Aria Cremation Services & Funeral Home

$ 100.00 for a tacky plastic box to hold your loved ones ashes is obscene. Hell has a special place for heartless people who take advantage of grieving 80 year olds. I don’t know how inflated the prices for the rest of the are services are, but if this is any indication, we can speculate.
Shame on you Aria, price gouging those least able to pay.

This is not an easy review to write but I feel it’s completely necessary to share my experience with Aria, hopefully to help someone else if they have to go through this process.
My grandfather passed away in his sleep at home and next to his wife of almost 62 years. While it is a blessing that he didn’t die in a nursing home, we were left to figure out what to do from there. If you’ve never been in this situation it can be very overwhelming and stressful. Once you call 911 and an ambulance shows up to verify that your loved one has passed, the police are legally required to stay until the body has been handled properly. We had no idea how to proceed at this point.
My grandfather left instructions in his living will that he preferred cremation and did not want a funeral (this Great Depression era man was all about being frugal until the very end.) My family is familiar with Aria from living in the neighborhood and driving by regularly but none of us had any first-​hand experience with them. I made the call at 8pm not knowing what to expect and was relieved when a very sympathetic woman answered the phone (wish I’d thought to write her name down as it’s gotten lost in the craziness of the moment). She was everything I needed her to be — calm, caring, sympathetic and willing to explain every detail of what was about to happen. She promised that her driver would be no longer than an hour and a half and I think he was there within an hour.
The driver was also very professional and respectful (again, wish I’d thought to record his name) and once he got my grandfather ready for transport, he allowed us plenty of time to say one last goodbye. We were told that someone from Aria would contact us the next day to make arrangements.
I can’t tell you how absolutely relieved I was when Samantha (who is a friend of mine) called me the next day to offer her sympathies and schedule a meeting with my family. I knew she worked as a funeral director but was not aware this was her employer when we made the choice to call them.
My anxiety melted away the second we walked into the lobby. Samantha was born for this job. She is peaceful and warm and makes a horrible process much more survivable. She sat down with us, my grandmother included, and went over every detail of what we needed to know. She allowed us to grieve and gave us space to make sure my grandmother (who was still in shock) understood what was happening and was ok with every decision she was making. Samantha helped us find the perfect box for my grandfather’s ashes and went a step beyond by asking the box maker to add a small personalization at the request of my grandmother.
When we requested a small viewing so that out-​of-​country relatives could say goodbye, she went above and beyond to accommodate us. We got to say to goodbye and grieve as a family. I have no idea if this is a standard practice or not but as we were forgoing a typical funeral and viewing, I didn’t know this was an option.
Aria was the perfect choice for my family. We didn’t want a discount experience just because we chose to go a different route from the usual funeral home package and I can honestly say not one step felt like we were getting anything less than what my grandfather deserved. I’m so grateful to Samantha and the staff at Aria for helping us through such a difficult time. I can’t imagine having chosen anyone else to hold our hands through it all.