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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

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40 Biodegradable Urns for Water Burial & Sea Scattering

Did you know that there are biodegradable urns designed to make a water burial ceremony or sea scattering beautiful, memorable, and easy?

There are few things more important in life than knowing and communicating what we want after our passing. This is especially true if you plan for your final disposition to be something other than the traditional casket burial at a cemetery. For instance, cremation with a water burial or scattering at sea.

Having carefully laid out our plans and communicating them to our loved ones is such a sign of love and self-respect. Once they know your final hopes for disposition, that burden can be lifted off of them.

When it comes time to get specific, well, some of us get really specific! For those of you who are desiring a water burial or scattering at sea or in a marine environment, our cremation urn experts have done the research for you. 

Or perhaps your loved one left instructions, stating their desire for a water burial? In which case we have many options that we are sure they approve of.

Please note that the biodegradable urns for ashes below will work for almost any body of water, including the ocean, lakes, or even large ponds and rivers.

When scattering into smaller creeks, we would recommend using a traditional scattering urn (for pouring out the ashes), not a biodegradable water urn.

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Best Funeral Poems for Dad: 50 Beautiful Tributes

There is no one right thing to say at a funeral service. In some way, we’re all doing our best to express the jumble of feelings that surface with the loss of a father. One way of expressing those feelings is through poetry; and more specifically, funeral poems for dad.

The feelings you are experiencing can include heartache, sadness, regret, joy at his memory, humility and awe at his legacy, and perhaps some mixture of bitterness and respect, love and anger, longing and peace. 

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Funeral Outfit Ideas, Dos and Don'ts, Etiquette

What To Wear To A Funeral (Funeral Attire Guide)

What do you wear to a funeral?

It’s an important question.

After all, expectations can vary. At a more formal, traditional service, you may be expected to wear black dress clothes (buttoned suit for men, dress for women). But at other types of services, the only requirement may be that you wear something nice in subdued colors.

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funeral songs for dad - feature

50 Best Funeral Songs for Dad

The 50 Best Funeral Songs for Dad is part of our series on the best and most popular songs for funerals. You can read the main article here, which includes a list of the top 100 songs played at memorial services and much more.

What’s the right music to play at Dad’s funeral? For some families, that’s easy – he has an absolute favorite song, or a track that was just “him.” Or maybe your father even told you all what song he wanted at the service.

If that’s your situation, go with it – you already have your own collection of “best funeral songs for dad.”

But for many people there’s not just one song. For others there are some great songs but they just don’t feel right for a funeral – too perky, to thrash-metal, to depressing, or they don’t have the “it” factor that make them the right tribute songs for dad.

So we’ve curated this list of meaningful and apt music to help you celebrate your father’s legacy. Each tune has fitting words, a beautiful recording, and a melody that hits all the right notes.

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50+ Beautiful Catholic Funeral Songs & Sacred Music

Music plays a significant role in funeral liturgies. The ideal Catholic funeral songs can serve as a means of prayer, reflection, and emotional support for those gathered to remember, grieve, and celebrate the life of a loved one.

Great music can have a powerful emotional impact on mourners. The best funeral songs offer solace and support to the grieving family while personalizing the service with the departed one’s favorite musical selections.

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100 of the World’s Most Beautiful Wooden Urns

Here are 100 of the world’s most beautiful wooden urns for ashes.

Wood is a stunning, adaptable, and unique material. With so many ways that woodworkers have invented to use various wood types in various ways, there are so very many options available.

So we’ve chosen the best of the best wood urns, and featured them below. Our collection of wooden urns for human ashes has been arranged into five groups to help simplify your browsing:

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