A chapel of rest is for the time between the death and the funeral
A chapel of rest is a room where people can visit the body of the person they love after the body has been washed and dressed by a funeral director but before the funeral.
If you've chosen to have a funeral, your funeral director will help transport the person who's died to the funeral home. They will arrange a car to collect the person who’s died from the hospital or their home.
They will then prepare the body for viewing at the chapel of rest and the funeral. This might involve embalming. Funeral staff will move the body of the person who's died to the chapel of rest once it’s ready for you to see. This is where it will stay safely and privately until the day of the funeral.
If you are a close family member of the person who’s died, the funeral director will help you arrange your visit. They will make sure the room is ready, and usually book a certain amount of time where you and/or other family members can be alone.
Arrange a direct cremation from £895
A direct cremation allows you to respectfully cremate someone’s body without having to organise a funeral. You can then decide how to scatter or store their ashes at a later date if you need more time to decide how you want to remember this person.
What is embalming?
Embalming is where a funeral director or technician uses chemicals to preserve a body. Embalming stops a person’s natural tissues from breaking down. It’s purpose is to keep people looking as close to how they looked in life as possible.
This guide will give you a full description of embalming. We've included trigger warnings for the parts that go into detail, but you might prefer to skip it if you think it might be upsetting.
A chapel of rest is often just a single room
It’s a small but important part of a funeral building where people can visit and say goodbye to the body of someone who’s died. Chapels of rest are private, quiet spaces, often with thick curtains over the windows and doors.
Usually, the chapel of rest is just for close family members, and the coffin or casket will be open. This means you’ll be able to see the person who’s died
The funeral is generally where friends, acquaintances, and more distant family members will say goodbye.
Chapels are not usually religious
Chapels were originally small places of Christian worship in schools, hospitals, or big houses. A lot of chapels will have crosses on the roof.
However, modern funeral homes and crematoriums do not have a set religion. You do not have to be a Christian to visit a chapel of rest. All religions are welcome.
