How to Make a Funeral Program

Making a funeral program is often handed to one person in the family, usually with very little time and no previous experience. If that person is you, this guide is meant to sit beside you while you work. It walks through the whole process from start to finish – gathering information, choosing a format and design, laying out each page, writing the words, preparing the photo, checking everything, printing, folding and handing the programs out – so you know what comes next at every stage and can spend less time on logistics and more time with the people who matter.

Each section links to a more detailed article if you want to go deeper on one part. If you are very short of time, read the summary below, then jump to the section you need.

The process at a glance

1. Gather the facts and confirm the order of service with the officiant
2. Choose a format (folded booklet or flat card) and a size (US Letter or A4)
3. Choose a design that reflects the person
4. Plan what goes on each page
5. Write or adapt the life story, and choose a poem, prayer or verse
6. Choose and prepare the photo
7. Build the program in your chosen tool
8. Proofread with at least two other people
9. Print – at home or at a print shop – and fold
10. Hand out programs on the day, and keep the file for later

For a day-by-day version of these steps when the service is only a few days away, see our funeral program timeline and checklist.

Step 1: Gather the information you'll need

Before you open any software, collect the essentials in one place – a shared note on your phone, a document, or a sheet of paper. Collecting first saves you from stopping and starting while you design, and it gives other family members a single place to check facts.

• Full name, including middle name, maiden name and any nickname
• Dates (and, if you'd like, places) of birth and death
• Service type: funeral, memorial, celebration of life, funeral Mass, graveside, home-going
• Service date, time, venue name and full address
• Officiant's name and title, spelled the way they spell it
• The order of service: music, readings, prayers, speakers – confirmed by the officiant or funeral director
• The names of everyone with a role: readers, soloists, musicians, pallbearers, honorary pallbearers, ushers
• A life story or obituary (see how to write an obituary)
• Interment details, and whether the committal is open to everyone or private
• Reception or repast details
• A poem, prayer or scripture for the back page
• A family acknowledgement
• Memorial donation preferences
• One or more good photos

The order of service is the item most likely to change, so ask the officiant early and ask for it in writing. A program printed before the order is confirmed is the most common reason families end up with a program that does not match the service.

Step 2: Choose a format

The format decides how much you can fit and how you will print it.

• Folded booklet – US Letter: one 8.5×11 inch sheet printed on both sides and folded to 5.5×8.5 inches, giving four pages. This is the standard in the United States and Canada.
• Folded booklet – A4: one A4 sheet folded to A5, giving four pages. This is the standard "order of service" in the UK, Ireland, Australia and much of the world.
• Eight-page booklet: two sheets nested and usually stapled. For long services, printed hymns, Catholic Masses with responses, or programs with many photos.
• Flat 5×7 card: printed on both sides. Ideal for short, small or informal services, or when time is very tight.

If you are unsure, choose the four-page folded booklet in the paper size used where you live. Our full guide to funeral program sizes, paper and folding compares every option, including paper weights and finishes.

Step 3: Pick a design that feels like them

Think about the person, not just the occasion. Did they love the garden? The ocean? Were they a person of deep faith, or more at home at a backyard barbecue? A sage-green botanical design, a navy and gold design for a veteran, a Marian blue design for a devout Catholic, or a bright celebration-of-life design can all be equally respectful.

A few practical points as you choose:

• Religious or neutral imagery. Crosses, doves and lilies are traditional for Christian services; botanical, ocean and plain designs suit secular services and mixed families. See our non-religious funeral program guide.
• Photo frame shape. Some designs use an oval or arch frame, which suits a head-and-shoulders portrait; others use a rectangle, which suits a wider photo.
• Color and printing. Designs with color running to the edge of the page look rich but need a print shop that trims (see bleed and crop marks). Designs with a white border are easier to print at home.
• Readability. Pale text on a pale background, or text over a busy pattern, is hard to read in a dim chapel.

In our funeral program maker you can switch between fourteen themes without losing any of your text, which makes it easy to try a few with the family before deciding.

Step 4: Plan what goes on each page

A four-page program is usually arranged like this:

• Page 1 (cover): heading ("In Loving Memory," "Celebrating the Life of"), photo, full name, dates, and the service date, time and place
• Page 2 (inside left): the life story or obituary
• Page 3 (inside right): the order of service
• Page 4 (back): poem or prayer, pallbearers, interment, reception, acknowledgement

Variations are common. Catholic programs often use both inside pages for the order of the Mass and move a shorter life story to the back. Home-going programs often give the obituary a full page and add an eight-page center spread of photos. A celebration of life might replace the formal order of service with a short, friendly agenda. Our checklist of what to include in a funeral program covers every element page by page, including optional extras.

How much fits

On a 5.5×8.5 inch page at a comfortable reading size (10–12 point body text), you can usually fit roughly 300 to 450 words of life story, or an order of service of about ten to fourteen items. If your content doesn't fit, edit, or step up to an eight-page booklet. Don't shrink the type – many guests at a funeral are older, and the light is often dim.

Step 5: Write the words

The life story

If an obituary has already been written for the newspaper or funeral home website, you can reuse it, trimmed to fit. If not, a simple structure helps: an opening line with name, age and date of death; early life; work and service; family; what they loved and how they will be remembered; and, if you are not listing survivors elsewhere, the closest family. Our guide on how to write an obituary for a parent walks through it with full examples, and our obituary writer can produce a first draft in four tones from your answers.

Write specifically. "She was kind" says less than "No child left her kitchen without a cookie, and no adult without advice."

The order of service

Copy it from the officiant's confirmed version. List each item on the left and the person or title on the right, so people can follow along easily. Bold the parts where the congregation joins in – hymns, the Lord's Prayer, responses. For the shape of particular traditions, see our Catholic funeral program guide, Christian order of service examples and UK order of service guide.

The back page

Choose a poem, prayer or verse that suits the person. Our collections of funeral poems for programs and Bible verses for funeral programs include full texts and notes on copyright. Then add the practical details guests need – interment, reception, donations – and a short acknowledgement from the family. You'll find many examples in our funeral program wording ideas.

Step 6: Choose and prepare the photo

Pick a photo where the person looks like themselves, with their face clear and reasonably large in the frame. A recent photo is the most common choice, but many families choose one from the time of life the person seemed happiest. If the family can't agree, put one on the cover and another on the back.

Get the best version of the file:

• Ask whoever took it to send the original, not a copy through a messaging app that compresses images
• Scan printed photos flat on a scanner, rather than photographing them at an angle
• For a cover photo about 4 inches wide, aim for roughly 1,200 pixels across or more
• Lighten dark photos slightly – they print darker than they look on screen

Our guide to choosing and preparing photos for a funeral program covers scanning, resolution, cropping and collages in detail.

Step 7: Build the program

You can build a program in a word processor, a design tool, or a dedicated maker. Each has strengths:

• Microsoft Word is familiar and good for text, with a built-in Book Fold layout for booklets. Floating text boxes and photos can drift when you edit.
• Google Docs is excellent for collaborating on wording with family, but has no booklet mode and limited layout control.
• Canva gives design freedom and can export print-shop PDFs with bleed, but page order for folding needs care.
• A dedicated funeral program maker handles layout and printing specs for you, at the cost of some creative freedom.

Our honest comparison of making a funeral program in Word, Google Docs or Canva explains where the time usually goes in each.

In our funeral program template, you fill in a single guided form – name, dates, service details, order of service, life story, poem, pallbearers, acknowledgement – and the pages lay themselves out as you type. You can preview the whole program for free with a watermark, and share the preview with family and the officiant before deciding to download.

Step 8: Proofread – with help

Mistakes in funeral programs almost always come from fatigue, not carelessness, and the person who made the program is the least likely to spot them. Build proofreading into the plan:

• Print a copy and read it on paper
• Do separate passes for names, numbers (dates, times, addresses, scripture references) and days of the week – checking each day against a calendar
• Read the life story aloud
• Ask two other people with specific jobs: one checks names, dates and relationships; one reads it fresh as a guest would
• Send the proof to the officiant or funeral director to check the order of service
• Re-check after the final edit, because last-minute changes are where new errors appear

Our list of common funeral program mistakes includes a full proofreading checklist.

Step 9: Print and fold

At home

Home printing works well for up to about a hundred programs on a reliable printer that prints double-sided. Use a slightly heavier paper than everyday copy paper so photos don't show through. Print one test copy first, fold it, and check the page order before printing the rest. When printing a folded booklet, choose "flip on short edge" – the most common home-printing mistake is the inside printing upside down. See how to print funeral programs at home for step-by-step settings.

At a print shop

A print shop is the better choice for larger quantities, heavier card stock, full-bleed designs or eight-page stapled booklets. Send a print-ready PDF with bleed, crop marks and fold marks, and ask for a single proof copy before the full run. Our guide to bleed, crop marks and fold marks explains the terminology and includes a short script for the phone call.

Folding

Fold on a hard surface, line up the corners before pressing, and run a bone folder or the back of a spoon along the crease. Score heavy card stock first, or ask the print shop to score it. Folding a hundred programs takes longer than people expect, so share the job – it's a concrete way for friends who want to help to do something useful.

How many to print

Estimate the number of guests with the funeral director's help, and add a margin for latecomers, for keepsakes, and for relatives who would like a copy posted to them. It's better to have a few left over than to run out at the door.

Step 10: On the day and afterwards

Give the programs to the funeral director, an usher or a trusted friend who will hand them out at the door. Keep a small stack aside for the immediate family before they are all given away.

Afterwards, keep the digital file. Families often want extra copies for relatives abroad, for anniversaries, for memory boxes or for the unveiling of a headstone. Images of each page can be shared by email or message with people who couldn't attend.

If you're also sending thank-you notes, our funeral thank-you note wording guide has examples for flowers, donations, food, pallbearers and more.

If the funeral home is also involved

Many funeral homes offer to produce programs as part of their services. If you'd like to make it yourself, it's perfectly fine to say so. Ask whether they're happy for the family to supply the program, what size and paper they usually use, whether they'll print a PDF you provide, and by when they need it. Agreeing this on the first day avoids two programs being made, and funeral directors are usually glad to help – they often know the venue, the officiant and the local print shops well.

How long does it all take?

The design work is usually the shortest part. With the information in front of you, building a four-page program in a template-based maker takes around twenty to forty minutes. The time goes on waiting – for the confirmed order of service, for the photo decision, for family to check the proof – and on printing and folding. That's why it pays to start the information-gathering and photo choice as early as possible.

A note on looking after yourself

Making the program is emotionally demanding work. You'll be reading the dates of a life over and over, looking through photographs, and writing about someone in the past tense, perhaps for the first time. Work in short sessions, let others check your work, and remember that "good and finished" is better than "perfect and late." Nobody at the service will judge the program's design. They'll be grateful that someone took the care to make it.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to make a funeral program?

Once you have the information, the program itself can be built in under an hour. Allow a day or two for confirming details and proofreading, and time for printing and folding.

What size is a standard funeral program?

US Letter folded to 5.5×8.5 inches in North America; A4 folded to A5 in most other countries.

Can I make a funeral program for free?

You can build one in a word processor for free. In our maker, building the program and viewing a watermarked preview is free; the print-ready PDF without the watermark costs $4.99 – see pricing.

Who usually makes the funeral program?

A family member, the funeral home, the church office, or a combination. If you want to make it yourself, tell the funeral director early so two versions aren't made.

What if we need a program by tomorrow?

Use a flat 5×7 card with the essentials – name, dates, photo, service details and a short reading – and print at home or at a same-day copy center. Ask one other person to check names and dates before printing.