Where to place the cremation urn for ashes?

Because there are so many beautiful and unique urns for ashes available, you may have difficulty in making the right selection. Before making the ‘final’ decision it must be decided where to put ashes from cremation of your loved one. If it is going to be placed at home or in a columbarium niche, what size and shape urn can it accommodate? Will it be interred in your garden, an urn garden, an ashes plot or for example a family grave? Will the urn be placed indoor or outdoor? Does your cemetery or columbarium require a specific type of urn be used? You also may wish to keep a small amount of the ashes in a keepsake urn or item of ash jewellery. These are some of the things you should take into account before you make your selection.

Do I need to know what I want to do with the ashes before the cremation?

More and more people are taking the ashes home in a temporary container to be able to make a thought out decision at a later time. As a relative, you can choose between different ways of giving the ashes a good resting place at a later moment.

Most common places to place the urn

Most urns and keepsake urns are placed at home. Usually together with a photo and a candle. In this way a special memorial is created. It is also possible to place the urn in your garden. This can be done on a pedestal or in an urn cellar under an urn monument or memorial stone.

Many urns are placed in a so-called columbarium at the cemetery. The columbarium is an urn wall with individual slots for each urn and family. The urn is placed in a cove forming a mini altar. This is a space of about 40 x 40 cm, however, this is different per cemetery. A so-called urn garden is present at most cemeteries today. Here you will find urn monuments, dispersion areas and commemorative monuments. In addition, the scattering of (a part of) the ashes at a place that evokes a special emotional memory is also possible. After all, more and more people are wearing an ash pendant or an ash jewel.

Which urn should I choose?

Choosing the right urn really depends on what you intend to do with your loved one’s ashes. There are four main options available:

Keep (a part of) the ashes at home in a cremation urn, casket or item of jewellery

Usually, ashes are kept in a decorative urn at home. The receptacle from the crematorium containing the ashes is put in a decorative urn. You may wish to keep your loved one’s ashes close to you as an everlasting memory by placing them into an urn, casket or item of ashes jewellery. We have a range of cremation urns and many kinds of ash caskets available which are suitable to be kept either indoors in a favourite place or outdoors. With the right ash casket and ashes jewellery, you’ll have a small part of your loved one with you for always. You could keep a little of the ashes and scatter the rest.

Burial of the ashes or placing in a (family grave), placing in an urn-wall

You may choose to bury the urn or casket in an ashes plot or family grave, alternatively they can be interred in a columbarium or crypt. It is also possible to choose for a biodegradable urn. These urns are specially designed to be durable and will not begin to biodegrade until they are placed in earth or water. This allows families to wait until they are ready to bury the ashes.

It is possible to place the ash container in an existing grave. Many crematory and graveyards have a so-called urn-wall. In this wall are re-sealable niches in which to place one or more urns. The space can be sealed with grave decorations such as beautiful text or photo plaque. The undertaker can help the bereaved with these arrangements.

Funeral homes, crematory and graveyards often have urn graves. The same regulations tend to apply to urn graves and family graves. More than one urn can be placed in an urn grave. It is usually a small cement cellar, closed with a beautiful plaque with text and/or photo’s. The advantage of this is that it may be placed close to home, so it can be visited easily. It is also possible to place the urn in a (family) grave in a graveyard. For instance, one partner may want to be buried and the other cremated. The undertaker can tell you all about the possibilities and help with the arrangements.

Scatter the ashes

It is possible to scatter (part of) the ashes in a place that evokes special memories or emotions. There are special scattering urns. You could choose a wood, park or favourite nature haunt, or fishing spot. The owner of that place must give permission in advance. Your undertaker might be able to help. Other possibilities are scattering the cremated ashes at sea by ship or airplane.

If you choose scattering the ashes at sea, you can do this with or without guests. Crematory use specialized firms to scatter ashes at sea; they collect the ashes from various crematory, sail out to sea and scatter the ashes (separately). If you choose to scatter the ashes privately, a ship will be rented for you. The crematorium may be ordered to handle this or you may engage a specialized firm.

If you scatter the ashes on your own grounds, please keep in mind that these grounds may in the future change hands or be differently used. You cannot take the ashes with you if you move house. Consider carefully before you scatter ashes in a specific place.

Leave the ashes in a biodegradable urn in a special place or at sea

More and more people value ecologically sound products. You will find several ecological urns on our website. These urns stay in an excellent state until buried or left at sea, by making use of 100% biodegradable materials. This way the ashes are reclaimed by nature.

Custom made urns

Do you have a special request? Do you want to design or customize an urn for ashes, an ash pendant or a memorial monument? We are happy to help you. In addition to our standard range of memorial products, we are happy to help you with specific questions and specific requests. Whether it is a personal cremation urn, a special cast to engrave, a special jewel or a specially designed urn monument; we make every effort to meet your wishes.

More information about costum made urns or feel free to contact us by mail or phone.