Photo tributes in farewell services

Today's blog is about photo tributes in farewell services.

More often than not, families like to include a slideshow/photos of their loved one's life at a service. Generally speaking, there is a dedicated time within the service to play the photos and they are accompanied by a song.

Depending on the length of the song, about 50 photos is roughly a guide. This way the photos are on the screen for a good length of time. If you have more, then they will be flashing before everyone's eyes too quickly and not give family and friends the time to reflect on a particular photo.

One photo can evoke so many emotions and it can also bring back many memories. It may be a photo of the last Christmas the family spent together. Not only do you think about Christmas, but it can lead to reflecting on who was there, where the gathering was, what was eaten on the day, what presents were given and received. Christmas may also be the last time that your loved one was well enough to go out to family gatherings. This of course is just an example, but it points out just how powerful one photo can be.

It can be really difficult to cull photos. There are often so many to choose from. My advice is you have two slideshows/photo presentations. One for the chapel service and the other longer one to play at the gathering afterwards. Everyone is more relaxed at the gathering, and as the photos are going through, people begin to tell their own stories - and that is what it is all about. Telling stories and sharing memories all assist in the grieving process.

I like to refer to this part of a service as " A journey of XXXX's life in photos"