Most people haven’t a clue where to start. One misconception, for example, is one should start with ‘in loving memory’ or ‘cherished memories of’ and so forth. Our advice is to start with the name and dates, the rest is additional and optional, in fact, even the dates may be optional. Some cemeteries insist the dates are inscribed, and it’s probably a good idea; the headstone is not just a marker of a grave but a record of a life, and it could lead to confusion if the inscription is particularly cryptic.
If the wording doesn’t say much more than ‘beloved mum and grandmother’, it will not really appeal to anyone else, not that this always matters, but the great majority of mums and grannies are indeed beloved and so the words rarely add anything to the interest of the inscription except the commissioner. My clients must have the words they want and I will not interfere too much but I am simply obliged to point out alternatives and explain the contribution the headstone could make to the churchyard and to a stranger reading the headstone, which after all, is in a public space.
For example, when a stranger reading the words on a stone can take something positive away with them, the inscription has a purpose and it lives on and on; it never stales. This is what I would like my clients to consider. A poem or a quotation achieves this. It doesn’t have to be impersonal. We find more and more people ordering their own headstones in advance, and the chosen words are always so positive and uplifting.
We find more and more people ordering their own headstones in advance, and the chosen words are always so positive and uplifting. This person who commissions their own gravestone tends to be advanced in years.
But to the parent who is considering a headstone for their child, the memorial becomes a different thing and serves a different purpose. It becomes an object for them personally, a focal point to grieve and remember. They will live the remainder of their long lives with their memories of the child and the stone serves as a pillar of their love.
We Also provide Plaques, Vases, and Vaniety tops