Guide
A Memorial Slideshow for the Service
There are two honest ways to put their photos on a screen at the service: build a finished slideshow video in an editor, or play their tribute page itself on the TV — slow enough to read, with every photo and memory the family has approved. The second takes no editing and stays current to the morning of the service.
Published October 23, 2026
The usual way: a slideshow video
The familiar path is to gather photographs from everyone, put them in order in a video editor or a slideshow app, lay a song underneath, and export a file. It works, and for some families the making of it is part of the grieving.
Be honest with yourself about the cost in the hardest week: collecting photos from a dozen phones, choosing an order, and rendering a file takes hours, the finished video is frozen the moment it is exported, and a commercial song in the file can raise licensing questions if the video is later posted online. If someone in the family loves this work, let them have it. If no one does, there is a simpler way.
The other way: play their page
A tribute page already holds what a slideshow is made of — their portrait, their years, their story in chapters, and the photographs and memories everyone has added. Here, a page can be played as a presentation: it moves through the rooms slowly enough for everyone to read, and you can pause it or go at your own pace.
Nothing is uploaded and nothing is rendered. When a cousin adds twelve photographs the night before the service and the family approves them at breakfast, the presentation at the chapel already has them. After the service it keeps working — at the reception, at the anniversary, at the kitchen table.
Playing a page as a presentation is part of Plus, $197 paid once. The page itself, and everything on it, is free.
The two ways, plainly
| A slideshow video | Their page, played | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to make | Hours of gathering, ordering, and exporting | None beyond the page itself |
| New photos the night before | Re-edit and re-export the file | Approve them; the presentation has them |
| At the service | Plays from a file — no internet needed | Plays in a browser — needs the venue's wifi or a phone hotspot |
| Pace | Fixed when exported | Slow, normal, or fast; pause any time |
| Music | A song you add — licensing is on you if posted online | Quiet, or the room's own sound |
| Afterward | A file to keep | A living page that keeps growing |
How do you get it onto the TV?
Most funeral home screens and church projectors take HDMI, and most will happily play whatever a laptop shows. Ask the funeral home first — they do this every week and usually have the cable waiting.
The setup, in order
- Ask the venue what the screen takes: HDMI from a laptop is the usual answer, a USB stick with a video file is the fallback
- For a played page: open the page on a laptop, press play, and connect the HDMI cable — or cast from the laptop to a smart TV on the same wifi
- Check the venue's wifi the day before; a phone's hotspot is a fine understudy
- For a video file: bring it on a USB stick and emailed to yourself, both
- Arrive twenty minutes early and run it once to the empty room
What should it show, and for how long?
During a visitation, let it loop quietly — people drift to the screen between conversations, and the slow pace gives them somewhere to rest their eyes. During the service itself, most families pause the screen and let the speakers have the room, then let it play again at the reception.
If you are building a fixed video instead: eight to twelve minutes is the customary length, five seconds a photograph, oldest to newest, and the officiant will thank you for ending it on their smile.
Questions, answered plainly
What if the venue has no internet?
A phone hotspot carries a played page easily — it is a web page, not a video stream. If the room truly has no signal, a traditional video file on a USB stick is the honest fallback, and both can be ready: play the page where there is wifi, keep the file for where there is not.
Can music play at a funeral without licensing trouble?
Music performed in the room at a service is customary, and venues handle it every week. The question arises when a slideshow video with a commercial song is later posted or shared online — platforms can mute or remove it. A played page sidesteps this; a video file deserves a thought before it goes on the internet.
How is a played tribute page different from a slideshow?
A slideshow is a frozen file of photographs. A played page moves through everything the family has gathered — the portrait, the chapters of their life, the photographs, and the memories in people's own words — and it updates whenever the family approves something new. Nothing is exported; it simply plays.
Can we try it before the service?
Yes. Press play on the page any evening and watch it the way the room will. Set the pace once and it remembers; the only rehearsal the day needs is the twenty quiet minutes with the cable.
