If you’ve lost a loved one, their headstone will be a place you and other family members go to and visit them. For this reason, you want their headstone to be an appropriate memorial of their life — one that includes a fitting epitaph. Here are a few suggestions for choosing an epitaph that’s personal, well said, and meaningful.

How to Choose an Epitaph

Keep It Brief

Whatever words you choose will be added to the headstone with engraving techniques, so they need to fit into the space provided, and there will be a minimum size for the lettering. With this in mind, it’s necessary to keep your message simple and concise.

Consider What They Would Say

The epitaph isn’t necessarily what you want to say about the deceased. Often, it’s the final thing your loved one would want to say to the world. Think about what was important to them when you make your decision, and focus the message on what they would have found meaningful.

Look at Poetry, Quotes, & Scripture

When words fail us, chances are someone else has already said what you’re trying to convey. Look at existing quotes — especially those your loved one found meaningful — for an epitaph or inspiration for writing one.

Decide Whose Point of View to Use

Your loved one’s headstone will be visited by family and friends for years to come. For many, an epitaph written from the deceased’s point of view is a source of comfort, as if they were still here and speaking directly. However, it may be easier to write using your own point of view — this decision is a personal one.

An everlasting memorial provides the family with a wonderful way to honor the deceased, and they can be designed as simply or uniquely as you prefer. When choosing a memorial keep a few of these important factors in mind.

What You Need to Know Before Purchasing a Memorial Monument

1. It Takes Time to Produce

Monuments are personalized to memorialize the individual. The design process can take some time and sometimes multiple revisions to meet the family’s vision of how it should look. Once the family approves a design the process of putting the design on the stone begins. It is important to put lettering and artwork on the memorial correctly the first time. Doing the work carefully can be time consuming. It often takes a few weeks.

2. Numerous Options

The beauty of a monument is that it’s truly a testament to the life and soul of the deceased. It can be beautifully personalized using all manner of techniques including sandblasting, custom engraving, & etching. Your design team can engrave specific words, phrases, poems, passages, or lyrics onto the surface. You can even have it shaped to honor something that the deceased loved. There are many colors of granite to choose from. Of course, you can keep it simple, too, with the name, dates of birth and death, and a photo or symbol.

3. A Concrete Foundation is Necessary

In order to ensure the memorial will sit level forever a properly made concrete foundation is needed. Much like a house foundation the foundation under a memorial must be deeper than the frost line. Deep foundations require good soil conditions. Weather can be unpredictable and can occasionally cause delays if the soil isn’t just right for the work to be done properly.

Has anybody ever driven past your home a thousand times because they couldn’t see your house numbers? Have you ever done it when looking for a specific address? It’s a nightmare when you don’t know where you’re going. One way to make sure nobody ever gets lost when looking for your home is by getting a custom engraving of your address on a landscape boulder. It’s impossible to miss, and it has more than just one benefit. Here’s a closer look at its advantages.

Why Invest in an Engraved Landscape Boulder?

1. Stand Out

Adding a custom engraving to a landscaping boulder can really help your property stand out from the rest of the homes in your neighborhood. You can stand out even more by looking into engraving custom designs and messages.

2. Let People Know Where You Live

When somebody gives you a street address to find, it’s really easy to drive right past it without seeing the numbers. If your house numbers are small, hidden, or not easily visible from the street, people can have trouble finding your house. But if your house number is engraved into a boulder in your front yard, it’s almost impossible to miss.

3. Upgrade Your Landscape

Landscape boulders help you upgrade your landscape in a few ways. First, they add a timeless look to your lawn, garden, or property. They add an aura of age and wisdom to your property that naturally blends in. They can help spice up flower beds, boring walkways, and uneven land. And the best part about them is that they won’t die when you’re away on vacation.

4. Personalize Your Property

A custom engraving can really add a personal touch to your property. Landscape boulders can be engraved with anything from family seals and mottos to names and numbers. If you want to create a monument or memorial for a family member, you can engrave a landscape boulder to do so. If you want to display one of your custom designs or drawings, a custom engraving on a landscape boulder is the perfect place to do so.

A headstone is a permanent and visible way of memorializing a loved one, so it’s only natural to pick something that properly honors them. There are a lot of options out there with endless ways to customize the monuments. To help you navigate the selection process, the team at Hirons Memorial Works in Mount Orab, OH, explains how to go about selecting and designing a stone.

How to Choose a Headstone

1. Cemetery Rules
The most common rule you’ll find at a cemetery is a limitation on the stone’s dimensions. Some even only allow for flat markers with no upright stone allowed.

2. Choose a granite color

Granite comes in a variety of colors. The general trend is the darker colors are more expensive than lighter colors like grey. There are simply more places in the world where grey granite can be quarried than other colors so competition lowers the price. The light red colors are in the middle price wise. Dark reds and black color granite can be the most expensive. Once you know your tombstone color start looking at the different shapes and decide if you prefer a polished finish or a more rustic look with a pitched finish. Once the stone is decided on the lettering and artwork can be customized to look like it belongs on that stone.

3. Customize

There are three major considerations with a custom engraving: the inscription, the font, and images. Most stones feature the deceased’s name, birth date, death date, and other relevant information you wish. This could include an epitaph such as poetry or quotes. Choose an easily readable font for the inscriptions, with a script or italic for epitaphs. If you would like to add an image, some common options include portrait images of your loved one, an image that means something to them such them with their favorite car, an image of their home, or symbols. Religious symbols such as crosses or stars are common, as well as symbols that recognize their accomplishments, organization membership, military service, or passions.

When you’re ready to start shopping, visit Hirons Memorial Works. They have the largest headstone selection in the area, and their skilled craftsman use cutting-edge tools to create a beautiful result in a custom engraving. They can guide you through selecting and designing a stone that will properly memorialize your loved one. Visit their website for more information on their headstones, and contact them at (888) 444-6356 for any questions about the company.