Order of Service Template Funeral UK: What to Include and How to Print

What Goes in the Order of Service

The order of service is the booklet mourners hold during the funeral. It tells them what's happening, when to stand, what to sing, and who's speaking. For a Protestant funeral in the UK, a typical order looks like this:

1. Front cover — the deceased's name, dates of birth and death, and a photograph. The date, time, and venue of the service.
2. The service itself — each element listed in sequence: entry music, opening prayer, first hymn (with all verses printed), scripture readings (referenced or printed in full), the eulogy, the sermon, further hymns or music, prayers of commendation, and the committal words.
3. Hymn text — print every verse of every hymn. Half the congregation won't know the words, and hymn books are often unavailable at crematoria. If using Common Worship or Book of Common Prayer liturgy, check whether the text is covered by copyright before printing it — some publishers permit limited non-commercial reproduction with acknowledgement, but there is no blanket permission for all Church of England liturgical texts. Specific modern hymns may require a Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) licence.
4. Back cover — a thank-you message from the family, details of the wake or reception, and information about donations in lieu of flowers (charity name and how to give).

How Many to Print

Order 10–20% more than the expected attendance. A service expecting 80 mourners needs about 95–100 booklets. Extras account for guests who arrive unexpectedly and for family members who want keepsakes. Leftover copies are far cheaper than running out.

DIY: When It Makes Sense

If you have access to a printer and basic design skills, making the order of service yourself saves £100–£300 and gives you complete control over the design. Microsoft Word, Canva, and Apple Pages all have funeral order of service templates. The standard format is an A5 booklet — an A4 sheet folded in half, printed double-sided.

Steps for a clean DIY result:

1. Set your document to A4 landscape with two columns (each column is one A5 page).
2. Design the front cover, inside left, inside right, and back cover as four panels.
3. Print a test copy first. Check that the fold aligns correctly and that text doesn't run into the crease.
4. Use 160–200gsm card for the cover and 100–120gsm paper for inner pages if you're doing a multi-page booklet. For a simple 4-page (single folded sheet), 160gsm throughout works well.
5. Print at home or take the file to a local print shop on a USB stick. Most high-street printers (Snappy Snaps, local copy shops) can turn an A5 booklet around in 24–48 hours.

Professional Printing

Funeral stationery companies (online and high street) produce orders of service on premium card with photographic printing. Expect to pay £1.50–£4 per booklet for quantities of 50–100, with a turnaround of 2–5 working days. Rush orders (next-day delivery) cost more.

Funeral directors often have a preferred printer and will handle the design and ordering for you — for a fee. Ask what that fee is before agreeing. Some directors charge £50–£100 for the design work on top of the printing cost; others include it in their package.

Common Mistakes

Typos in the deceased's name or dates. Sounds obvious, but grief and time pressure make proofreading difficult. Have someone outside the immediate family read the final proof.

Missing hymn verses. Don't print just the first and last verse of a five-verse hymn. The organist plays all five, and the congregation stands awkwardly through the middle three.

No venue or wake details. Guests who travelled from out of town need to know where the wake is. Include the venue name, address, and postcode on the back cover.

Printing too late. Order the printed booklets at least 3–4 working days before the funeral. DIY printing should be done 2 days ahead to leave time for corrections.

A Note on Copyright

Traditional hymns may be out of copyright if the relevant terms have expired, but age alone is not a safe test: UK copyright generally lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, and arrangements or typesetting may have separate rights. Modern worship songs — anything by Keith Getty, Stuart Townend, Matt Redman, and similar writers — are covered by copyright. Churches with a CCLI licence may reproduce covered lyrics in service sheets under its terms. Crematoria sometimes hold their own licence. Ask the venue before printing or projecting copyrighted lyrics; if there's no licence, use an authorised alternative rather than reproducing the words.

For the full service structure — what the vicar says, when the congregation responds, and where the hymns and readings fit — the Protestant Funeral UK guide includes denomination-specific order of service templates ready to adapt.