--- title: Funeral Homes Look To Weddings To Boost Profits description: The funeral industry is declining as costs increase. canonical: https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/ author: Benjamin Snyder/Fortune article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-17T19:22:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:22:08.350Z article:section: Business og:title: Funeral Homes Could Be the Hot New Wedding Venue og:description: The funeral industry is declining as costs increase. og:url: https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce116d0fd8787e5/69885b760b72e311d46e4fa7/ap_254202643804.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cemetery Weddings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Funeral Homes Could Be the Hot New Wedding Venue twitter:description: The funeral industry is declining as costs increase. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce116d0fd8787e5/69885b760b72e311d46e4fa7/ap_254202643804.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Funeral Homes Could Be the Hot New Wedding Venue by [Benjamin Snyder/Fortune](/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder/Fortune Jul 17, 2015 7:22 PM CUT  Danessa Molinder walks toward the Crystal Tower for photos before her wedding at the Community Life Center, which sits on cemetery land near a funeral home in Indianapolis. Danessa Molinder walks toward the Crystal Tower for photos before her wedding at the Community Life Center, which sits on cemetery land near a funeral home in Indianapolis.Darron Cummings—AP by [Benjamin Snyder/Fortune](/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder/Fortune Jul 17, 2015 7:22 PM CUT Funeral homes are looking to expand their businesses as the industry has become, er, sickly in recent years. They’re helping people tie the knot, as opposed to simply honoring the dead. _The Associated Press_ [reports](http://markets.cbsnews.com/Death-business-expands-into-hosting-weddings-other-events/1244c534062b875d/ "undefined") that funeral home owners are seeing their profits shrink as people go for less costly funeral services these days. This week, [Connecticut became the nation’s most expensive place to die](http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/death-expensive-place/ "undefined") because of hefty new fees for settling estates. “As a business, we need to find ways to keep growing,” Bruce Buchanan, who owns a funeral home, told the AP. “People aren’t as religious as they once were … and their attitudes toward death are changing,” he added. “Funeral homes were seen for one reason: to have a funeral. Now they’re being used for all kinds of things.” The typical funeral costs $8,000 to $10,000, according to [Forbes](http://www.forbes.com/sites/perianneboring/2014/04/25/the-death-of-the-death-care-industry-and-eternal-life-online/ "undefined"). Meanwhile, the funeral industry in the U.S. is reportedly worth around $20 billion. The [average wedding](http://www.ibtimes.com/millennial-trends-2014-wedding-industry-sees-shift-older-customers-fewer-young-people-1736710 "undefined") costs around $30,000, and the industry is worth an estimated $55 million. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/"},"headline":"Funeral Homes Could Be the Hot New Wedding Venue","datePublished":"2015-07-17T19:22:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:22:08.350Z","description":"The funeral industry is declining as costs increase","url":"https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/","keywords":["Weddings","Death","Funeral","wedding","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce116d0fd8787e5/69885b760b72e311d46e4fa7/ap_254202643804.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Benjamin Snyder/Fortune","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/benjamin-snyderfortune/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfce116d0fd8787e5/69885b760b72e311d46e4fa7/ap_254202643804.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cemetery Weddings","caption":"Cemetery Weddings","creditText":"Darron Cummings—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weddings/","name":"Weddings"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3963170/marriage-funeral-home-wedding/","name":"Funeral Homes Could Be the Hot New Wedding Venue"}}]}] ```