Step 3:

What Happens Between Hospital and Funeral Wake

Note: For immediate advice and assistance, call us at our 24/7 hotline at 6455 9909.

If you are handling a death in the family for the first time, the process and steps to take may seem unfamiliar and unclear. With the help of a funeral company, you can put your worries and uncertainties to rest. However, you may be curious about what happens when preparing for a funeral ceremony. 

Doesn’t the wake service just begin?

A lot of things happen during the time between the confirmation of funeral arrangements and the commencement of the funeral wake. Your funeral advisor or funeral director may provide updates along the way – but if that is not enough for you, in this article, we help you break everything down to a T and walk you through what goes behind the scenes. 

 

*Steps are according to Casket Fairprice’s Funeral process. 

1. Embalming, Dressing and Makeup

Once you have confirmed the type of funeral service you want, our team will move your loved one to our in-house embalming studio for embalming, dressing and makeup. Families can provide clothing items of their preference or select from our range of funeral garments available. After cleaning, embalming and dressing the deceased, our embalming team will apply makeup and hairstyling, ensuring that the deceased looks peaceful and suitable for viewing at the wake. Sometimes our team may also receive requests such as dyeing a different hair colour or painting nails. 

2. Preparation of Coffin

Our operations team will start to prepare the coffin and items that go into the coffin such as a cushion, personal belongings of the deceased and various prayer items (depending on the religion).

3. Booking of venue

For wakes held in funeral parlours, our administration team will proceed to book the parlours requested. For wakes held in the void deck, our team will assist families in application with their district’s town council as this has to be done by the family members.
Once the booking for the void deck is made over the phone, families will need to go down to the town council to submit the death certificate to confirm the booking. Upon confirmation, the electrical and water supply will be switched on for the duration of the wake.

4. Setup

Once the booking of the wake location is confirmed, our logistics team and tentage vendors will make their way to the funeral wake location and begin setting up the tentage and funeral decorations. Funeral setup and flower decorations will be done according to the family’s decision and preference. 
Casket Fairprice also offers Funeral Flower Bar station services for friends and family to design personalised send-off flowers and farewell bouquets for the dearly departed.

5. Flower Decorations

During this time, our florist team will also be informed on what flower arrangements to prepare, such as (but not limited to):

  • Table flowers
  • Condolence wreaths
  • Flower cross (for Christian and Roman Catholic Funeral packages)
  • Coffin spray
  • Funeral Portrait
  • Floral water

These floral arrangements will be decorated all around the wake and will stay for the entire duration of the funeral. Flowers at a funeral can bring bereaved loved ones comfort and strength and they make a great addition to the funeral service by creating a warm and serene atmosphere. Families can also make special arrangements for the type of flowers.

6. Contacting suppliers

Our external suppliers for drinks, snacks, catering, mobile toilets (for Void deck wake), night service attendant, night watch attendant, bus transport (to cremation/burial venue), joss and paper offerings and burning cage will be contacted and the arrangement of time and date for the items will be discussed and organised with our funeral advisors.

Our funeral advisors will act as middlemen and be sure to keep you informed of costs, what to prepare and expect.

Religious rites arrangement:
For Christian, Roman Catholic and Soka funerals, families will have to inform and contact the respective pastors and religious leaders on religious rites to be conducted.

For Buddhist and Taoist funerals, our advisory team will help to inform and contact the respective priests about the chants and rites to be conducted.

7. Booking of permits

There are 3 crematoriums and one cemetery location in Singapore available for booking:

  • Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium Complex (Government owned)
  • Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Private)
  • Tse Tho Aum Temple (Private)
  • Choa Chu Kang (CCK) Cemetery Complex*

All permit bookings for cremation/burial will be done by our operations team.

*Land burial period is limited to 15 years. After 15 years, graves will be exhumed. 

8. Create e-obituary

Our administration team will receive all the required information to create an e-obituary for bereaved families to send out and inform family and friends of wake details. Our funeral advisors can help to contact print media publications if families wish to publish an obituary in local newspapers.

9. Retouching of Funeral portrait

Funeral portraits are memorial portraits of the dearly departed and they serve as a way to remember and honour the departed. All funeral portraits will be retouched and enlarged by our experienced designer. Casket Fairprice will provide 1 enlarged photo with a 10″ x 12″ wooden frame along with 6 passport-sized photos.

Families do not have to fret if they do not have a dedicated last portrait taken. Our designers are skilled to retouch and enlarge photos whether they are taken from Identification Cards (IC), in unflattering backgrounds or even group pictures. For minor touch-ups such as adding hair strands, covering moles, removing any unwanted objects or fixing any imperfections, our designer will be able to edit them accordingly to create a beautiful and lasting funeral portrait.

Are you arranging a Funeral for the first time?

Handling a funeral for the first time can put bereaved families in distress. Being equipped with the right information and resources as well as engaging a suitable funeral home for your funeral needs, can help families go through funeral planning with peace of mind. Families can be there for each other during important moments while being well-assured that funeral arrangements are planned according to their needs and preferences.

We hope this article has helped understand what happens behind the scenes before the commencement of a funeral ceremony. Be sure to also check out Steps #1 and #2 about What To Do When Death Occurs and Coroner’s Case? Don’t fret!