What are funeral alternatives?
Alternatives to funerals often provide families with greater flexibility, emotional comfort, and the freedom to choose something that feels truly right.
They’re increasingly popular across the UK as families look for meaningful options that feel more aligned with modern life, spiritual values, or environmental concerns. These may include direct cremation, unattended cremation, green burials, and even private memorials held at home.
Instead of following a set formula, alternative funerals allow you to focus on what matters most — remembering the person in a way that feels right to you.
Understanding alternative funeral options
Creating a funeral arrangements checklist is one of the main tasks or roles that you may need to undertake in the days and weeks after a loved one dies. While some families feel most comfortable with a traditional approach, others will look to honour the person who has died in a different way. The choice is very much up to you and those closest to you.
Many people seek alternative funerals and non-traditional ideas, and there are also many who feel that a traditional funeral is the right fit for them and their loved one. The choice of cremation or burial is one that is deeply personal and for the close family to make.
Here are a few things you might consider:
Why more people are choosing funeral alternatives
There are several reasons why families are choosing to step away from tradition and explore funeral alternatives:
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Cost: The average funeral in the UK now costs several thousand pounds. In contrast, a direct cremation is typically less than half that amount, making it one of the most affordable options available.
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Flexibility: There’s no pressure to plan a service within days. You can hold a memorial later, at a location and time that suits everyone.
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Personalisation: From music and readings to outdoor venues and informal gatherings, alternative funerals let you reflect someone’s personality and values more openly.
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Environmental impact: Natural burials, water cremation (where available), and biodegradable options offer a way to minimise environmental harm and honour eco-conscious beliefs.
You may find it helpful to speak with a close friend or family member so you can share funeral suggestions and talk through what feels right.
Non-traditional funeral ideas
We hope that by presenting you with some unique alternatives for a non-traditional funeral, you can find something that feels right and appropriate to commemorate the person who has died.
Celebration of life ceremonies
These types of events primarily focus on joy, memories, and sharing life stories rather than mourning. While anyone may find a celebration of life appropriate, some families feel they are particularly appropriate when remembering a young member of the family.
Because you are no longer bound by tradition, you may feel you have far more freedom to personalise the ceremony. Examples of how some choose to do this include music choices, such as incorporating modern funeral songs or even fun and uplifting funeral songs, speeches, locations beyond the traditional church setting, and sometimes even the use of humour where appropriate.
Something as simple as changing the venue from a church or crematorium to an outdoor space that meant something to the person who has died can change the tone of the event. Being outside and feeling connected with them by being somewhere they loved to be may help to change the way some of the more traditional members of the family approach the day, particularly for a non-religious funeral.
It may even help to foster the sensation of feeling the energy of your loved one, even after they’re gone.
Memorial gatherings without a formal service
Some families choose to have informal memorial services that stand alone without the addition of any form of formal service. These are sometimes private or family-only ceremonies at home, or something perhaps a little more open in a public space such as woodland or a nature reserve. Others prefer our intimate funeral service and that’s something we’re always available to help with.
There are some who find that the lack of structure is refreshing and allows them to process the death in the family how they wish. Being able to simply meet and then talk with close family and friends without the added pressure of feeling like you have to abide by certain unwritten rules could help remove a degree of pressure.
Popular alternatives to burial and cremation
Alternative ways to remember a loved one also extend beyond the traditional choice between a cremation vs burial. Taking a look at the options some other families choose may help you to decide what feels right for your family.
Green and eco-friendly funerals
Natural burials and woodland burial sites offer a chance to allow the person who has died to become one with nature, providing a serene alternative to traditional cremation or burial. This may feel like the right choice if they were spiritual, felt a deep connection with the world around them, or if you knew they were very eco-conscious.
A green funeral can take many shapes and forms, with no strict traditions or layers of formality. That said, they are often typified by several key features that are not typically present when organising a traditional funeral:
- Biodegradable coffins that will return to the earth by natural breaking down are often preferred to traditional wooden or metal ones.
- Eco-friendly shrouds that will break down alongside organic material are also used and embalming the body is generally not done
- Hosting the ceremony in a green space that permits burials, as opposed to indoors, may help everyone feel connected with nature in a way the person who has died would have wished
Other choices involve the overall environmental impact of the ceremony, such as:
- Printing any memorial books or orders of service with natural inks and on recycled card or paper
- Providing organic or ethically sourced food and drink served with compostable plates and cups
- Opting for a seasonal event that can be held purely outdoors without the use of electricity, heating, or lighting to reduce the carbon footprint
- Asking for donations for a tree planting initiative so that the carbon capture can offset the carbon footprint of both the ceremony and all of the associated travel is a thoughtful addition to a non-traditional funeral.
Water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis)
Water cremation is an eco-friendly process that uses a specific combination of gentle heat, water, and an alkaline solution to help break down the body. Although legal but not rolled out in the UK at the time of writing, it may offer something of an interesting alternative for those who wish to minimise their environmental impact:
- Water cremation uses only a fraction of the energy of a traditional cremation because it works at much lower temperatures. A water cremation also avoids the need to use fossil fuels and the large carbon footprint that may result, making it a future eco-friendly option for a funeral in the UK.
- A water cremation isn’t hot enough for any of the harmful toxins that are present in the body to be emitted into the air. Something as simple and common as a mercury filling, for example, can release harmful toxins in the air when subject to the high temperatures used in a traditional cremation
- Considering a water cremation can also help conserve land usage as it requires much less space than the burial plot for a traditional funeral
Efforts are currently ongoing in the funeral industry to develop a standardised way to carry out water cremations. The goal is to make them safe for all involved and for the environment as a whole so that families have an additional eco-friendly option to consider.
Human composting (Terramation)
Human composting turns remains into nutrient-rich soil that can feed plant life and continue the cycle of life for those who feel spiritual or deeply rooted in nature. Although it is not currently legal in the UK, there is a growing movement that is pushing to change this.
Terramation has become increasingly common in some U.S. states where it is being seen as the natural next step in green funerals. Some families choose to plant a tree in the soil that has been enriched to create a personal form of living memorial. Having a place they can go to that grows and evolves over time can help them process the death of a loved one by showing that life always continues, but that sometimes it simply decides to take on new forms.
Even if you decide not to look into this idea further, you may find that simply reading about it helps you process your emotions. Thinking of life as something that always continues, but just in a different form, may help you look at death in a new way. That said, if this just doesn’t feel right for you, there is never any pressure to conform to a particular way of thinking or school of thought.
