When the sad time comes that you lose a loved one there is so much to think about, so many emotions to deal with, so many things to organise and yet you just feel empty inside and unable to think about anything but the loved one you miss so much! In that situation it seems such a great help when the funeral director offers to take all the worry off your hands and to organise everything for you. This often includes the funeral arrangements, service, flowers, announcements and invitations as well as the memorial or plaque. You might feel a relief that someone is helping you to arrange everything and quite understandably you feel in good hands in this very sad and difficult time. Sadly this is not always the best option and whilst funeral directors or companies can help to arrange everything for you, they do not have the expertise to give you the advice you need in order to choose the best design for a memorial to honour your loved one. After all you want this to be a loving and everlasting memory so it is important to get this right so you can be proud of the memorial knowing that your loved one would be proud too! There are so many things to consider when choosing a memorial. Firstly there is the type: * is it a funeral or cremation? * has the cemetery restrictions on size? * Is there access to the area where the memorial is to be erected? etc Then there is the shape....Bespoke memorials allow you to be creative to find a design that will work in harmony with the other aspects you would like to display like engravings, pictures or carvings. Then the colour...With a sheer endless choice of colours you can find the one that you love so that you can then ensure that any lettering, engraving or pictures match the colour scheme. Have you got any specific wishes? Has your loved one played a certain instrument that can be incorporated into the design? Or was he or she very fond of dogs or other animals? Would a stairway to heaven be important on the stone? Or a dove, motorbike, ship or certain flowers? This can all be worked into the design to create a truly beautiful memorial. Even for the lettering you have choices of deep carved or raised lead, the font can be important (especially on existing memorials when you try and match the previous inscription) and even the colour of the lettering has to match. So many things to consider and you want everything to be perfect so who better to help you with this than a company who specialises in memorials and deals with granite, designs, inscriptions, engravings, lettering, renovation and cleaning of stones every day. By going direct to the craftsmen you will get a better service and you get the full choice to help and create the perfect design for your memorial. (PS. by going to the memorial company you tend to get a better price too as any agent or middleman in between the funeral company and the specialist would want to earn money too ;)). Let us help you create a bespoke memorial for your loved one that you can be proud of.