Putting a QR Code on a Funeral Program or Prayer Card
A funeral program has room for a photograph, the order of service, a poem and maybe a hymn. A prayer card has room for even less. What neither has room for is the slideshow, the full obituary, the stories people are going to tell at the reception, or a place for the cousin in another country to say something.
A QR code fixes that. It takes up an inch of paper, and anyone who scans it with a phone camera lands on a page that holds everything else. Families have started printing them on programs, prayer cards, memorial cards and thank-you notes, and done well it is one of the simplest good ideas in funeral planning.
Done badly, it is a square that opens an error page. This guide is about the difference.
What the code is actually doing
A QR code is a web address printed in a pattern a camera can read. It has no chip, no battery and no expiry date. It does exactly one thing: open a link.
So the real decision is not the code. It is the page the code points to. Before anything goes to the printer, you need a page that:
- already exists, with at least a photograph and a few lines on it
- will still be at the same address in five years
- can be opened by the people you are handing the program to
The third point catches people out. If the page is private, guests scan the code and hit a locked door. If it needs a password or access code, print the code next to the QR, or decide that the page should be public for now.
The first point matters more than it sounds. Most people scan the code during the service or on the way home. If they land on a half-built page with no photo, very few will come back. Get a portrait and the dates and the obituary text on it first; the album can grow over the following weeks.
Which page should it point to?
Families usually choose one of three:
| Page | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| The funeral home's obituary page | Already exists; has the service times | You do not control how long it stays up or what is sold beside it. Read what you do and do not own on a funeral home obituary page first |
| A livestream link | Relatives who cannot travel | Useless the week after; links often change on the day |
| A memorial page the family runs | Photos, the life story, messages, for years | Someone has to set it up before printing |
If you want the code to keep working after the service, point it at the page the family controls, and put the livestream link on that page rather than on the program. That way the printed code never goes stale: you change what the page says, not what the paper says.
If you have not made the page yet, our guide to creating a free online memorial takes about fifteen minutes, and the checklist for a memorial page covers what to put on it before you share it.
Where to put it on a program
There is no rule, but some places work better than others.
The back page, bottom half. This is the most common placement and it works. People read the program front to back during the service, and the back page is where they end up. Pair it with a line of text so people know what they are scanning.
Next to the obituary or life summary. If the program has a short obituary inside, the code beside it can say "Read the full story and see photos." This is the most natural invitation.
Not on the front cover. The front belongs to the photograph and the name. A code there looks like a coupon.
The line of text matters as much as the square. "Scan me" tells people nothing. Some wording that works:
- Photos, the full obituary and a place to share a memory
- Leave a message for the family
- If you have a photo of Mum, we would love to see it
- Couldn't be here today? Watch the service and sign the guest book
The last one turns the program into something worth posting to relatives who could not come.
Prayer cards and memorial cards
A prayer card is usually about the size of a playing card, with a picture or image on the front and a prayer or verse on the back. Space is tight, and many families do not want anything that changes the feeling of a card that will sit in a missal or a wallet for decades.
Two options that keep the card quiet:
- A small code in a bottom corner of the back, under the dates, with three or four words of text in a small size.
- A separate small card tucked into the program or left on the guest book table, so the prayer card stays traditional.
If you go with the first, test it at the actual printed size (see below). Small cards are where codes most often fail.
Printing it so it scans
A few practical rules, all from the way QR codes work rather than any particular printer:
- Size: keep the code at least about 2 cm (0.8 inch) square on a program. Bigger is safer; nobody will complain that it scans too easily. On a prayer card, do not go much smaller than this.
- Contrast: dark code on a light background. Black on white or cream is best. Gold foil, silver ink, embossing or a code printed over a photograph can look beautiful and refuse to scan.
- The white border: a QR code needs a clear margin around it, called the quiet zone. Do not let the design crowd text or a frame right up against it.
- Paper: matt or uncoated stock scans more reliably than high-gloss, which can throw glare under church lighting.
- File quality: give the printer a high-resolution image, not a screenshot. A blurry code may scan on your screen and fail on paper.
Test it before the full print run. Ask the printer for one proof, or print one copy at home at the real size. Scan it with two different phones, an iPhone and an Android if you can, in dim light. Then hand it to the oldest person in the family and watch whether they can work it out. If they cannot, add a short web address under the code as well.
Getting a code from GetMemorial
If you make the memorial on GetMemorial, you do not need a separate QR generator. Open the memorial in the app, tap the more button, then QR Code. Anyone who can see the memorial can open this, not only the person who made it.
The code is a 1200-pixel image with a wide border, which is plenty for a program or a card. It is generated with high error correction, the setting designed to keep scanning even if part of the code is scuffed or slightly covered. Tap Save or share image to save it to your photos or send it straight to whoever is laying out the program. It opens that memorial and only that memorial, so if you later change the photos or the text, the printed code still works.
Before printing, check the page's visibility. A memorial can be public, protected with an access code, or "Only visible to me." For a printed program, public is simplest. If you would rather keep it protected, print the access code on the card next to the QR code. Our guide to public or private memorial pages goes through the trade-off.
After the funeral
The code keeps doing its job long after the service. People find programs in coat pockets weeks later, and scan them on the anniversary. A few things help:
- Keep the page alive. Add the eulogy, the photos people send, and the slideshow from the reception. The page the code opens should get richer, not emptier.
- Reuse the same image. Put the code on the thank-you notes and, later, on a headstone or plaque. Our guide to QR codes on headstones covers the materials that last outdoors, and the one way those fail.
- Check that it still works once a year. Scan an old program on the anniversary. It takes ten seconds.
A program gets read once and kept for years. The code is what lets it keep being read.
GetMemorial helps families build lasting online memorials in minutes, a permanent home for photos, the life story and messages from everyone who came, and everyone who could not. Make one and get its QR code at GetMemorial.com.
