Funeral Transportation
Although you can plan an entire funeral service from start to finish without hiring special vehicles or making arrangements for a procession, elegant transportation provides a nice touch to the day. Whether you opt for a fleet of limousines to take you from the funeral home to the cemetery, or if everyone hauls out a bicycle and takes one last ride in honor of the deceased, there are plenty of ways to make a funeral unique with these transportation ideas.
Traditional Funeral Escorts
For a traditional funeral, it’s typically best to stick to dark sedans and elegant vehicle options.
- Limousines for the Immediate Family: You can either hire these from an outside provider or through the funeral home itself. Family members can travel to the gravesite in comfort and with a level of ceremony befitting the day.
- Dark, Matching Sedans: If a limo seems a bit much, you can also opt for dark sedans or town cars. Many funeral homes provide their own fleet of vehicles for this kind of service.
Procession: If you’d like to use your own cars, you can ask guests to park in designated lanes to make a procession easy. As they arrive to the funeral home, they will pull their cars into lines outside the funeral home. Then, once the service is over, everyone leaves together. (In most cities, you are required to hire a procession service to help stop traffic and ensure the safety of everyone on the road).
Flower Car: While most bodies are transported via hearse, you can take things one step further by hiring a flower car. In this tradition, the casket rests in the back of the vehicle, buried under a bed of flowers as it is moved from the funeral home to the cemetery. It is a beautiful and elegant way to transport the body.
Non-Traditional Funeral Escorts
Of course, there’s no reason why you have to stick to custom. One of the best ways to personalize a funeral is to let your imagination and the life of the deceased guide you.
- Motorcade: A motorcade doesn’t have to be comprised of cars. Motorcycles, bicycles, horses, carriages, and even runners on foot can pave the way from the funeral home to the deceased, showing respect and honoring the hobbies of the deceased.
- Specialty Cars: Did the deceased have a prized car? Love racing? Ride a Harley? Rent or hire a specialty car for the day and drive it to the cemetery.
- Riderless Horse: Although rare in this day and age, the riderless horse is a sign of a fallen leader or member of the military. In this custom, a horse is led behind the casket, symbolizing the sacrifices of the deceased to his or her cause.
Funeral transportation isn’t a huge portion of most funeral plans, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do something new or unique to honor the deceased. Stick with tradition or step out for some ideas of your own—how you get to the cemetery isn’t nearly as important as remembering those you love.
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