Prestige Funeral Planners (PFP) recently launched Sri Lanka’s first-ever total and customised funeral packages thus filling a large void in this relatively unexplored area of funeral planning.

This novel and first-of-its-kind effort is intended to ease the burden of the loved ones as they face the reality of losing a family member, friend or acquaintance. This service is very popular in the fast-paced Western world and Sri Lanka now closely follows suit with the comprehensive service offered by Prestige Funeral Planners spearheaded by Satyajith Ratnayake, Lahiru Wickremasinghe and Shohrab Salman.

“Death is a generally avoided topic and discussions about it in Sri Lanka have remained taboo for years. However we have received many referrals, inquiries and requests for assistance from friends and family to offer our assistance. Despite their different positions in society, each individual is at his lowest ebb when dealing with a death and is often faced with challenges in co-ordinating such an event. We intend to take that initiative to cover every avenue when a person loses a loved one. We often tend to brush over the minute areas when referring to a funeral but throughout the years, we have seen the amount of work which goes into ensuring a funeral is conducted with minimum hassle”, said Lahiru Wickremasinghe, Director of Prestige Funeral Planners.

“The additional stress of dealing with seemingly insignificant details is often left to friends, relatives or strangers as the loved ones are too bereaved to face the prospect of letting go. Hence, we were prompted to go that extra mile to enable loved ones to grieve without having to focus on planning a funeral”, he added.

“Our service is divided into four specific categories ranging from Basic, Standard, Premium to specially customised packages. We have the in-depth knowledge to provide effective planning and to organise a funeral within a couple of hours. This gives us the ability to provide a cost-effective service to the loved ones, who are often left with bearing the financial burden of conducting a funeral and spending a comparatively large amount of money within a short time frame. This is mainly due to their grieving state of their mind having to deal with the shock of losing a loved one”, said Shohrab Salman Director of Prestige Funeral Planners.

The inevitability of death is something we do not like to speak of. Until we are faced with dealing with the crisis of actually organising a funeral, we tend to look away. Prestige Funeral Planners with its value added services assures clients the comfort of knowing that the organisation of a funeral is taken care in the most efficient and meticulous manner.

Its services extend to all areas from obtaining the certification, booking of the cemetery, coordinating funeral directors, newspaper advertisements and flower arrangements to catering, traffic management, cleaning and arranging the house which includes minor electrical work and painting of the house if need be which are among a range of services provided.

This initiative was launched after a comprehensive survey of the many issues faced by families, friends and communities specifically in the main metropolitan areas of the island. This service will initially be available to those residing in Colombo and close proximities, extending to the Gampaha District and eventually reaching the other cities in the island.

The Company also extends its services to the deaths of foreign nationals in Sri Lanka by handling the repatriation service which is co-ordinated with the respective Embassies, funeral directors and local authorities. Prestige Funeral Planners will also soon launch the option to paying ahead for a funeral thus taking away the burden from the family when the death finally happens.

Photo caption: Lahiru Wickremasinghe, Director of Prestige Funeral Planners (left) and Shohrab Salman Director of Prestige Funeral Planners