US Funeral Homes Adapting to Host Weddings and Other Life Celebration Events

It may not be the ideal venue for all, but funeral homes are now moving into the market as event venues.  Many funeral chapels in the United States are now being rented out to host weddings, and at a lesser cost than the same service in traditional wedding chapels.

This greater opportunity for funeral businesses to gain additional revenue is being seized by those that have the capacity to do so.  Many average small funeral homes may only conduct 3 – 5 funerals a week, which leaves their chapel unused for significant periods.  Those that already have the facilities to offer banqueting are extending their services to weddings, school proms, birthday and anniversary parties.  Even funeral homes without extensive chapel or banqueting facilities, are now commissioning the additional building of life celebration centers in order to expand their business.

The Floreses’ wedding in December illustrated this trend - they married at the Community Center at Washington Park East Cemetery in Indianapolis’ Far Eastside.  With a casket showroom down the hall that and 100,000 gravestones outside in the 60 acre cemetery, the couple still described their setting as “breath-taking”.

Indeed many funeral facilities are elaborate, ornate and extensive places with marble floors, polished wood and impressive flower arrangements.

Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Homes opened their Community Life Center at Washington Park East Cemetery in 2001.  It initially had a slow start with only 10 weddings per year, for 2011 they have 99 weddings planned in already with nearly every Friday, Saturday and Sunday booked. 

A branch of the National Association for Funerals Directors (NAFD) recently surveyed members and found that around 10% were opening their funeral facilities to the wider community to host events.

James Olson, who owns a funeral home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and is a member of the NAFD claims that this growing trend is as much to do with traditional wedding facilities closing down, as funeral homes simply moving into a new market. "A lot of (traditional wedding facilities) are shutting down because of the economy, while we (funeral homes) aren't going anywhere," he said. "In our community, two banquet halls closed because of the economy."

As well as offering elaborate facilities at a fraction of the cost, many funeral homes have more availability of dates to accommodate a planned wedding, whereas popular wedding venues may be booked years in advance.

Whereas the Floreses’ chose to host their wedding indoors at the Community Life Center at Washington Park East Cemetery, a backdrop of gravestones was not an important aspect of their service.  However, the Community Center do host outdoor services in a courtyard and have had couples who have chosen to get married near to where family are buried.

So it is not probably everyone’s choice, and some family may find it a little ‘spooky’, but certainly the utilization of funeral chapels and life celebration centers is likely to become a feature of the changing face of the celebration culture with the U.S.