Arrange a funeral
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  Before the funeral
  Meet with us and we’ll help you plan your loved one’s funeral.
  
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  Caskets and urns
  Choose from our wide range of caskets and urns, including eco options.
  
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  Personalising your service
  Discover the many ways we can help you personalise a funeral.
  
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  Grief counselling
  Access counselling services to help you manage your grief.
  
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Choices to make

Home / Arrange a funeral / Choices to make

Create a goodbye as unique as your loved one with a personalised funeral service from Davis Funerals

There are a few things to consider when planning your loved one’s funeral. Because Davis Funerals has been caring for New Zealanders for generations, we’ll help you through the process and provide you with all the information you need.

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Location and venue

Wherever you’d like to farewell your loved one across Auckland, we have locations to suit. To help choose the best venue, think about:

How far friends and family will need to travel
Religious and cultural significance of the funeral
Any requests your loved one made

We’d be happy to talk through your ideas, whether you’d like a chapel (we have three to choose from), a small intimate service in South Auckland or something different, like a sports club, at home or at a cemetery or crematorium chapel.

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Personalising your service Choosing who to lead

Caskets and urns

Davis Funerals offers a wide range of caskets and urns for you to choose from. All our caskets are solid timber and eco-friendly and can be personalised by printing directly onto the timber.

Browse caskets & urns

Burial or cremation?

Overview

Burial

Cremation

Our crematorium

Overview

A personal choice, your loved one may have let you know if they wish to be buried or cremated. A burial means you’ll have a permanent place to visit and the ability to create a lasting memorial to your loved one. With cremation you’ll need to decide on a resting place for your loved one’s ashes. Or you can talk to us about other options, including burial at sea.

Burial

Legally, burials need to be in officially-designated cemeteries and plots are available across Auckland in local authority and privately-owned cemeteries. A plot will need to be bought, and a fee paid for digging the grave. We can help you buy a plot (or double plots, if needed) and assist you with arranging a headstone or plaque to mark your loved one’s grave.

Cremation

With cremation, there are many options for a final resting place: ashes can be scattered, buried, kept or divided among family and friends. If you choose cremation, please think about what you’d like to happen with the ashes – this can be a difficult decision to make after the funeral. We can also help you to arrange a memorial.

Our crematorium

Our state-of-the-art crematorium is fully owned by us, allowing us to care for you and your loved one through the entire funeral process. It’s been sourced from a US company with a strong environmental focus, so we can provide more environmentally-friendly cremations. We also offer a unique eco-friendly urn to return your loved one’s ashes in.

Other choices

Minister or celebrant?

Although clergy or celebrants often lead funeral services, this is entirely up to you. We can provide a suitable celebrant, if you like. Or you could ask a family member or friend.

Embalming and caring for your loved one

We offer the option of embalming to ensure that you’ll have a safe, positive experience when viewing your loved one. Because the care of your loved one is so important to us, embalming is carried out by our qualified professionals at our own facilities.

Pallbearers

Pallbearers will carry your loved one’s casket in or out of the funeral venue. You can ask family, friends or members of service clubs to help with this role.

Make a beautiful final journey

Our fleet includes two custom-built Cadillac Premier hearses, which were first used at Sir Edmund Hillary’s state funeral. These state-of-the-art vehicles were built in America by Eagle Coach Company who are known for building the highest quality hearses in the industry.

Rounding out our fleet is a classic 1964 Cadillac, a 1969 Cadillac, a Ford Falcon and a Mercedes Benz hearse.

We’re looking forward to welcoming a 1946 Hudson to our fleet soon.

Davis 0 - Bertha

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Davis 0 - Bertha

Our 1964 classic Cadillac hearse is a truly beautiful vehicle. With its whitewall tires, tail fins and leather interior it really emulates, class, tradition, and quality.

Davis 1

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Davis 1

One of our three, modern Cadillac hearses. Davis 1 is a beautiful example of what a high-quality hearse should look like.

Davis 2

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Davis 2

The second in our fleet of modern Cadillac hearses, Davis 2 has subtle differences from our other modern Cadillac hearses Davis 1 and Davis 2, with the main difference being in the type of mag wheels that have been fitted to the vehicle.

Davis 3

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Davis 3

One of our three, modern Cadillac Hearses. This hearse was first used in Sir Edmund Hillary’s state funeral. This is the hearse will always be special to us at Davis for this reason.

Davis 4

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Davis 4

Davis 4, is our only right-hand drive hearse in the fleet. In Navy blue, it allows an option for families that would like something a bit more understated than our Cadillac’s or Mercedes options available. The large window at the rear still allows for great visibility of the casket.

Davis 8

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Davis 8

German innovation has rarely looked this good. Davis 8 is a beautiful Mercedes hearse, fondly referred to as The Shark for its swooping lines. The large windows at the rear allow for great visibility of the casket. This is your newest and most modern vehicle currently in our fleet.

We're with you every step of the way

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Kamilla Andersson

Pakuranga

"I just wanted to thank you personally for the patience and care you showed our mum and family at such a sad time. I truly felt supported and was thrilled with the beautiful send-off we shared with mum"

Wally Mearns

Howick

"On behalf of the Mearns family, I wish to convey our grateful thanks to Davis Funeral Services for your most professional and caring service you provided during the recent death of my Wife Shirley"

Errol Farrington

"I must thank all at Davis Funerals for the professionalism shown to us throughout the whole venture. We were really impressed with the warmth and friendliness shown to us."

The Philson Family

"We so appreciated all the care you took of us over a difficult time. You went above and beyond for us. We felt so well looked after and you made the process so much more personal"

Choices to make

Create a goodbye as unique as your loved one with a personalised funeral service from Davis Funerals

Location and venue

Caskets and urns

Overview

Burial

Cremation

Our crematorium

Minister or celebrant?

Embalming and caring for your loved one

Pallbearers

Make a beautiful final journey

Ask us a question

Let us call you back