<p>Gouf, the post-mortem photos I saw was set up like a family portrait–everyone was posing including the deceased.</p>
<p>I do not understand why anyone would want to be on display or have their loved one put on display after death. The corpse never looks good or at peace, they just look waxy and creepy.</p>
<p>^^^^I agree. I’ve never been at a viewing where I felt anything other than inner horror. It’s not the person I knew. They are gone.</p>
<p>It’s sort of like seeing the skin left behind by a snake after shedding and nodding, smiling, and pretending you are looking at a snake.</p>
<p>Everything old is new again. In the 19th century post-mortem photos were popular. Maybe an effect of the widespread diffusion of affordable photography?</p>
<p>[19th</a> Century Photos of Dead People](<a href=“http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f226/19th-century-photos-dead-people-51514/]**19th”>http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f226/19th-century-photos-dead-people-51514/)</p>
<p>Here is a link to a picture of “Willie the Wimp”, son of Chicago gangster “Flukey” Stokes - in his custom Cadillac Seville casket. This was all over the newspapers a few years ago.</p>
<p>[Willie</a> the Wimp](<a href=“http://www.srvrocks.com/lyrics-willie_the_wimp.htm]Willie”>Willie the Wimp)</p>
<p>
While I understand your difficulty in doing this funeral, I don’t understand why you didn’t get someone else to do it. Did the family want an open casket? I would think the family’s wishes would be paramount.</p>
<p>I’ve lost more people than most, so I guess I can see the beauty in honoring what represents the deceased more than just doing the standard thing.</p>
<p>I’ve often told my husband to put me on the back of a jet-ski and send me off into the sunset. Alas, the laws will apparently not allow this.</p>
<p>So I plan to be in my recliner. ;)</p>
<p>I think it’s awesome to do things like take the biker guy for a ride, or something, but it would be startling to see someone propped up at the piano.</p>
<p>CTTC:
The woman who died was the daughter of a member of my congregation. She did not mind the closed casket during the service. It is customary in our tradition to have a viewing beforehand, but then close the casket for a church funeral, (and in most churches, but not that one, to cover the casket with a pall), since the primary focus is meant to be on the resurrection rather than the death. If she had wanted an open casket, I would have gotten another pastor, of course!</p>
<p>I asked my husband to perform a wedding for me once, because the bride said she “would not feel married if a woman performed the ceremony”, but that’s a whole other topic. The wants of the families come first. By the way, he refused and the bride found another church other than her own for that ceremony…</p>
<p>We have seen pictures, and even videos, at a funeral–but it was for someone who had a lot of relatives in another country.</p>
<p>This recent reddit thread from a funeral director is a fascinating read: <a href="http://www./r/AskReddit/comments/1kfoy5/what_is_a_dirty_little_or_big_secret_about_an/cbp748j%5B/url%5D">http://www./r/AskReddit/comments/1kfoy5/what_is_a_dirty_little_or_big_secret_about_an/cbp748j</a>.</p>
<p>wow, I am constantly amazed at the human condition. Do whatever you want with me after I am dead. Just understand it is 100% for your benefit (the living). I will not be in a better place, I will not approve or disapprove of what you are doing, I will not be smiling down upon you. I will be dead and gone.</p>