Printing a memorial booklet or order of service: a calm guide for a hard week
A memorial booklet is usually the last piece of print anyone wants to think about and the first one people keep. It is ordered in a week when there is no spare attention, often by someone who has never sent a file to a printer, and it has to be right the first time because there is no second service. This guide is written for that week. It covers what goes in the booklet, how to lay it out without design software, which paper and size work, and how to get it printed in two or three days without drama.
What the booklet is for
Two things. During the service it tells people what happens and when, gives them the words of any hymn, prayer or reading they are expected to join, and names who is speaking. Afterwards it is the thing people take home. Most families discover the second purpose only later, which is why the photograph on the cover and the short life story inside end up mattering more than the running order.
In Singapore the format varies with the faith and the family: a Christian order of service with hymns, a Buddhist or Taoist wake with a memorial card and a short biography, a Muslim family printing a simple card with the name, dates and a du'a, a secular celebration of life with photographs and a few paragraphs. The layout advice below applies to all of them; adjust the contents to what your family and your religious leader ask for.
What to include
- Cover: a photograph, the full name, the dates, and the words the family wants ("In loving memory of", "Celebrating the life of", or simply the name).
- Inside front: the order of the service, with who is doing what. Keep names and titles as the person themselves would have used them.
- Middle pages: full text of hymns, readings, prayers or poems that people are meant to follow. Check the version; hymn wording differs between hymnals, and the one on the screen is not always the one the organist has.
- A short life story: three to six paragraphs, written by one person and read by two others before it goes to print. Facts, places, work, family, the things the person was known for.
- Back page: thanks from the family, details of any reception or wake, a charity for donations if the family prefers those to flowers, and a second photograph if there is one.
Leave out anything you are unsure of. A booklet with fewer words and no mistakes is the better booklet.
Size, pages and paper
The common format is A5, made from A4 sheets folded once. A single folded sheet gives four pages, which is enough for a short service. Two folded sheets nested together give eight pages and hold a couple of hymns and the life story; three sheets give twelve. Page count must be a multiple of four, so plan the content around 4, 8 or 12 pages rather than trying to fit an odd number.
| Pages | Sheets | Suits | Binding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | Order of service, one reading, cover photo | Folded, no staple |
| 8 | 2 | Two hymns, a reading, a life story | Two staples in the fold |
| 12 | 3 | Full service with several hymns and photographs | Two staples in the fold |
For paper, a 170 to 200 gsm silk or matte stock for a single folded sheet gives a card-like feel and stands up well. For 8 or 12 pages, use a 250 to 300 gsm cover with 130 to 170 gsm inner pages, so the booklet closes flat. Avoid gloss: it reflects chapel lighting, shows fingerprints, and makes a photograph look like a brochure. A matte or uncoated stock photographs softer and takes a handwritten note on the back.
Laying it out without design software
Word, Pages, Google Docs and Canva all work. Set the page to A5 and make each page of the booklet a separate page in the document, in reading order: cover, page 2, page 3 and so on. Do not try to impose the pages into spreads yourself; the printer does that, and doing it by hand is where booklets end up with page 5 opposite page 2.
A few choices that make a big difference:
- One typeface, two sizes. Body text at 12 pt or larger; many of the people reading it will be older, and the light in a chapel is low. Headings at 16 to 18 pt. A plain serif such as Georgia or Garamond reads as respectful without effort.
- Generous margins, at least 15 mm. Text close to the edge looks cramped and may be cut if the fold shifts.
- Hymns set in stanzas with a line space between verses, no justification, so the lines break where the music does.
- Photographs at the highest resolution you have. A phone photo is fine for a cover at A5; a photo saved from a chat app has usually been compressed and will print soft. Ask the person who took it for the original.
- If the cover photo is old or damaged, a light retouch helps. Our guide to scanning and reprinting old family photographs explains what can be done in a day.
Proofing when there is no time
Read it aloud, once, to someone else. That catches the wrong date, the misspelled name of a grandchild and the hymn verse that was pasted twice. Then check three specific things: the dates on the cover, the spelling of every name, and the time and place of any reception on the back. Ask the printer for a PDF proof and look at it on a phone as well as a computer; the phone view often shows a cut-off line that the desktop view hides.
Order 20 to 30 percent more copies than the expected attendance. People take one for a relative who could not come, and the family will want spares afterwards. A hundred booklets weigh little and cost only slightly more than eighty.
How we handle memorial printing
Memorial booklets and order of service cards go through our booklet and folded printing service with a two-day turnaround as standard and same-day possible for a folded A5 card when the file arrives in the morning. Send a PDF or the Word file itself; we set the imposition, check that the photograph will print cleanly, and email a proof before anything runs. If a photo needs cropping, brightening or a small repair, we do that on our side and show you the result on the proof. Nothing is printed until you have confirmed the names and dates.
If you are unsure of the page count or the paper, tell us what has to go in and we will suggest the format. The brochures and booklets page has the options, and the quickest way to start is a message through the contact page with the file attached and the date of the service. We will reply with a proof and a collection or delivery time, and keep the rest as simple as we can.
