How to choose the right location

Most families come to us with a place in mind. A national park they camped in together. A river where someone fished every summer. A mountain range that featured in every vacation photo for thirty years.

That instinct is usually right. But not always.

Start with the person, not the place

Before you settle on a location, try to answer a simpler question: what did they love doing? Not just where they went, but why they went there.

Someone who loved fishing wasn't just chasing the catch — they were seeking solitude, patience, the way time moves differently near water. Someone who hiked wasn't just covering distance — they were after the view from the top, the earned exhaustion, the silence above the treeline.

Once you understand the feeling they were after, the right location often becomes clearer.

It doesn't have to be somewhere they've been

Some of our most meaningful ceremonies happen in places the person never visited — but always meant to. A lifelong dream of the Scottish Highlands. A bucket-list trip to Patagonia that got postponed, then cancelled. Places from books, films, family stories.

A ceremony in the right place, even an unvisited one, can feel more like them than a ceremony in a familiar but arbitrary spot.

Talk to us before you decide

We've helped hundreds of families make this choice. Sometimes we ask a few questions and the answer becomes obvious. Sometimes it takes longer. Either way, there's no rush — and no wrong answer.

Browse our locations to get a sense of what's available, and reach out if you'd like to talk it through.