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Choosing a Plaque is Rather Daunting These Days! |
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Our first suggestion to you is to visit the cemetery or the niche wall, take with you a notebook and pen and jot down any wording or designs you like. Plaques are now available in colour. So look out for colours that other people have chosen, do they catch your eye? A coloured plaque makes it easier to be seen. This is an advantage if you are not a frequent visitor to the cemetery, when you are looking for the grave of someone, a coloured plaque is easier to spot as most cemetery plaques are still bronze. There is a charge for producing a coloured plaque. What sort of design/s do you find appealing? Plaque designs can be chosen in a number of ways. Firstly you need to work out whether the plaque is a single or a double. Will the grave eventually contain the remains (by burial or cremation) of one or more people? You can start with a plain plaque. Just as it sounds, it has no designs, or wording. You choose your own wording. Each plaque comes with a number of lines included in the cost. This number of lines included is usually plenty to say all that you need to. If you go over that number of lines, there will be an extra charge per line. Your friendly Parkside plaque consultant will advise you. When you have chosen your wording you may then add sculpted pictures (we call them motifs) of your choice. Sporting logos, crosses, flowers, religious pictures, animals, fishing, camping, service club logos…. There are many, many options available. We have some folders and computer generated images, which show available motif designs, so please ask to have a look for one that suits you. If you want one not shown, please ask, the foundry may still be able to provide it. Not all designs are included in their advertising material. There is a cost for each motif. The size determines the cost. Or you may choose a ‘Design Series’ plaque. The foundries who make plaques have a large number of beautiful plaque designs with all sorts of themes already sculpted. These are depicted in the brochures that we have available. You can choose one of these designs and add your own wording. You may also add an extra motif to personalise the plaque if you want. You may have seen ceramic photos on plaques. Some people love this option. We need to borrow a good photo of your loved one. This gets sent away for production. It takes a week or two. The photo does not get damaged, and will be returned to you. There are a number of ceramic photo sizes available to you to choose. Choosing to include the cost of a ceramic photo will increase the cost of a plaque. Would you like an in-ground vase/s or niche wall vase? We can supply these as well. Or you can use ones supplied by the cemetery. (Not all cemeteries offer this though.) War Service Logos. If your loved one served in the armed forces, you might like this recognised on their plaque. To do this we need a copy of their discharge papers. We send this copy, along with a request for permission to use the badge on the plaque to the Office of War Graves in Canberra. Permission is usually granted within a few days. (Please note, this is not paid for by the Office of War Graves.) So when you have chosen the size of the plaque, (and different cemeteries will allow only certain sized plaques, again, we can advise you), the wording of the plaque, the colour, the design or motifs, whether it should contain a photo, we send the order to the foundry, who produce a draft of the plaque. If you want, you can ask to see the draft, and check it for accuracy, and your approval of the layout. (It will delay the process a little, though!!) When you give your approval, we advise the foundry in writing, and manufacture takes place. It usually takes about 6-8 weeks from point of ordering. When it arrives, we take it to the appropriate council or cemetery, we advise you by phone, and you are then free to visit the grave or memorial wall. If it all seems a bit much, please call and arrange a time when we can sit with you, work out your needs, and we can then guide you through the process. We have lots of sample plaques available for you to look at. Just call us - we’ll help you!
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