Our Cremation Services

Our traditional cremation package: from £3,850

This includes the Falkirk Council cremation fee, along with:

• bringing your loved one safely into our care, and their personal care before the service
• a choice of two coffins, with the option to upgrade
• arranging everything with you, at our funeral home or in the comfort of your own home
• visiting your loved one in our visiting room.
• all the necessary paperwork, and our professional fees
• a hearse and one family limousine
• 24-hour support, and continuous aftercare

Like all our packages, it’s a starting point. We add or remove anything to suit your family. See our full price list on the funeral costs page.

Understanding the costs

The Falkirk Council cremation fee is currently £1,180.30, and it’s already included in our package price, so there’s no separate bill from the crematorium. The main things families sometimes add are:

• an extra limousine (£250)
• a minister, priest or celebrant to lead the service (usually £200 to £300)
• a horse-drawn hearse (£950)
• flowers, an order of service, or a paper notice in the local newspaper.

We’ll give you a clear, printed estimate at the start, so there are no surprises later. If you receive certain benefits, you may be able to get help with the funeral costs through the Funeral Support Payment from Social Security Scotland.

Falkirk Crematorium

Most cremations for families in the Falkirk area take place at Falkirk Crematorium. We’ll book the service time with you, make all the necessary arrangements with the crematorium, and be there alongside you right through the day until we take you to the funeral reception if one is planned.

If you’d prefer a different crematorium, we can arrange that too.

How we arrange a cremation service

1. Call us on 01324 636446, at any hour. We’ll bring your loved one into the care of our family from their place of passing, and they will rest here with us until the day of their service.  
2. We meet with you in the comfort of your own home or at our funeral home to talk about your loved one and what you’d like for their service. There’s no rush, and you don’t need to decide everything at once.  We will leave you with all the options available for you to discuss with family members so you can decide on what’s best for you all.
3. We take care of all of the arrangements: the crematorium booking, the paperwork, the officiant, the flowers and the cars. We’ll explain how to register the death, which in Scotland must be done within 8 days.
4. You can visit your loved one in our beautiful visiting room as often as you’d like before their service day.
5. On the day, we are there alongside you, guiding you right through until the end, and we will then take you to the venue of the reception if you have one planned.  Once your loved one’s ashes are ready, we will bring them back into our care and call you to let you know so that we can arrange a time for you to collect them, or we can bring them safely to you.

Choosing the service

The service can be held entirely in the crematorium, or you might begin with a church service or a place such as a private service room in a hotel or similar venue, before the committal. It can be religious or non-religious, led by a minister, a priest, a humanist or a celebrant.

You can leave from your home address or the address of your loved one, from our premises or meet at the crematorium, and for something a little different we can arrange an alternative hearse such as a  horse-drawn or motorbike. We’ll also help with the order of service design, music, flowers and funeral tea venue and catering.

Making it personal

The small things are often what really matters and what families remember most. You might choose music they loved, a reading from someone close to them, photographs in the order of service, a slide show to play during the service, or flowers in their favourite colour. All of these things are what make their service unique, and whatever you have in mind, we will do whatever we can to make it possible.Your loved one can be dressed in their own clothes, and you can request donations to a charity close to their heart instead of flowers. We will also share the details on our funeral notices page and through the Much Loved Memorial Page, which we create on all our Facebook announcements. This allows people to know when and where the service and reception will take place, along with all other details of the service.

What happens following the service with our loved one’s ashes?

After the cremation, we can collect the ashes and return them to you. Families choose to:

• keep them at home
• scatter them somewhere meaningful
• inter them in a family lair (see burial funerals)
• keep a little in a memorial keepsake or piece of ashes jewellery. One family told us we helped them arrange “memorial rings containing her ashes”. See our memorial keepsakes.

Prefer something simpler?

If you’d rather have a cremation without a service, our direct cremation is £1,450, all-inclusive. You can compare all of our options on the funeral services page.

A local family looking after yours

Merrilees is independent and family-owned. When you call us, you’ll speak to Andrew, Samantha or another member of our family-based team, and we will be the ones looking after your loved one in our funeral home.  We have our own on-site, state-of-the-art mortuary fully equipped with everything to allow us to care for your loved one in the most dignified, safe and professional manner possible. We conduct the service on the day and are there alongside you from start to finish, until taking you to the reception venue afterwards if you have one planned. Read our full story. We care for families across the Falkirk District and surrounding areas, including Grangemouth, Polmont, Larbert, Stenhousemuir, Bo’ness, Denny and Bonnybridge. 

Questions families ask

Are there doctors’ fees for cremation?
Not in Scotland. There are no doctors’ fees for a cremation here.

Can we see our loved one before the funeral?
Yes. You’re welcome to visit them in our beautiful visiting room, by appointment, at no charge.

Do we have to hold the service at the crematorium?
No. Many families hold a service first, then go to the crematorium for a short committal service afterwards.  Services prior to a cremation can be held in places such as churches, the service room within the crematorium, a hotel function room or a private venue function room.  This really is down to personal preference and is subject to the venue’s agreement and availability. These options are the same when a family chooses a burial for their loved one’s committal.  Again, we can arrange all of this for our families.

Can our loved one’s ashes be placed in the Garden of Remembrance or placed into a private plot later?
Yes. Ashes can be interred in a family lair or scattered in an area within the Garden of Remembrance at any crematorium, and we can help arrange these with the council.