The Rise of Luxury Funerals

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It’s hard to think of the rise of luxury funerals when we hear about all the low-cost cremation services and read articles such as this one titled “More Mainers are leaning on state help to pay for funerals, cremations” that was published earlier this month in the Sun Journal of Maine.

Yet, late in 2024, the Times of London published this article on luxury funerals and their prices in which they made the comment, “the costs add up, particularly as the funeral is threatening to outdo the wedding as the highest-spending life event”.

The Times of London article, which I highly suggest you read, also had a sub-title that said this, “A new generation of funeral directors is offering ceremonies that are more personal and extravagant than ever”.  From my point of view that is an interesting comment when the perspective we hear most of the time is that people are trying to save money on their last rites.

Even in Great Britain, where low-cost cremation provider Pure Cremation has captured much of the market over the past decade, low-cost seems to be winning.  However, the article points out that evidently there is room for both — low-cost and luxury — in the same market.

Oliver Peyton of Great Britain’s Exit Here funeral business said in reference to luxury funerals, “We recently laid on a cortege of eight Rolls-Royces for a man whose children wanted to give him a proper send-off” and “We have customers who spend 30 grand on flowers for a church ceremony.”

The article also points to a trend where the “(United Kingdom)  leads the way in what’s being called the progressive funeral space: all-night parties, sumptuous memory books, trips on private jets to the deceased’s favourite holiday spot or “destination funerals”, where a luxury holiday is planned around the last rites.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I was a funeral director and funeral home owner in a rural regional city.  When I grew up it was a pretty economically homogenous community.  A “luxury funeral” was probably one in which the family catered the post-funeral luncheon rather than have the ladies of the church cook and serve a meal.

We had  copper and bronze caskets on our showroom floor but we really never expected to have a family select them.  Their presence and prices were there to simply make the other casket selections look much more affordable.  Quite frankly, they seemed too luxurious and extravagent for the tastes of our “blue-collar” clientele.

A lot has changed over time.  Economic situations seem to have went one way or the other for families and we are less homogenous than we once were. . . .Some people have done really well and some people have had a tougher go of it.  I have my own thoughts as to why that is, but that is a story for another day.

However, I think that “economic reality split” is not only evident in my community, but around the world as well.  And, if that is the case, there is bound to be a market of more luxurious services for those that have more resources than others.  I think that is a point that gets lost with all the talk of the low-cost direct cremation growth.

Related — “Fractured futures of the haves and have-nots“.  Medium

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