Planning ahead · 4 min read · 25 October 2026
Funeral wishes template UK: what to write down and where to keep it
Written by Simon D Campbell, Director, Shropshire Expert Cleaners LTD · 17 years in bereavement, trauma and hospital-standard cleaning
The short answer
A funeral wishes template records burial or cremation, the kind of service, music, readings, flowers or donations, and who to invite. Keep it with your will but not inside it, tell people where it is, and record how the funeral should be paid for. The After They Die planner includes a funeral wishes section in its £9.99 download.
A funeral wishes template is a simple written record of what you would like to happen after you die: burial or cremation, the kind of service, music, readings and who you would want there. It spares your family from guessing, and from disagreeing, at the worst possible time.
What to write down
Start with the decisions only you can make: burial or cremation; a religious service, a humanist one or none; where you would like it held; and whether you want mourners, a small gathering or a direct cremation with a memorial later. Then the details that matter to you: music, readings, flowers or donations to a charity, and any people you would particularly want told or invited.
You do not have to complete it in one sitting. Writing down the music and leaving the rest blank is still a help.
Keep it with your will, not in it
Wills are often not read until after the funeral has been arranged, so funeral wishes inside a will are frequently found too late. Keep your funeral wishes as a separate document, stored with your will and other important papers, and tell two or three people you trust where it is.
Funeral wishes are not legally binding in England and Wales — your executor has the final say — but families almost always follow clear written wishes, and a record removes the pressure of deciding on your behalf.
Say how it should be paid for
If you have a pre-paid funeral plan, an over-50s policy or money set aside, record where the paperwork is. Families regularly pay for funerals that were already paid for because nobody knew the plan existed.
A ready-made option
The funeral wishes section of the After They Die UK End-of-Life Planner covers burial or cremation, music, readings and who to invite, alongside sections for your documents, contacts and personal messages. One £9.99 Etsy purchase includes Standard and Large Print fillable PDFs plus a two-page Start here guide. It is written for England and Wales, it never asks for passwords, and it is a record of wishes — not a will or legal advice.