“Every life has a story, and we’re here to help families find special, personal ways to honour those memories.”
Steve Shaw – Branch Manager
After a funeral, the words we love to hear are: “She would have loved this” or “That was just Dad to a tee.” That’s why we don’t offer packages — every detail is tailored to reflect the person at the heart of the farewell.
“As I see it, the starting point for every funeral is the personality of the person who has died,” says Steve, Branch Manager. “It’s not about what a funeral ‘should’ be like, but about what feels true to them.”
At Tong & Peryer, every farewell is unique. From venues to celebrants, flowers to vehicles, the choices are yours — and we guide you through each step with honesty, care, and attention to detail. One dedicated funeral director will support you throughout, ensuring everything is organised seamlessly so you can focus on what matters most: honouring your loved one’s life and story.
To help friends and family through this difficult event, we put special emphasis on making the process of organising a funeral as simple and as transparent as possible. People feel like they need to rush things, but we dont agree. There is time to get things right but more importantly, this is your time to mourn the loss of someone dear.
Funeral arrangements are kept straightforward so there’s one less thing for you to worry about during this time of stress and mourning. Our role is to gently guide you to the right decisions, at the right time and endeavor not to overwhelm you with choice. We shoulder as much of the burden as necessary to ensure you get the appropriate space to start to understand and accept your loss. Some people prefer to be completely hands-off, whilst others actively engage – there’s no right or wrong.
We believe so strongly that everybody is unique and therefore so should their funerals, so we dont do any package offerings.
As much as we can, we like to personalise the service to reflect peoples cultures, personal values, interests, and careers.
We carried his casket on his green tractor to the tune Big Green Tractor. His casket sat on hay bales inside the woolshed (on the land his family had farmed for 3 generations) where the service and refreshments were carried out. Later, we went back with his ashes and held a memorial service on top of the highest point on the farm where we scattered his ashes also attended by his beloved dogs and horses as part of his celebration of life.
All her recipe books and articles that had been published were proudly displayed at the service and her guests were asked to take one at the end of the service to ensure her legacy continued. Close friends were invited to make one of her recipies to bring along for refreshments and her favourite fruit cake recipe was printed on her service sheet.
We turned St Lukes church into a gallery of sorts by displaying some of her paintings. We also used the artist’s self portrait, had it miniaturised into a service sheet and printed a poem that she had written on the reverse side to hand out to those attending. Her casket had her paints, brushes and palette proudly displayed.
Everyone wore angel wings and were given bubbles to blow as we left the crematorium.
Whether at a favourite cafe or in her home, she was known for her elaborate afternoon tea parties. So, how fitting that we had her ‘afternoon tea service’ at Birdwoods with fine china, silver service tea sets and amazing finger food. Family and friends shared stories of her life and as an acomplished pianist, recordings of her music played quietly in the background.
A huge influencer of forestry in Hawkes Bay had all his lumbering equipment with him at his service. His trustee workboots held the flower arrangement and his casket spray was made of native foliage instead of traditional flowers.
He was happiest in his garden or out fishing. His casket spray was made of vegetables which included miniture fishing rods and guests were invited to bring produce from their gardens to place on his casket
He loved the beach. He travelled the world with his trusty surfboard and so his funeral at the beach was so fitting. Shells were placed on his casket at the end of the service and his friends and family sent floral offerings out to sea. His surfboard was cremated with him and his ashes spread at a special place at a Hawkes Bay beach a few months later where his friends took him for his final surf.
