illustration of grey haired lady surfing on a story book

Some Answers.

We know organising a funeral is hard. And possibly, it’s something you’ve never done before.

So whilst our mission is to make the process as simple & dignified as possible,
we know you’ll have some questions.

Our Company:

Tomorrow is a ‘cremation-only’ funeral business. Traditional funerals are entrenched in religion and based around the concept of a coffin being present, but many Australians are now more comfortable with the concept of cremation and memorial-style funerals. Tomorrow provides a more modern approach that simply makes more sense for them.

We believe that crafting a fitting and personalised memorial event – one that reflects the life lived, is an important step in saying goodbye to your loved one. A remarkable memorial brings a community together at one of life’s most challenging stages, so for us, it’s both satisfying and important work.
Traditional funerals are often held in old-fashioned, outdated chapels and are usually one-size-fits-all in style. We understand some families have had the experience of being sold overly complex packages, and then further ‘up-sold’ all types of (sometimes unnecessary) ‘extras’.
Because Tomorrow is a celebrant-led business that pairs a simple, dignified cremation with a customised memorial event we enable our customers to focus on what’s important – creating a more contemporary, authentic and personalised memorial event.
Providing an easy-to-understand and transparent price is a core factor in why we exist. We don’t like the idea of upselling to a family at an extremely difficult time.

We are a 100% Australian owned and independent funeral business. We are not connected to any of the big players in the funeral industry.We do not have a board or shareholders who depend on our profits. What this means is that our bottom line is all about service to our clients, not sales.
In this vein, unlike any funeral home we know of, we sometimes recommend other funeral businesses, if what we offer does not 100% align with what we feel you need.

For Australians, cremation is now the preferred choice over burial. This could be due to environmental reasons, simplicity, or even price.
Tomorrow is the first Australian funeral business to focus entirely on ‘cremation followed by memorial’ style funerals. We believe this option makes a huge difference to what’s possible in personalising the funeral. Choice of venue and style is limited only by your imagination. Time, energy and budget can all be devoted to creating a very special event that you can feel proud of. There’s no rush either. You are in total control of the scheduling.

Because we’re not focused on being the cheapest, we don’t cut costs. We’re passionate about the funeral industry and our purpose is to make a positive difference in the lives of the families we work with.
We work with the very best service providers at every stage of the process. We use local government-run crematoriums, instead of choosing the cheaper option of transporting your loved one to private, interstate crematoriums.
Our celebrants are the best and the highest paid in the industry. We select each of them based on their experience, empathy and the creativity they bring to the important job of honouring your loved one.

Everyone mourns in different ways. At a memorial event, one person might cry while another laughs, smiles or reflects quietly.
One of our core philosophies is that families should have the flexibility to honour the lives of their loved ones in the way that works for them. That might mean creating a celebration of life, or it might be something more somber and reflective. Tomorrow’s celebrants are highly empathetic and experts in helping to set a tone that fits, whatever level of ‘celebration’ you choose.

In Victoria, we serve all of Metropolitan Melbourne (including the Mornington Peninsula) and the Geelong region.

In NSW, Sydney, Newcastle and Central Coast.

We are always expanding and welcome enquiries from all over Australia.

Our Services:

Yes, we focus on one transparent package that includes a dignified cremation, stories bundle and an experienced celebrant who will work with you to plan and lead your memorial event.
We understand some families will still prefer a burial-style funeral, and if this is the case we hope that, although we can’t conduct your funeral, you might be inspired by some of the free resources on our blog.

When you notify us that a death has occurred, we will arrange to collect your loved one and transfer them into our care. We can do this within 2 hours, unless you would like a little more time to say goodbye. We’ll organise the cremation in an eco-friendly coffin, at a local crematorium. This includes all paperwork like the official death certificate. After the cremation occurs we’ll hand deliver the ashes to you. Tomorrow only works with the most reputable crematoriums, who carefully follow government guidelines and have strict policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of care for the deceased person and their ashes.

Traditionally, a wake is a gathering of family and friends after a funeral and burial, with food and drinks to celebrate, toast and share stories about their loved one. Whereas a traditional memorial is often set out like a funeral, but without a coffin being present.
We believe merging the memorial service and the wake is a wonderful, modern way to remember and celebrate your loved one. The event should be representative of their life and honour their memory, their passions, family, sense of humour and taste. We believe that getting this right helps begin the difficult process of saying goodbye.

No, we’re not. We offer a premium service from the time your loved one is taken into our care, through to the memorial event. However, this doesn’t mean we’re expensive. Rather than spend your budget on items like an overpriced coffin, coffin handles or other unnecessary extras, we focus on the part that means the most – creating an incredible memorial.
We started Tomorrow because we know some other operators make profits via hidden costs and that budget operators cut costs by using cheaper service providers.
Our packages are priced below most of the best-known funeral homes, yet we provide a high-quality, transparent service without cutting any corners and we ensure our customers receive excellent value for their money.

The Finer Details:

Unlike a traditional funeral home, Tomorrow focuses on keeping the funeral elements simple. This means your contact person throughout the process is an experienced celebrant, rather than a funeral director.

From the time you first speak to us, you will be in contact with one of our friendly customer service staff who will support you throughout and assist with administrative tasks like completing paperwork for the cremation and official death certificate.

But as soon as we can, we will connect you with your own dedicated celebrant who will be your main point of contact throughout the experience of planning and running the memorial event.

We will collect your loved one and transfer them into our care within 2 hours of your call, unless you need a little more time to say goodbye. We’ll organise the cremation in an eco-friendly coffin, at a local crematorium. After the cremation, we’ll hand deliver the ashes to you.

We don’t offer options for coffins, coffin handles etc. Instead, we keep the process as simple and as dignified as possible, allowing you to focus your time, energy and budget on creating a more personal and authentic memorial event. We find that this simple process allows families to take the time they need in the days immediately following the death to focus on beginning their grief process as opposed to the myriad of decisions necessary at a traditional funeral home.

Because Tomorrow bypasses many of the typical procedures carried out by an undertaker and completes the cremation before the memorial, we always remind our clients that when we come to collect their loved one, this will usually be their last chance to say goodbye to the body. A ‘viewing’ of their body is not included in our package for this reason.

Many of our clients tell us they prefer this option to having their person held in storage for extended wait times, or being prepared with embalming chemicals and other preservation techniques.

However, we understand that for some, a viewing of their body is very important. This can be arranged at our mortuary facility, for a reasonable fee.

In Victoria, we use a range of crematoriums within the state, including Eaglehawk, Gippsland, Bunnorong, Springvale or Fawkner. Mostly we use the regional crematoriums due to faster turnaround times.

Included in our single transparent price package of $6,800 are a whole host of personalised extras – everything you will need to create something very special.
You can be assured that throughout the process, there are no additional costs payable to Tomorrow. If you decide to spend more with 3rd party suppliers (on items like catering, printing, flowers or a particular urn for the ashes) you will pay them directly and we will not take any margin on that cost. This means there is no incentive for us to get you to spend more.

Our clients have the option to host their service at one of our partner venues – beautiful restaurants or function venues that also host weddings and other events. These venues offer our clients the option to hold the event free of charge with no minimum spend requirements. (Food and beverage costs are paid directly to the venue at your own discretion.) Alternatively, you might choose any other venue or even hold the service at your home or other special place.

You absolutely can. The reason we focus on offering one simple memorial package with a fixed price is so our customers are never upsold, by us, on any ‘extras’. For anything you want to include in your memorial service that isn’t a part of our package, we can help with supplier recommendations. This allows you to go direct and get more choice and the best price, rather than having to pick from pre-selected funeral home extras that include a margin on top.

We believe that a personal website is a great tool that allows our clients to not only share the details of the memorial service with your family and friends, but also provide you with an everlasting digital record to memorialise your loved one.
Here is an example website that we have created for David Bowie:
https://tomorrowfunerals.com.au/david-bowie

No, we pride ourselves on never charging for hidden extras. We offer one simple package that includes everything you need to create a dignified cremation and a beautiful, customised memorial event.
Because every person we honour is unique, there may be ways each family wishes to further enhance a memorial. Providing an easy-to-understand and transparent price is a core factor in why we exist. We don’t like the idea of upselling to a family at an extremely difficult time. If there’s anything additional that you wish to include (usually catering, printing or flowers, or anything else you choose) then your celebrant can provide recommendations and help with the booking, however, we encourage you to go directly to the supplier as you’re likely to get more choice and a better price.

Printing, just like flowers and catering, is a very personalised element of a funeral where there is no such thing as one size fits all. Our clients might do no printing, they might print 10 items, or they might print 1,000 items. Because we can’t standardise the printing and offer it transparently, we simply commit to doing the graphic design of whatever items our clients want and we provide the design files to the printer of your choice (we have many recommendations too). That way, the decisions around quantity and quality (like paper thickness, gloss or matte, colours etc) are at your own discretion.

The ashes are usually delivered around 10 days after we’ve taken your loved one into our care. However, this depends on paperwork being returned and other clearances from hospitals or the coroner.

Having the right celebrant is crucial. Your celebrant will guide you through the process of creating the ceremony – they represent your loved one and they also represent us. Therefore, we only work with the very best, most experienced and caring professionals. This is so important to us that we proudly pay them the highest industry rates for their invaluable service.

Generally speaking, a prepaid funeral is not viewed as part of your personal assets and may be exempt from the Centrelink & Department of Veteran Affairs Income and Assets Test. Therefore, the investment in a prepaid funeral may improve your pension entitlements. However, you should speak with your accountant or financial planner to confirm how a prepaid funeral plan might affect your own personal situation.

Any reimbursements for funeral costs will almost always be paid only after the funeral has been conducted. We will issue your executor with an invoice that can be processed by organisations (such as Veteran Affairs) to apply for any funeral payments. This payment will be made directly to your estate.