Funeral Program Templates
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The standard bi-fold funeral program template
This is the program almost every funeral home hands out: one sheet of letter paper turned sideways, folded once down the middle, four panels of 5.5 by 8.5 inches. Copy the text below and work through it from top to bottom.
Standard funeral program template: bi-fold, 4 panels
Traditional Protestant or non-denominational service
FRONT COVER
In Loving Memory
[Full name, written the way people said it]
[Month D, YYYY] – [Month D, YYYY]
[Photograph]
[Optional single line: “Beloved wife, mother and grandmother” or one short verse]
INSIDE LEFT: ORDER OF SERVICE
Funeral Service for [Full name] [Day], [Month D, YYYY], at [Time] [Church or funeral home], [City, State] Officiating: [Name and title]
Prelude ............................ [Organist or musician] Processional ....................... [Hymn or piece] Welcome and Opening Prayer ......... [Name] Old Testament Reading .............. [Passage], read by [Name] Hymn ............................... [Title] New Testament Reading .............. [Passage], read by [Name] Words of Remembrance ............... [Name], [relationship] Eulogy ............................. [Name] Musical Selection .................. [Title], [performer] Closing Prayer and Benediction ..... [Name] Recessional ........................ [Hymn or piece]
INSIDE RIGHT: LIFE STORY
[Full name] [Month D, YYYY] – [Month D, YYYY]
[Obituary, 250 to 350 words. Where and to whom they were born; school, military service and work; marriage; two or three specific things they actually did; who survives them; who preceded them.]
BACK COVER
Pallbearers [Name] [Name] [Name] [Name] [Name] [Name]
Honorary Pallbearers [Names]
Interment [Cemetery], [City, State]
Reception [Location], immediately following the service
Acknowledgement The family of [Full name] thanks you for your prayers, your kindness and your presence today. Every card, every meal and every quiet word has helped carry us through this week. We are grateful beyond what we can say here.
[Optional closing verse or short poem]
Arrangements entrusted to [Funeral home], [City, State]
Two notes before you fill it in. The dotted leaders are only there to keep the eye moving across the panel; you can delete them and set the names flush right instead. And the order of service on the inside left must match what the officiant actually intends to do, so confirm it with them rather than with the person who told you about it. If you want to see this same template with a family’s details already in place, the worked version is on funeral program examples.
Templates for other services
The four-panel shape stays the same. What changes is the order of service and the wording around it.
Catholic funeral program template: Mass of Christian Burial
Follows the Order of Christian Funerals
FRONT COVER
The Mass of Christian Burial for [Full name] [Month D, YYYY] – [Month D, YYYY]
[Photograph]
[Parish name], [City, State] [Day, Month D, YYYY], at [Time]
INSIDE LEFT: INTRODUCTORY RITES AND LITURGY OF THE WORD
Celebrant: [Rev. Name] Deacon: [Name] Music: [Cantor], [Organist]
Greeting and Sprinkling with Holy Water Placing of the Pall Entrance Hymn ................ [Title] Opening Prayer
First Reading ................ [Passage], [Reader] Responsorial Psalm ........... [Psalm] Second Reading ............... [Passage], [Reader] Gospel Acclamation Gospel ....................... [Passage] Homily ....................... [Rev. Name] General Intercessions ........ [Reader]
INSIDE RIGHT: LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST AND FINAL COMMENDATION
Presentation of the Gifts .... [Names] Offertory Hymn ............... [Title] Eucharistic Prayer The Lord’s Prayer Sign of Peace Communion .................... [Hymn] Prayer after Communion
Words of Remembrance ......... [Name], [relationship]
Final Commendation Song of Farewell ............. [Title] Prayer of Commendation Recessional Hymn ............. [Title]
BACK COVER
Rite of Committal [Cemetery], [City, State], immediately following the Mass
Pallbearers [Names]
The family of [Full name] thanks Father [Name], the parish staff and the musicians of [Parish], and all who have prayed with us this week.
Eternal rest grant unto [him/her], O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon [him/her]. May [he/she] rest in peace. Amen.
Arrangements entrusted to [Funeral home], [City, State]
A parish will usually tell you which readings have been chosen and whether the words of remembrance are permitted and how long they may run. Ask the parish office rather than guessing; they answer this question every week. The full sequence is set out on the Catholic funeral Mass program page.
Homegoing service program template
Black church tradition
FRONT COVER
Celebrating the Homegoing of [Full name]
Sunrise: [Month D, YYYY] Sunset: [Month D, YYYY]
[Photograph]
[Day, Month D, YYYY] at [Time] [Church], [City, State] [Rev. Name], Officiating [Rev. Name], Eulogist
INSIDE LEFT: ORDER OF SERVICE
Processional ......................... Clergy and Family Selection ............................ [Choir or soloist] Old Testament Scripture .............. [Passage], [Reader] New Testament Scripture .............. [Passage], [Reader] Prayer of Comfort .................... [Name] Selection ............................ [Title] Reading of the Obituary .............. [Read silently, or by Name] Acknowledgements, Cards and Resolutions ... [Name] Reflections .......................... Please limit remarks to two minutes Selection ............................ [Title] Eulogy ............................... [Rev. Name] Recessional
Interment ............................ [Cemetery], [City, State] Repast ............................... [Location], following the interment
INSIDE RIGHT: THE LIFE OF [FULL NAME]
[Obituary, 300 to 400 words. Born to the late [Names] in [City, State]. Church home and membership. Work. Marriage and children. What she was known for. Survivors, including the count of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.]
BACK COVER
Pallbearers [Names]
Flower Bearers [Names]
Acknowledgement The family of the late [Full name] acknowledges with deep appreciation your many expressions of love, your prayers, your flowers, your food and your presence. May God bless and keep each of you.
[Optional: a short verse or the first stanza of a hymn]
Professional Services Entrusted to [Funeral home], [City, State]
Celebration of life program template
Non-religious, warmer, less formal
FRONT COVER
A Celebration of the Life of [Name people actually called them] [YYYY] – [YYYY]
[Photograph]
[Day, Month D, YYYY] at [Time] [Venue], [City, State]
INSIDE LEFT: THIS AFTERNOON
Gathering and Music .......... [Playlist, musician or record] Welcome ...................... [Host name] [Name]'s Story ............... [Name], [relationship] A Reading .................... [Title], read by [Name] Open Microphone .............. Anyone who would like to say something Music ........................ [Song title], [artist] A Toast ...................... [Name] Closing Words ................ [Host name]
Please stay afterward for [food and drink]. There is a table of photographs by the window, and a book to write in if you would rather not speak.
INSIDE RIGHT: ABOUT [NAME]
[300 words in plain, warm language. Where they grew up, what they did, who they loved, and the handful of things everyone in the room already associates with them.]
Things [Name] loved: [six to ten short items: a lake, a team, a dog’s name, a card game, a diner, a song, a grandchild’s laugh]
BACK COVER
Thank you [Family name] thanks everyone who has called, cooked, driven and simply shown up over the last two weeks. It has meant more than we managed to say at the time.
In place of flowers [Charity or fund], or something [Name] would have approved of.
Share a photograph or a story [Email address or memorial page]
Single-sheet graveside or memorial program template
One 5.5 x 8.5 card, printed both sides
FRONT
In Memory of [Full name] [Month D, YYYY] – [Month D, YYYY]
[Photograph]
Graveside Service [Day, Month D, YYYY] at [Time] [Cemetery], [City, State]
BACK
Order of Service
Words of Welcome ......... [Officiant] Scripture or Reading ..... [Passage or poem title], [Reader] Remembrances ............. [Names] Prayer ................... [Officiant] Committal ................ [Officiant] Closing
Pallbearers [Names]
The family thanks you for standing with us today.
[Funeral home], [City, State]
What to gather before you fill a template in
Almost everyone starts typing and then stops four lines in because they do not have the cemetery name or the organist’s spelling. Collect this first, in one place, and the filling-in becomes twenty quiet minutes.
The fifteen things a program needs
- Full name as it should appear · plus the nickname, in quotation marks, if people used one
- Dates of birth and death · check them against the funeral home paperwork, not from memory
- Service day, date, start time
- Venue name, city and state · the street address is optional on the program
- Officiant’s name and title · spelled the way they spell it
- The order of service, confirmed · with the officiant or the funeral director
- Hymn and song titles, and who performs each
- Readers and the exact passages they will read
- The obituary text · 250 to 350 words for a bi-fold inside panel
- Pallbearers, first and last names
- Honorary pallbearers, if you are naming any
- Interment location, and whether it is public or private
- Reception or repast location and time
- One good photograph · and two or three more only if you have room
- The funeral home name for the credit line
If the obituary is not written yet, do that before the program. Everything else on the program is a fact you can look up; the obituary is the only part that takes thought. There are complete examples to adapt on obituary examples, and the panel-by-panel breakdown of what belongs where is on what to include in a funeral program.
Which fold to use
| Format | Finished size | What it holds | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bi-fold | 5.5 × 8.5 in, one letter sheet folded once | Cover, full order of service, a 250–350 word obituary, a back page | Almost always. It is what people expect in their hands and what printers set up fastest. |
| Tri-fold | 3.67 × 8.5 in, one letter sheet folded twice | Cover, a short order of service, about 150 words of obituary | The service is brief, or you want something that slips into a jacket pocket. |
| Single sheet | 5.5 × 8.5 or 8.5 × 11 in, printed both sides | Cover and order of service, or order of service and obituary | Graveside services, a second service out of state, or when there is no time to fold three hundred programs by hand. |
| Booklet | 5.5 × 8.5 in, 8 pages, two letter sheets nested and stapled | Everything above, plus photo pages, a full poem and a longer life story | A large service, a long life, or a family who wants the program to be the keepsake. |
Sizes in full, including how many words genuinely fit on each panel, are on funeral program sizes. If you want the panel-by-panel map before you commit to a fold, read funeral program format first.
Word, Canva, or a guided builder
A Word or Canva template
Free, and you can start immediately. The trouble is always the same: the obituary is longer than the box it was designed for, so the text reflows, the photo jumps, and an hour disappears into dragging text boxes at eleven at night.
Templates built for A4 paper also shift everything when opened on US letter. If you go this way, print one test copy and fold it before you do anything else.
A guided builder
You answer questions about the name, the dates, the order of service, the obituary and the pallbearers, and the layout is handled for you. Nothing moves when the text is long, because the design adjusts to the text rather than the other way around.
This is what Reposa does. Build the program free, see it laid out, and only pay if you download the print-ready file. It produces matching prayer cards from the same answers.
Either way, the content is the same content. If a relative has already started a Word file and is finding it soothing to work on, leave them to it. This is not the week to take a task away from someone who wants one.
Templates by tradition and service type
Each of these has the correct order of service written out in full, along with the wording that tradition expects.
- Catholic funeral programOrder of Christian Funerals, with the full Mass
- Christian funeral programThe usual Protestant order, hymns and readings
- Homegoing service programResolutions, reflections and acknowledgements
- Military funeral programHonors, flag folding and Taps
- LDS funeral programSpeaker order, hymns and the family prayer
- Jewish memorial service programKaddish, El Malei Rachamim and shiva details
- Non-religious funeral programA secular order that never mentions faith
- Celebration of life programWarmer, less formal, often held weeks later
Getting it printed
Two things decide whether the program looks right: the paper and the fold. Use a text weight of about 28 to 32 pounds, or a light cover stock if you are having it done at a shop. Ordinary copier paper works, but it shows the photograph poorly and goes limp in a warm church.
Print one complete copy, fold it, and read it before you print the rest. Check the name, the dates, the pallbearers’ names and the start time in that order. Those are the four things families most often catch too late. Paper weights, bleed settings and where to have three hundred copies done overnight are covered on funeral program printing.
You are allowed to do less than you think
There is no rule that a program must have a photograph on every panel, a poem on the back, a family tree, or an eight-page booklet. A single folded sheet with the name, the dates, the order of the service and a line of thanks is a complete program. People will hold it during the service, and later they will find it in a drawer and be glad it exists. None of them will be counting panels.
If you only have an hour, do this: cover, order of service, obituary, acknowledgement. Stop there. The other things are for families who have time and want the work to do, and if that is you, that is a good reason too.
Common questions
What size is a standard funeral program?
How many funeral programs should I print?
Can I use a funeral program template in Microsoft Word?
Do I have to put a photograph on the program?
What if the order of service changes after I print?
Is it disrespectful to use a template?
Who normally writes the funeral program?
Keep reading
- Funeral Program FormatExactly what goes on the front cover, inside left, inside right and back panel of a funeral program, for bi-fold, tri-fold and booklet.
- Funeral Program ExamplesReal funeral program examples for traditional, Catholic, homegoing, military and celebration-of-life services, panel by panel.
- Free Funeral Program TemplatesFree funeral program templates as plain text: copy the wording, fill in the brackets and lay it out yourself. Reposa’s guided builder is a separate option, free to build, with the finished PDF a paid download.
- What to Include in a Funeral ProgramA checklist of everything that belongs in a funeral program, panel by panel, plus the things families most often forget.