If you search for a funeral order of service template, you will find plenty of them. Upload a photograph, type in the names and dates, choose from a small selection of designs, download a PDF. For some families, in some circumstances, that is enough.
But there are families who try it, and then call us. This article is for them — and for anyone who is weighing up the options before they decide.
What working from a template actually involves
Template services put the work on the family. You are the one who has to work out how to format the content, what order things should go in, and how to fit everything into the fixed layout. You are the one who has to prepare the photographs to an acceptable resolution and crop them to the right dimensions. If the design does not look right when it is done, there is no-one to tell you why, and often no-one to call.
Most families doing this have no background in design. They have never laid out a document, do not know what 300dpi means, and are not sure whether the photograph they have will reproduce well at print size. They are also doing it in the days after a bereavement, when concentration is difficult, when other demands are pressing, and when sitting alone with a task like this is the last thing anyone should have to do.
The result is often something that looks like what it is: an order of service produced by someone who was not a designer, under considerable pressure, from a template that was not made for this specific person.
What a template cannot do
Older photographs almost always need work — creases removed, brightness adjusted, backgrounds cleaned up, faded colour restored. A template cannot do that. Finding the right words to a hymn, the correct running order for an unfamiliar type of service, a poem that says what the family wants to say — a template cannot do that either. Fitting in everything that matters — the biography, the readings, the music, the photographs, the tribute — without the result feeling crowded or the wrong things being cut to make it fit: a template cannot make those judgements.
And if something is wrong when the PDF arrives — if the photograph has not reproduced well, if a name is misspelled, if the design does not feel right — there is usually no mechanism to fix it. You have a file, and a deadline, and you manage.
How families find us
Some families contact us immediately, knowing from the start that they want someone to work with rather than a form to fill in. Others arrive after a difficult experience with a template service. And some come because they attended a funeral and saw an order of service that was clearly not a template — one that looked considered, that felt like the person, that they picked up and looked at properly — and they wanted the same.
That last group tells us something important. When an order of service is genuinely designed — when it uses a photograph chosen with care, a layout that gives things room, a design that reflects something specific about the person — people notice. They do not always know how to name what they are seeing, but they feel the difference between something made and something generated.
What working with us looks like
When you contact Fitting Farewell, you speak directly with your designer. Not a call centre, not a web form — your designer, who will work with you from the first conversation to the point where you approve the final proof.
They will ask about the person who has died. They will listen to what you have in mind, or help you find a direction if you are not sure where to start. They will retouch your photographs — often making a significant difference to images that families assumed were not usable. They will help with the running order if you need it, suggest readings or wording if that is helpful, and design something that reflects the individual rather than a generic format.
The gallery on our website shows what that can look like. It is a starting point, not a limit — every order of service we produce is different, because every person is different.
What is included
Design, print, photograph retouching, envelopes where relevant, and next-day delivery are all included in one price. There are nothing extra to pay. Most orders are designed, printed and delivered within three working days of your first contact — and if your timescale is tighter than that, call us first.
You may also find our guides on what a funeral order of service is and how our bespoke design process works useful.
Call us free on 0800 612 6484 or send us a message. We are happy to answer questions before you have decided anything.
