Would you get married at a funeral home?

by KristenJanuary 20, 2011 0

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Photo via USA Today

Funeral homes are now marketing themselves as “not just a place to mourn the dead, but as sites for events celebrating the living, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, holiday parties and proms,” reports USA Today.

Having your wedding at a funeral home is often less expensive than at other venues, and the settings, which often feature ornate stained glass, fountains, and lush landscaping, are ideal for wedding photos.

“Over the past five to six years, more and more funeral homes are offering the use of their facilities to the greater community, whether it’s hosting a full-blown wedding reception or offering meeting space to an organized community group,” says Emilee High of the Wisconsin-based National Funeral Directors Association.

In a 2010 association survey, almost 10% of the 627 funeral home owners who responded said they owned or offered a community or family center in addition to traditional funeral facilities.

Of course there are concerns that guests will find the setting morbid. Bride Paulita Flores had originally planned on getting married in the outdoor courtyard of Indianapolis’s Community Life Center last year, which has a clear view of the facility’s cemetery, but was glad she moved the event indoors, the article explains.

“I was worried that people…would be creeped out,” she says. “I was worried that when taking pictures, it (the cemetery) would be in the background.”

But if the proximity to gravestones is a drawback for some people, it can be a selling point for others says Keith Norwalk, president of Indianapolis’ Crown Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery. “We had one situation where a young woman wanted to be married near her grandmother’s grave,” he says. “It was meaningful to the family.”

What do you think of this growing trend? Would you have your wedding ceremony or reception at a funeral home if the price and setting were right? Or does the idea of it give you the heebie-jeebies?