Every order of service we design at Fitting Farewell starts from the same place: a conversation about the person. Not about page layouts or colour preferences — about who they were, what they loved, the photographs that exist, the things that made them themselves. From that conversation, a design emerges. Over more than fifteen years and thousands of orders, no two have been the same.
The conversation
When you contact us, you speak directly with your designer — the person who will create the order of service, not a customer service representative who passes the brief on. The conversation covers everything that matters: the person’s personality and interests, what the photographs show, whether there is a theme or a colour that feels right, what the tone of the day should be.
You do not need to arrive with a clear idea. Many families do not. They have a sense of the person, some photographs, and a feeling about what feels right and what does not. That is enough. The designer’s job is to listen carefully and turn that into a design direction — and then to show you a proof and adjust until it is right.
Some things that are useful to have ready before you call:
- Photographs — even ones you are not sure about. Send them over and let us look.
- Any colours, imagery or themes that come to mind — even if you cannot articulate why they feel right
- A sense of the person’s interests, passions or the things that defined them
- The running order, if you have it — or a draft, or just a list of what you think should be included
What we can design around
Our gallery shows a range of what families have requested — florals, seasonal landscapes, vintage imagery, photographic layouts, religious designs. But the gallery is a starting point, not a limit. The most meaningful designs we have produced are ones that would not appear in any catalogue because they were made for one specific person.
We have designed around a love of the sea — a sailboat on a particular stretch of water, a colour palette drawn from a specific coastline. Around a lifetime of allotment gardening — botanical detail, seed packet typography, the colours of the kitchen garden in August. Around a passion for railways, for boxing, for a football club followed for sixty years, for a particular walk taken every week in the same hills. Around a career in nursing, a life spent teaching, a dedication to a local community that recognised it long before anyone thought to write it down.
The theme does not have to be a hobby. It can be a person’s character — warmth, dry humour, quiet faith, a particular way of seeing the world. These qualities can be expressed through design choices: palette, typography, the weight and placement of the photograph, the amount of breathing room on the page.
Photographs
Photographs are central to every design. We work with whatever the family has — old prints that have been scanned, phone photographs, images that have not been touched in decades. Our designers retouch as a matter of course: improving exposure and contrast, removing blemishes, repairing creases or tears, cleaning up backgrounds. We can also restore images with more significant damage — water damage, fading, discolouration — to a quality that prints well. If you are not sure whether a photograph is usable, send it over.
The proof and revision process
Once the initial design is ready, we send you a proof — a PDF of the complete order of service as it will look when printed. You review it, tell us what you want changed, and we revise. There is no limit on revisions and no extra charge. We adjust until you are completely happy, and we do not print until you have given your approval.
Changes at the proof stage can include anything: content additions or corrections, design adjustments, different photographs, different wording. The proof is not a formality — it is a working document.
From first contact to delivery
Design, print and delivery typically takes three working days from receiving everything we need. We print on 350gsm silk-finish card and despatch by overnight courier. If your timescale is tighter than three days, call us first — we will do everything we can to help.
If you are still deciding what to include in your order of service, our guides on what a funeral order of service is and what to put in it cover the decisions in detail.
Take a look at our design gallery for examples of what we have created, or call us free on 0800 612 6484 to start the conversation.
