Glossary

Funeral planning comes with its own language, and most people only learn it while they're grieving. Here's a plain-language guide to the terms, timelines, and rights that come up along the way.

This guide follows the same order you'll move through when posting a request on Funeral Bids — so if you're mid-way through planning, the terms below should show up roughly when you need them.

The Basics ▾

The first question you'll see when posting a request is about where things stand. Here's what each option actually means.

Pre-Planning: No loss has occurred. You're planning ahead, with time to consider every option without any urgency.
Expecting a Loss: A loved one is in hospice or nearing end of life. You're lining up arrangements before the time comes.
Recent Loss: A loved one has already passed, and arrangements need to be made now — the most time-sensitive situation.
Transfer Funeral Homes: Your loved one is already at a funeral home, and you're looking to work with someone else instead.
Next of Kin: The legally recognized closest living relative — typically the person with the authority to make funeral and disposition decisions if there's no separate legal designation on file.

Final Placement ▾

The biggest decision in the whole process: burial or cremation, and which version of each. Everything else tends to follow from this choice.

Traditional Burial: A full-service arrangement: viewing or visitation, a funeral ceremony, transportation, and burial at a cemetery. Usually includes embalming so the body can be present for a viewing.
Direct Burial: Burial without embalming, viewing, or a formal ceremony beforehand. The body is buried shortly after death, often in a simple container.
Immediate Burial: Similar to direct burial — burial happens promptly with no viewing or visitation. Some funeral homes use this term interchangeably with "direct burial."
Green Burial: Burial without embalming chemicals, in a biodegradable container, at a cemetery certified for natural burial.
Immediate Cremation: Cremation without embalming, viewing, or a ceremony beforehand. The most affordable option in most markets. A memorial can still be held later, separately.
Cremation with Service: A funeral ceremony or visitation is held before cremation — the body is present for the service, then cremated afterward.
Forwarding of Remains: The funeral home prepares and ships the deceased to a funeral home in another city or state, typically for burial or services to take place there.
Casket vs. Outer Burial Container: The casket holds the body. An outer burial container (vault or grave liner) surrounds the casket in the ground — most cemeteries require one, though it's rarely required by state law.

The Shape of the Day ▾

Once placement is settled, the next question is timing — how many days the services span, and whether there's a wake or visitation beforehand.

Visitation / Wake: An informal gathering, usually held the evening before or the morning of the funeral, where friends and family can pay respects — often with the casket present, open or closed. Not required, and skipped entirely with direct burial or direct cremation.
How long does it typically take?: Direct cremation or direct burial can be complete in as little as 24–48 hours. A traditional burial with a wake, funeral, and burial usually spans 3–5 days from death to final disposition — often longer if the family is waiting on out-of-town relatives or a specific cemetery date.

The Ceremony ▾

The gathering itself — what kind, where, and how the deceased gets there.

Funeral Ceremony: A formal service, usually with the body present, held at a funeral home, place of worship, or graveside — the traditional centerpiece of a burial with services.
Memorial Service: A gathering to honor the person without the body present — common after direct cremation or direct burial, often scheduled once out-of-town family can attend.
Celebration of Life: Similar to a memorial service, but usually less formal and more personalized — stories, music, and photos rather than a traditional religious service.
Graveside Service: A short ceremony held at the cemetery at the time of burial, in place of (or in addition to) a service held elsewhere.
Transportation: Covers moving the deceased between locations — from place of death to the funeral home, to the site of services, and to the final resting place. Priced separately by most funeral homes, and worth checking whether it's already included in a quote or listed as an add-on.

Before You Sign Anything ▾

Once you've decided what you want, the last step is understanding what you're being charged for — and what you're legally entitled to ask for.

Your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule: You're entitled to an itemized General Price List (GPL) before any sales conversation, the right to buy only what you want instead of a package, the right to bring your own casket or urn without a fee, a written itemized total before you pay, and to be told if embalming isn't legally required before being charged for it. Full rule: ftc.gov — Complying with the Funeral Rule.
How Funeral Bids fits in: Every funeral home on this platform is expected to provide accurate, itemized pricing — the same information the FTC Rule already entitles you to, just presented up front. Comparing quotes doesn't replace your right to a physical, itemized GPL from any funeral home you're considering; it just makes comparing easier from the start.
Cash Advance Items: Costs the funeral home pays on your behalf to outside vendors — obituary notices, flowers, clergy honorariums, death certificates — sometimes with a small service fee that must be disclosed.
Non-Declinable / Basic Services Fee: A fee every funeral home charges for overhead and staff time, arranging the funeral and securing permits. Every family pays this regardless of which other services they choose.

Quick-Reference Glossary ▾

A few more terms that come up but don't fit neatly into a single step above.

Embalming: A process that temporarily preserves and prepares a body for viewing. Not required by law in most circumstances.
Perpetual Care: An ongoing maintenance fund some cemeteries charge into, covering the long-term upkeep of grounds and grave sites after burial.
Death Certificate: The official legal record of death, needed to settle the deceased's affairs — closing accounts, claiming life insurance, transferring property. Funeral homes typically help order certified copies.
Obituary: A published notice announcing a death, usually including a brief biography and service details. Can be placed in newspapers, online, or both — often a cash advance item.
Urn: A container that holds cremated remains — can be kept by the family, buried, placed in a niche, or scattered depending on state law and cemetery rules.
Burial Vault: Another name for an outer burial container — a concrete or metal enclosure that surrounds the casket underground, preventing the grave from sinking over time. Most cemeteries require one.
Headstone / Grave Marker: A permanent, inscribed marker placed at a grave site — either upright (headstone) or flush with the ground (flat marker), depending on cemetery rules.
Mausoleum: An above-ground structure containing spaces for entombment, as an alternative to underground burial. Can be private (family) or public (community).
Pallbearer: A person, usually family or a close friend, who carries or escorts the casket during the funeral service and procession.
Funeral Procession: The convoy of vehicles traveling from the funeral service to the cemetery — typically led by the hearse, followed by family and guests.
Celebrant / Officiant: The person who leads the funeral or memorial service — may be clergy, a funeral celebrant, or a family member, depending on the family's wishes.
Register Book: A guest book kept at the visitation or service for attendees to sign, often kept afterward as a keepsake.
Funeral Trust: A financial account set up to pay for funeral costs in advance, often used as part of pre-need planning so survivors aren't left covering the cost later.

This page is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Laws vary by state, and funeral home practices can differ — always confirm specifics directly with the funeral home you're working with. For the authoritative source on your rights, see the FTC's Funeral Rule guidance.

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