How to Create a Funeral Program – Totally FREE

Creating a funeral program is fairly simple. Most funeral programs are printed on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper (landscape style) and folded in half. Of course other sizes like 11 x 17, tri-fold, multi-page, two-up programs, etc. can also be created if desired. For this "How to Create a Funeral Program" tutorial we will focus on the 8 x 11 landscape style programs. 

A finished funeral program when folded has a front cover, two interior pages, and a back cover. The first and most important thing to do is talk about the deceased person's life and decide on what you think they would want their funeral program to look like and who they would want to be involved in the program. Putting together this information soon in the funeral planning process will help make the whole process much less stressful. Your funeral home can help you with this process as well. 

Remember, you can place pictures and text wherever you want on the page. Your main focus should be to celebrate the life of the person that has passed on. Below is a description of what information and content people typically put on their funeral programs. Feel free to visit our funeral program examples page for more information and visual examples.

Cover and Interior Backgrounds

The first step is to pick the cover and interior background images before you insert the pictures and text. Usually the background will match the person's life by depicting a seen or a landscape that fits according to the person's life. For instance, if the person was heavily involved in the military throughout their life, you may choose a military theme. Or if they loved flowers, then a background with flowers in it may be most appropriate. Once you have chosen the cover and interior backgrounds, the next step is to put in pictures and text on the front cover, interior pages, and back cover.

Front Cover

The front cover of a funeral program typically has a picture of the person that passed away with the full name and birth and death dates listed above or below the picture. Sentiments or funeral quotes are also regularly used to give more of a custom feeling to the program. The picture of the person is often customized by erasing the background and/or creating custom fades and masks over the image. Using Zachary Douglass' built-in photo editing tools makes custom photo editing very easy. 

The picture below shows an example of a front and back cover of a funeral program

Back Cover

The back cover is usually used for poems, scripture verses, or quotes. Often the family will thank all those who participated in the funeral on the back cover as well. A collage of pictures can also be added on the back cover as a remembrance of what the person was like throughout their life. Many times posterity of the loved one is listed on the back cover as well. Again, the back cover can be used to put whatever information or images the family sees fit. 

Interior

The interior left and right pages typically includes information about the person that passed away and the order of services. This information largely depends on preference and the religious background of the family. The order of the services will usually be listed in the same order of the actual services and may include:

• Birth and death places and dates
• Location and time of services
• Persons conducting or officiating
• Prayers (opening and closing)
• Family Prayer
• Speakers
• Reading of the Eulogy/Obituary
• Stories by family and friends
• Songs/Hymns
• Time and place of interment
• Dedication of Grave
• List of Pallbearers/Honorary Pallbearers
• Poems, scripture verses, sayings, or quotes
• etc.

A library of poems, verses, and text layouts is provided in the Zachary Douglass funeral program editor. Other pictures that the family wants to include can also be edited and inserted anywhere on the page by dragging and dropping. Adding pictures of family, relatives, or close friends on the interior pages often provides a special touch that helps celebrate the life of the person very well. 

The picture below shows an example of an interior of a funeral program

Was Your Funeral Program a Success?

At Zachary Douglass we are often asked… "How do we know that the funeral program that we created was well received by the people that attended the funeral? We always explain that if the people that attended the funeral took the program home after the funeral as a keep sake, then it was a success. If the attendees leave the programs in their seats, then it could have been improved and customized better.

We hope this post on "How to Create a Funeral Program" was helpful. Please contact us if you need further advice or have additional questions.

Try Creating a Funeral Program Yourself

The video below shows how to build a program using Zachary Douglass' online funeral program software.