Guidance for Next of Kin: Gentle Support Through Loss

I’m so grateful to Candice and Archie for their kindness and support during an incredibly difficult time. They were warm, respectful, and truly listened, making the process feel personal and gentle. I felt cared for every step of the way. Thank you for your compassion—it meant more than I can say.

Affordable, sensitive and compassionate care

Dear Shelly,I want to sincerely thank you for the incredible care, kindness, and support you gave our family during one of the most difficult times in our lives. From the very beginning, you were understanding, gentle, and deeply respectful — nothing was ever too much, and every one of our wishes was met with grace and care.You guided us so effortlessly through the entire process, and we always felt held and supported. You took charge in such a calm and reassuring way — which, I must admit, was a challenge for me as someone who is usually the organiser. But your leadership was exactly what we needed, and I truly trusted you every step of the way.What meant the most was how you treated mum — with such dignity, tenderness, and respect. Her farewell was everything we hoped it would be, and more. It was clear that you weren’t just doing your job, but speaking and acting from the heart.Thank you, Shelly, for going above and beyond. We will never forget your warmth, your strength, and your humanity.With heartfelt gratitude, Sarah, Beck & our families. (Funeral Direct Shelly Bennett)

Olivia is exceptional! No one could have done more than she did in visiting my mother before she died and for making all the funeral arrangements for me. She has a special place in my heart.

Thanks Jacqui. Very professional and easy to deal with. Have already recommended to others

Amy was very helpful thorough and caring.

They made the experience very personal and came along side us to make our farewell a beautiful send off. The amount of work to detail was amazing, and the extra mile they went to accommodate our requests was not forgotten. They made our difficult loss a time of wonderful reflection. We are incredibly grateful for their generosity and support throughout our grieving process.

I’m so grateful to Jaqcueline and the team at Picaluna for their incredible care and compassion during such a difficult time. Every detail of my husband’s funeral was handled with thoughtfulness — right down to the sunflower blouse, which meant so much to me. Thank you for creating a beautiful, respectful service that truly honoured his memory. Your kindness will never be forgotten.

We found Raine compassionate, helpful, and understanding of each individual person's needs Also, she listened and was patient, knowing that each person grieves differently Do highly recommend Raine and the Picaluna team As they do their best to fulfil each person's wishes Thankyou for giving our mother a dignified send off

Just a big thank you to Amy your help, support and guidance was much appreciated especially with these hard and overwhelming situations, all though we never met you are so sweet and kind, your guidance through email, text or call gave me comfort in knowing that my baby boy (22+2) was in good hands and his urn is beautiful. For those who were also involved in his process I thank you as well

I feel so grateful to have had Deana by our side throughout this entire journey. Her care, compassion, and wisdom made such a difference—not only in planning and celebrating my mum’s life but also in guiding us through such a delicate and emotional time.Deana was an absolute joy to collaborate with, and I couldn’t have imagined this day turning out so beautifully without her. Her kindness, creativity, and dedication made everything feel so personal and heartfelt. From the lead-up to the day itself, she was diligent, calm, caring, and full of wonderful ideas. It truly felt as if she knew my mum.The day of the memorial exceeded all expectations. The location, the lightness, the celebration, and all the small touches were perfect. I received so much wonderful feedback, and I personally felt mum and dad’s presence with me—they let me know they are okay and here for me. It was a day I will remember for the rest of my life as one of my favorites, a true celebration of mum.From the bottom of my heart, thank you again for everything, Deana. You are absolute GOLD, and you were born to do this job. You have left a lasting mark on our lives, and we will always remember the incredible way you helped us honour mum.

Naomi was everything you could hope for in a funeral director. Kind, caring, compassionate & organised. Responded at 9.30pm & on weekends. Made a stressful situation seamless. Highly recommend.

Our family feels such gratitude for Olivia Andrews, for her expert help, her thoughtful insight and advice which resulted in a beautiful farewell. Thank you.

Raine and her team were very well organised, discreet and was able to deal with the hiccups that often happen at funerals when family emotions are running high. The whole team ere respectful and showed care to the family members and parish staff.

Sarah was the celebrant for our father's Celebration of Life and helped us create a beautiful service. She worked closely with us to get to know things about Dad, even reading his memoir to understand him. We really appreciated her time and care in all our dealings with her. Many people commented on how lovely the ceremony was and her role as the celebrant.

Annie was truly amazing. She guided our family with such care and understanding, helping us create a farewell that was deeply personal and perfectly fitting for the matriarch of our family. The memorial was heartfelt and emotional capturing both the sadness of our loss and the joy of celebrating her life. It was everything she would have loved, and we are so grateful to Annie for making our final goodbye so beautiful.

I couldn’t have been happier with the care and service I received with Rachel at Picaluna. Her warmth, empathy, attention to detail and support helped us navigate this difficult journey smoothly and helped us create the perfect farewell for our loved one.

At the most vulnerable time of life when I lost my best friend and husband, Sarah took my hand and guided me gently and lovingly through the shock and wilderness of grief, helping me get the funeral service and wake organised to perfection. She did all the heavy lifting of the arrangements, from church and flowers, creamatorium and venue for the wake and held such loving space at the wake / celebration of life afterwards, encouraging those who had stories to share to do so, framing beatiuful photos of Pete for the service and afterwards. Not only was there a perfect orchestration of logistics, including somehow arranging for a swift release of the death certificate and ashes, as family were travelling back to the UK, but with so much love held my through the toughest of times. I am forever grateful. I cannot recommend this beautiful soul hightly enough.

I don't normally share reviews but I have to on this occasion. During a stressful time, Wendy and Candice were so helpful and took the time to understand what we wanted to do and made it happen. The fact that Picaluna is so flexible meant that I could make sure my mum was taken care of until the plans were finalised and they accommodated last minute details with ease.

Jaqui Coan and her team were excellent and helped our grieving family feel at ease with such good advice and service during preparations for the funeral and on the day of the funeral.

As heartbreaking as organising a funeral for a loved one is, without Deana I would have been beyond lost. Her commitment and compassion for supporting myself and my family during this time was unmatched. She did it all with grace and the upmost respect for me, my family and my beautiful dad, Bradley. I’m so deeply thankful to her.

With my sister's sudden passing and being in a different state we were concerned how we could make arrangements for her cremation. I contacted Picaluna and we were fortunate to have Alex there to listen and guide us through the process and also provide us with other relevant information and contacts. She has great empathy and communications were easy.

Our family has appreciated Jaqi's graciousness, kindness and professionalism in helping us organise our dad's viewing and cremation. She supported us all the way through and constantly kept in touch to see how we were doing. On the day of the viewing, the team were wonderful and the event was memorable and meaningful for all of us. We highly recommend Jaqi and Picaluna for that soft and personal touch.

My mum had a beautiful send-off thanks to the help of Jaqi and her team from Picaluna.

If you’re looking for a funeral director on the Mornington Peninsula, I can’t recommend Naomi Korolew and Vivid Funerals highly enough. We live in Frankston, and I was really impressed by how knowledgeable Naomi is about funerals and how thoughtful and creative her approach is. She’s very friendly, creative in finding affordable options and is truly dedicated to helping the local community. We feel really lucky to have found her.

Highly recommended and very professional. Planning with us and keeping us all in the loop step by step. Would like to thank Jaqi for helping us to see mum off.

Hi would like to leave a recommendation for Beth Armstrong … she was absolutely beautiful n was there for us the whole time during our sad time for passing of Paul Patrick … nothing was a bother to Beth n appreciated everything she did from the start … Beth is a real asset to your company and would like to Thankyou all for the wonderful service you provided to us kind regards Wendy n Gary Patrick x

Amy and her team were fabulous.

Amy was absolutely amazing throughout the very sad & emotional time when you have lost your most important person in your life. The support that she gave throughout the whole process was simply the best. Cannot recommend her enough.a Very special lady..

Our Family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the sympathy love and support you have extended to our family during this difficult time. A special mention to Amy who has gone above and beyond and the wonderful ladies who took mum to her resting place . Thank you from the bottom of our hearts

We were very happy with the sensitive and practical service and support provided by Annie. At all times we felt that our late mother's wishes were bekng honoured and that we were being given the help and advice we needed at a difficult time

The team gave us a prompt response to our enquiry and continued to respond compassionately and respectfully. We felt supported which we really needed

Naomi from Picaluna was incredibly respectful and compassionate as we navigated one of the most difficult times our family has faced. She took care of every logistical and practical detail, allowing us the space to focus on our grief and on being together.

Naomi and her team were wonderful from beginning to end, talking great care of all the details at a sad and difficult time for our family (on two separate occasions over 18 months). I highly recommend them to help you organise a memorial / funeral of a loved one.

My sister, a young vibrant woman with strong spiritual beliefs, passed away suddenly and shockingly. Knowing that she would not want a stuffy, traditional funeral, I started searching and came across Picaluna. As soon as I saw the beautifully and personally decorated coffins and beautiful natural locations, I knew that they would be the right ones to give my sister an appropriately creative, colorful and spiritual send-off. As soon as we met Jordan, we were put at ease by her genuine warmth and sympathy. She truly wanted to get to know my sister and our family, and was open to all of our crazy ideas and suggestions. She even took what we wanted, and came up with even better suggestions, which were so helpful and spot on. Jordan went above and beyond at every step of the journey, meeting with us regularly to keep us on track. The way she took ownership of my sister with her protective nature was incredible, even transporting her to the morgue and taking care of her there to ensure she looked her best. Jordan helped to facilitate the DIY, collaborative and inclusive service that we wanted to hold. She made sure everything went to plan and ran to schedule, as we were very distracted and emotional on the day. Without Jordan and Picaluna, I am certain this would have been a very different experience. Not to mention, the cost was much less than traditional businesses, and it included a donation to a charity that we chose. If you are looking for a heartfelt, personalized, creative and unconventional service for your loved one, I highly recommend Jordan and Picaluna! She will lead you through the process to create a service that is healing for everyone involved. I can't thank Jordan enough. We will forever remember this great experience.

I found them very helpful and polite helping the family thru this 😃👍

Sarah was highly recommended to us, and I can see why. From the moment I first spoke with her she was warm, kind and compassionate.She helped our family navigate a very difficult time and helped us create the perfect service for my Mum. She really listened to us as we spoke about her personality and life, and crafted a beautiful tribute to her. We had many comments about how personal the service was, and people commented on particular elements that stood out to them - and Sarah had suggested these to us.Thank you Sarah - we are very grateful for your help and care during such a sad time.

My family have been very happy with Picaluna Funerals and, in particular, our Funeral Director, Beth Armstrong. Nothing has been too much trouble for Beth and she has been professional, approachable, warm and understanding during this difficult time. Thank you Beth!

We would like to sincerely thank Deana and staff members from Picaluna Funerals who guided us through this process during an incredibly sad time when our mother passed away. Deana was kind, compassionate, professional and very patient with all our queries we had. She handled all the arrangements with grace, efficiency and with such respect, ensuring that every detail of the service was what we wanted by accommodating to our specific requests and made sure the service was a beautiful tribute to our loved one. We couldn't have asked for a better experience during such a difficult time. We highly recommend their services. Mataafa Family.

Kathryn Booth and Picaluna Funerals Northern Beaches took care of or daughter's funeral service. Our daughter was only 25 years old. We felt our daughter was genuinely cared for in a respected manner in Kathryn's and Picaluna's care the entire time. Kathryn listened to our story about our daughter and really understood the essence of who she was and the service we wanted. The service was done so calmly with heart and professionalism. We would not have changed anything. I can highly recommend Kathryn Booth and Picaluna Funerals Northern Beaches to anyone. Monica

Rachel was so very helpful and supportive when our father passed. She was respectful and caring. We appreciated her gentle presence as the celebrant at the service we held for our dear dad.

Thank you. Shelly helped us with a beautiful and meaningful farewell. She did this with care and flexibility. Something I really appreciated about Shelly is she paid attention to me, and to us. She noticed the way we did things, and the tone we set. And then she matched us, and at the same time was completely genuine. At such a heartbreaking time it was exactly what we needed. It was exactly what I needed.

About half a dozen people have told me it was the most wonderful funeral they had ever been to! Jaqi was wonderful and at the end I really felt she had helped me to come up with a funeral worthy of my mum. I cannot recommend her highly enough. She also saved me quite a few hundred dollars using prepaid and on the coffin which we decorated ourselves. The photo is prior to the flowers being added.

I lost my father recently and it was up to me and my sister to make funeral arrangements. We were dreading dealing with some official and serious representative but instead we got Candice an Angel of a Lady. She put us completely at ease, she was fantastic we even had few laughs which we really needed but also she was so professional and answered all of our questions. I hope that Picaluna is aware what an amazing employee they have to represent them.Thank You CandiceTom Debiec

We felt so lucky to have found Naomi at such a difficult time… there were so many ways that she was able to help… she was so good at tailoring everything that we wanted for mum’s life celebration. Everything was so fluid and easy. Naomi also contributed a few creative suggestions in our planning but in an entirely appropriate way that was never intrusive. We chose to have her be both planner and celebrant at the send off. She was always excellent re communication. Naomi has such a warm personality, we felt very comfortable around her from the get go. I highly recommend Naomi

Planning a funeral can be a daunting task on top of dealing with a loss. Under the caring guidance of Amy Eastwood, my sister and I were able to create a memorable service for our dad. Amy is an empathetic listener and shows great attention to detail. She crafted a wonderful eulogy and service that from beginning to end captured dad's life, personality, passions and achievements. She is a great communicator and was always kind, professional and committed. I highly recommend Amy's services as a celebrant. You'll be in safe and capable hands.