 Questions on Considering Cremation

14 Questions to Ask the Funeral Home About Cremation

Are you considering cremation, but aren’t even sure what questions to ask?

If you think you may choose cremation as the disposition method in your or a loved one’s final disposition, it’s important to know some basic information about the cremation process. There are many options, and this isn’t a topic we think about every day.

We’re here to help you get an idea of what options are available, what issues are important to you, and what services and pitfalls you should avoid.

Here are the questions to ask the funeral home about cremation.

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Funeral Poems

101 Funeral Poems

Sometimes regular words are not enough. A recitation of the departed loved one’s life and accomplishments is important, but rarely captures the poetic vitality of a beautiful life. Composing your own memorial poetry is a wonderful exercise which helps you work through and express your grief and love, but rare is the person who can craft words to say exactly what they want to say.

This is where funeral poems can be extraordinarily helpful. These can vary, from reassured classics, such as Tennyson’s In Memoriam or Stevenson’s Success, or famous religious texts like Psalm 23 or Newton’s Amazing Grace, or even anonymous lines like the epitaph on an Irish tombstone:

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State hardiness zones for memorial tree urns

The Best Memorial Tree Urns for Your State

Our collection of Memorial Tree Urns are a hit with families looking for a way to celebrate life by planting a memorial tree.

These small, earth-conscious urns contain tree seeds in the lid, hold 35 cubic inches of cremated remains, and are buried (i.e. planted) in the ground.

Utilizing a special biodegradable and eco-friendly mixture which neutralizes the ph found in cremated ashes, these urns actually incorporate the remains into the growth process for the memorial tree.

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What you need to know when planning a funeral

10 Things the (Shady) Funeral Home Won’t Tell You

There are so many tips out there for planning a funeral that you may feel overwhelmed by all options.

Many of the guides and how-to manuals are put out there by funeral homes, and, while most funeral information is truly meant to be helpful, there may be a few things the funeral home or director may not tell you unless you inquire specifically.

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How to make your own urn

How to Make Your Own Cremation Urn

With the rising cost of funerals and premium price tags at funeral homes, the two most affordable options are shopping for a cremation urn online and making one yourself. Unless you are burying the urn at a cemetery or storing the urn in a columbarium (either of these options may have specific requirements for the urn), you are free to use any container you see fit to hold the remains. This can be as simple as a coffee can or a few cool whip containers, or as intricate of a custom made piece as you can create. Here are a few ideas for how to make your own cremation urn.

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Quotes for life celebration

33 Inspiring Life Celebration Quotes

Here are several of the most inspiring, interesting, and unique Life Celebration quotes we’ve gathered from around the internet. These memorial quotes are ideal for inspiring conversation and memories about a departed loved one. Or, use them to add some eloquence and personality to your eulogy in describing and celebrating a beloved life. We’ve provided each Life Celebration quote in both text and meme formats, which makes it easy to copy and paste or share in social media circles.

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