Funeral Directors Sydney | Hornsby | Central Coast
Serenity Family Funerals is an independent Australian owned and operated funeral provider servicing Sydney and the Central Coast. Our Funeral Director, Deborah George, will personally help you arrange a funeral that honours your beloved family member or friend.
Whether you’re after a direct cremation, a low cost funeral, a traditional funeral service, or something a bit special, Deborah will compassionately help and guide you through the steps following a bereavement.
How To Arrange A Funeral
We understand that arranging a funeral service following the loss of a loved one can be an emotional and daunting task. We aim to make it as simple and easy as possible for you.
1. Contact Us
2. Meet Our Funeral Director
3. We Arrange The Funeral
Types Of Funeral Services
When planning a funeral service, you will need to choose between a burial or a cremation. The average cost of a funeral service of both types, is roughly the same. However, with a burial service you will also need to purchase a burial plot from a cemetery, and the cheapest plots are about $6,000 in Western Sydney, about $10,000 in central Sydney, and about $13,000 in northern Sydney.
The cheapest funeral option is a direct cremation, which is an unattended cremation without a ceremony; you will receive the ashes of your loved one and you can choose to organise a private memorial service at a future date if you wish.
Burial Funerals
Traditional burial funerals still account for around 40% of all funerals, and are mandated by some religions. They come in two main forms: you can either choose to have a service in a church, chapel or other location, followed by a shorter graveside service, or you can choose to only have a longer graveside service.
Cremation Funerals
In addition to being the most affordable funeral option for families, cremation is also now the most popular option in Sydney. We can arrange for same-day cremations if that is required. Our funeral director will arrange a ceremony to suit your wishes, be it something simple, or something more unique or elaborate.
Prepaid Funeral Plans
When you prepay funeral costs, the price will remain fixed, and thus you save your family or your estate a significant amount of money.
Alternatively, you can pre-arrange your own funeral without having to prepay, which saves your family that stress, and ensures you get the send-off that you want.
Our Funeral Director & Team
Serenity Family Funerals is proudly owned and operated by Deborah George. As the lead Funeral Director, Deb and her team have been arranging cremations and funeral services in Sydney and the Central Coast for families from different faiths, backgrounds, and cultures, for over 25 years.
Having begun as a funeral director in her early 20s, Deb soon recognised within herself the ability to make a difference by guiding families through grief and honouring their wishes with dependability and intuition. Deb is genuinely empathetic and compassionate, and feels honoured and privileged to be entrusted with guiding families through the process of arranging a funeral service and saying farewell to their loved ones.
When you entrust us with your funeral arrangements, you won’t have to deal with multiple employees throughout the process, like you might with corporate funeral companies in Sydney.
Deb, our funeral director, will respond to your initial enquiry, meet with you to make a plan, make all of the arrangements, and will then be present at the service. It’s that personal relationship and continuity that ensures your wishes are understood and carried out with care and respect.
What Do Funeral Directors Do?
A funeral directors’ task is to make it as easy as possible for the family of the deceased to arrange a fitting farewell for their loved one.
The funeral director helps you formulate a vision, and then takes care of all the organisational details for you.
so you can relax about the funeral arrangements.
What’s included in the cost of a funeral from Serenity Family Funerals?
- Meeting & Information:
Deborah, our funeral director, will explain the process and the options, and will help you decide what arrangements you would like, including: cremation or burial; church/chapel service and/or graveside committal; venue for service; whether to have a viewing and/or wake; and any extras such as: printed material, digital slideshow, live musicians, dove release, livestream/videoing, newspaper notices, etc. - Mortuary care:
- Liaise with the hospital, nursing home, and doctor.
- Arrange for the deceased to be transported to the mortuary.
- Arrange for embalming. (Optional)
- Preparation and dressing of the deceased.
- Arrange the necessary paperwork, and death certificates.
- Coffin, casket.
- A viewing (Optional).
- The funeral service:
- Booking the venue and liaising with clergy or celebrant.
- Transportation of deceased.
- Floral arrangement for the coffin.
- Photos, music, printed material etc. (Optional)
- Videoing and/or livestreaming. (Optional)
- Crematorium or burial.
- Post-life celebration (wake) with catering. (Optional)
What’s not included in the cost of a funeral package?
Burial Plot:
Our burial packages do not include the cost of the burial plot itself. A burial plot must be purchased directly from a cemetery. Burial plots in Sydney usually cost over $9000 (the cheapest plots cost about $6,000 in Western Sydney), and on the Central Coast they cost over $3400.
Cremation Memorial Location:
Our cremation funeral pricing does not include the cost of a resting place for ashes in a memorial park. In Sydney, an in-ground memorial costs from $4000, and a wall niche costs from $2500. As an alternative, you can choose to take your loved-one’s ashes home with you, or you can scatter them in an appropriate place at an appropriate time.
Purchasing a burial plot or ashes memorial
How Much Does a Funeral Cost?
How to Write Eulogy
Public speaking is always a challenge, and when combined with the emotion of saying goodbye to a dearly loved one, then delivering a eulogy at a service can seem like an overwhelming task. However, if you are able to do it, this is a unique and meaningful way to deeply honour your loved one. We have put together a handy guide to writing a eulogy, that lets you know what to include, and how to structure the eulogy, so that you can tackle it with confidence.
Guidance Through The Stages Of Grief
Grief is a natural response associated with loss, and everybody experiences it differently. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, but by understanding the phases of grief, you can equip yourself with healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with painful and unexpected emotions. This article will equip you with the information that you need to help both yourself, and others in your family, to get through these difficult times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Making arrangements to mark the passing of a loved one is something that most people have never done before, and therefore, it is normal that you have many unanswered questions. In this page we hope to answer at least some of your questions about this delicate subject, including: How do I get death certificate? Where can a service be held? Can I actively participate in the service / ceremony? How long between the death and the service?