How to Plan a Celebration of Life

A celebration of life gathers people to grieve together and to celebrate a life that mattered. The planning is more forgiving than a wedding, since there's no license or clergy requirement to navigate, but the same questions of space, food, and flow still need answers.

Choosing the Right Space

The Welcome Center holds up to 220 guests across 5,400 square feet, with 20-foot ceilings, wrought-iron chandeliers, a stone fireplace, and a full-length patio opening to the gardens. It suits a larger gathering with both a seated program and a standing reception, and it's fully ADA accessible with on-site parking for about 100 vehicles.

The Bank Barn seats around 150: hand-hewn timber from the mid-1800s, a string-light ceiling, and sliding doors that open onto an adjacent lawn. It's not climate-controlled, since the doors stay open for the breeze, so it suits a warmer-weather gathering with a more informal feel.

If the person you're honoring had a connection to trucks, racing, or trains, the property's on-site construction and transportation museum can be opened for guests during the event by prior arrangement, a small detail that can become a meaningful part of the afternoon.

Shaping the Program

Most families land on a simple order: gathering and arrival, welcome and shared remarks, a moment of music or quiet reflection, then a reception. A rough shape to work from:

• Arrival and gathering, about 30 minutes
• Welcome and remarks from family and close friends, 30 to 45 minutes
• A song, reading, or moment of silence
• Reception with food and conversation, 1 to 2 hours

Because there's no county paperwork involved, you have more room to set the schedule around what feels right for your family. If you're bringing in an officiant or celebrant, choose someone who has led life celebrations before and give them time with the family beforehand.

Food and the Reception

Catering on the property is exclusive to two in-house caterers, Robert Ryan Catering & Design and Tosco's Catering. Every event here works with one of them, and either can build a menu around what fits the moment: a seated meal, passed hors d'oeuvres, or simply coffee and dessert after the remarks. A bar, if you want one, has to be run by a licensed, insured bartender or caterer; both can arrange that. Outside florists, photographers, and musicians are welcome if there's someone the family already trusts.

Weather and Accessibility

Every venue on the property comes with an indoor rain plan at no extra cost, and that call gets made together 24 to 48 hours ahead so you're not guessing the morning of. The Welcome Center is fully ADA accessible. If you're planning to use the Bank Barn for any part of the day, let us know ahead of time about any guests using wheelchairs or walkers, common at a life celebration, so we can help you plan the route between spaces.

Getting Guests There

The property sits at 4363 Campbell Rd in Pennsburg, in the Upper Perkiomen Valley of Montgomery County.

Guests coming from farther away have options nearby: Holiday Inn Express in Quakertown, Hampton Inn in Limerick, or smaller bed-and-breakfasts in Bally and Boyertown. Tours are by appointment Tuesday through Saturday; call 215-859-1559 to walk both spaces before you decide.