What goes in a funeral order of service, in order (with a printable example)

Four pages: the cover, the running order, the words, the back page. What goes on each, in the order the celebrant will ask for it, with a sample booklet you can open and a line on what to ask the printer for.

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The sample booklet on this page is for Margaret Hale, who is made up, as is her family. Open it as a PDF: sample-order-of-service.pdf, or read what is on each page.

The short answer

A funeral order of service (a funeral program, in the US and Canada) is one sheet folded once. Page 1 is the cover: their photo, full name, dates, where and when the service is. Page 2 is the order of service: every part of the service in the order it happens, with who leads or reads it. Page 3 is the words of the hymns and poems people will sing or follow. Page 4 is the back page: the family's thanks, the reception, flowers or donations, and their name again. That is all of it. Everything below is the detail of each page and where the information comes from.

Page 1: the cover

Five things, and nothing else. The booklet is picked up in a hurry and read in a pew, so the cover is plain.

1. A line at the top. “In loving memory of”, “A celebration of the life of”, “A service of thanksgiving for the life of”, or “Funeral service for”. The family picks the one that sounds like them; the celebrant will not mind.
2. Their full name, as it should appear. If everyone called them something else, that goes in brackets or in the tribute, not on the cover: “Margaret Ellen Hale” on the cover, “Peggy” inside.
3. Their dates. Day, month and year of birth and of death, written out: “4 March 1941 – 2 October 2026”. Some families use the years only. Either is fine; check both dates twice.
4. Where and when. The church, crematorium or hall, the town, the day, the date and the time: “St Mary's Church, Thornhill · Friday 16 October 2026 at 11 am”.
5. One photo. The one the family likes, not the most recent one. A photo taken in daylight, head and shoulders, prints best; a phone photo is fine if it is the original file and not a screenshot.

“In loving memory of · Margaret Ellen Hale · 4 March 1941 – 2 October 2026 · St Mary's Church, Thornhill · Friday 16 October 2026 at 11 am”

Page 2: the order of service

This is the page the booklet is named for, and most of it is not yours to write: the celebrant, minister or funeral director built the service with whoever arranged it, and they have the list. Ask for it by email and paste it in as it is. A typical service has these parts, in this order; yours will have some of them, not all.

1. Entrance music. The piece and who it is by: “Nimrod, from the Enigma Variations — Edward Elgar”.
2. Welcome, with the name and title of who is leading: “The Reverend Anne Whitlock”, or “Led by Sarah Cole, celebrant”.
3. First hymn or song. Title, and the tune in brackets if there is more than one: “The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)”.
4. Reading. What it is and who reads it, with their relationship: “Ecclesiastes 3: 1–8, read by Tom Hale, her son”. Naming the relationship is what lets a cousin in the back row follow who is who.
5. Tribute or eulogy, and who gives it. If two people speak, list both in order.
6. Poem, with the title, the poet and the reader: “Remember, by Christina Rossetti, read by Lucy Reid, her granddaughter”.
7. Second hymn, if there is one. “Abide With Me” is the most common last hymn at a British funeral for a reason: everyone knows the tune.
8. Prayers, the committal or the farewell. At a crematorium this is the moment the curtains close or the coffin is lowered; at a church it may be a blessing and the committal happens at the graveside after. The celebrant tells you the wording.
9. Exit music, and a line about what happens next: “The committal will take place at Thornhill Cemetery. Everyone is welcome at the Fox and Hounds afterwards.”

Each line is the part, then the detail, then the person. Keep the parts in bold or capitals so a guest can find their place when the organ starts. The sample booklet's order page shows exactly this, nine lines long.

Page 3: the words

The words of anything the congregation sings or says together, set large enough to read in a dim church (12 point is too small; 14 to 16 is right). Usually that is the hymns, and the poem if the family wants people to follow it. Three things to know:

• Traditional hymns and older poems are free to print. “The Lord's My Shepherd”, “Abide With Me”, “Amazing Grace”, Rossetti's “Remember”, Henry Scott Holland's “Death Is Nothing At All”: all out of copyright.
• Modern hymns and song lyrics are not. If the family wants the words of a song written in the last seventy years, the church or crematorium usually holds a licence that covers it; ask them before printing. If not, print the title and the first line only.
• Do not retype hymns from memory. Ask the church for the words it uses (verses differ between hymn books), or copy them from the hymn book the congregation will have in its hands. A missing verse is the mistake people notice mid-hymn.

Page 4: the back page

The back page is the one guests read while they wait, and the one they keep. Four things, in this order:

1. A second photo, if the family has one they love. Many families put the younger photo here and the recent one on the cover.
2. The family's thanks. Two or three sentences: “Margaret's family thank you for being here today, and for every card, call and casserole of the last two weeks.” Name the hospice, the carers or the ward if the family wants to.
3. Afterwards. Where the reception is, and that everyone is welcome: “Please join the family at the Fox and Hounds, Thornhill, after the service.”
4. Flowers and donations. “Family flowers only. Donations, if wished, to Marie Curie, via the funeral director or at [link].” The funeral director usually sets up the donations page and gives you the line to print.

Then the name and years once more at the bottom, small. Some families add a short verse or the line from a favourite song here; one line, not a poem.

Where each piece of information comes from

• The celebrant or minister: the running order, the wording of the committal, the hymn versions.
• The funeral director: the date, time and place, the donations line, the number of copies they would print and their printer if you want to use it.
• The family: the name as it should appear, the dates, the photos, the thanks, the reception, who is reading what.
• The readers: the exact title of their reading or poem, so the page matches what they say.

Gather these in one email thread or one note on your phone, in this order. The booklet then writes itself in an hour, and the only thing left to check is the spelling of every name.

Printing it

Ask a print shop (or an online printer) for: “A5 booklet, A4 folded once, printed double-sided, 120 to 160 gsm paper, pages in printer order.” In the US and Canada: “half-letter booklet, Letter folded once”. Four pages is one sheet; eight pages is two sheets, stapled or nested. Order the number of guests plus ten. Ask for the proof as a PDF and open it on a phone before you approve it: if a name is wrong on the proof, it is wrong on every copy. If you are printing at home, print page 1 and page 4 on one side and 2 and 3 on the other, fold once, and do one copy first.

Six mistakes families regret

1. A wrong date or a misspelled name, on the cover of two hundred copies. Two people check every name, including the readers' names.
2. A hymn verse missing, because the words were typed from memory. Copy them from the hymn book the church uses.
3. A reader's name without their relationship. “Tom Hale, her son” tells the room who is speaking. “Tom Hale” does not.
4. The reception on page 2 and the donations on the cover. Keep the service on the service page and the practical lines on the back.
5. Too much. The life story belongs in the tribute and the obituary, not the booklet. A booklet with a 600-word biography is one nobody can follow during the service.
6. Printing on Thursday for a Friday service. Have the proof approved two working days before, and a flat one-page version ready to email in case the printer lets you down.

A printable example

The sample order of service is the four-page A5 booklet for Margaret Hale, laid out the way we lay out a real one: cover with the photo, the nine-line order page, the words of two hymns and one poem, and a back page with the thanks, the reception and the donations line. Open the sample PDF, print it once, fold it, and you can see what the paper and the size feel like in the hand before you choose yours. Margaret, her family and every detail are made up.

If you would rather someone laid it out for you

That is what we do. You send the details and the photo (rough notes are fine, pasted straight from the celebrant's email), and we lay out the print-ready booklet in the style you choose (classic, simple, floral or faith), as an A5 or half-letter PDF in printer order, plus a one-page flat version, within 1 day, same day if the service is tomorrow. One free round of changes. Nothing is added that you did not send, and you check the proof before anything is printed. $49 in the US, £39 in the UK (VAT included), A$75, C$65.

Start the booklet, $49

Questions

What goes in a funeral order of service?

Four pages as standard: the cover (photo, full name, dates, where and when the service is); the order of service itself (entrance music, welcome, hymns, readings, tribute or eulogy, poem, prayers or committal, exit music, each with who reads or leads it); the words of the hymns and poems; and the back page (thanks from the family, the reception, flowers or donations, the name and years again).

What is the difference between an order of service and a funeral program?

Nothing that matters. “Order of service” is the usual phrase in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; “funeral program” or “memorial program” is the usual phrase in the US and Canada. Both are the same folded booklet with the same four pages.

What size should a funeral order of service be?

In the UK and Australia, A4 folded once to A5. In the US and Canada, Letter folded once (8.5 by 5.5 inches). Four pages is standard; eight if you want a photo page and the full words of every hymn. Ask the printer for the pages in printer order so a double-sided print folds correctly.

How many copies do we need?

The number of guests plus about ten. People take one for someone who could not come, and the family usually keeps a few. If you are not sure of numbers, round up; the extra copies cost pence.

Who gives us the running order?

The celebrant, minister or funeral director usually has it already; they built it with whoever arranged the service. Ask them for it by email so you can paste it in as it is. If the hymns are not chosen yet, leave a line for each and fill it in last.

Can someone lay it out for us?

Yes. On this site you send the details and a photo, and we lay out a print-ready booklet (A5 or half-letter, four or eight pages) plus a one-page version, within 1 day, for $49 (£39 incl. VAT, A$75, C$65), with one free round of changes. Nothing is added that you did not send, and you check the proof before it is printed.

Have it laid out for us, $49 From your details and a photo, within 1 day

Writing the obituary or the eulogy too? How to write an obituary · A eulogy written from your stories.