I didn’t see that anyone had mentioned this yet, so I figured I should: although you mentioned doing a will in the thread title, you should NOT put funeral instructions in your will. Ordinarily, the will isn’t even looked at until after they put the fella in the ground. Write a letter, talk about what you’d like with your family, make the arrangements yourself with your friendly funeral director (and make sure your family knows WHICH funeral director), or something similar; otherwise, the sendoff you receive might not be what you really wanted.
I really don’t care what they do with my carcass, once I’ve ceased taking up residence in it. But I know Mrs. F. wants us to be buried together, so I guess that’s that. 
However, I signed whatever I had to sign so that my driver’s license lists me as an organ donor. So if I’m killed in a car crash, and someone needs a kidney or cornea or whatever, the paramedics can relay the word that spare parts are available. I figure that if they can do something useful with my remains after I leave, so much the better.
Altho I think Lucretia’s idea is kinda cool, I doubt I can talk the missus into it. 
I want all my organs to be harvested and then stick me in a pine box. Or cremate me. I don’t care. I’m dead, for pete’s sake!.
Funerals are for the living.
Sign me up for this! I’m picturing the monks doing a cute little shimmy to “Mustang Sally” as they drag my body out to the vulture lot. Getting over to Mongolia while I’m still a tasty morsel seems to be the only problem.
[Lawyer mode]
You should find alternate methods of expressing your desired plans for burial/cremation, etc., other than putting them in your will, because often your survivors are not going to deal with your will until after you’re in the ground. Not too surprisingly, people don’t think of checking the decedent’s will for interment preferences while they are grieving.
[/Lawyer mode]
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Funeral pyre? Heck, it’s hard enough to burn leaves in the midwest. But I agree in that I think it sounds pretty neat. See below.
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I always liked the idea of a Viking Funeral, i.e. funeral pyre on a boat. Less likely than a regular funeral pyre though (though I suppose you may get away with it if you do it in international waters.)
Barring the Viking funeral, my preference would be to donate usable parts for transplant, cremate the rest, with my ashes scattered in the sandtrap to the left of the fourth green on the Robert Black golf course. I’ve already spent eternity there, so I figure it won’t be that much of a shock for me.
Given my lifetime dietary habits, I can assure you, that my body is already toxic before I join the choir invisible.
You really oughtta talk about your wishes with your spouse/children/parents/siblings/relatives/dog/whoever. Even with a signed and witnessed organ donor card, a hospital normally won’t remove an organ from a body without the consent of the near family; in other words, you can be overruled after you croak. Get your relations used to the idea of organ donation while you’re still above room temperature.
I will not be buried in California. I will not,will not, will not. CA is OK, but I was only truly happy in “my mountains” The Uinta mountain range in Utah. My fiance knows that if I die, I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread up on the mountains. I can’t even stand the thought of eternity in California.
Just read a pasage where the author expresses his “wish to be buried in an easily rotted cardboard box and above me, ready to send its roots downward, a black walnut or the acorn of a white oak. It’s the closest I’ll come to resurrection.”
Wallace Kaufman, Coming Out of the Woods
Struck me as pretty neat.
Shirley,
Speaking as a lawyer and not just somebody who plays one on TV, I suggest you contact a local funeral director to inquire about your plans. I don’t know if you’d be able to get away with a pyre, though-environmental and public health concerns (especially if you die of something contagious) probably rule it out. But since funeral directors do this sort of thing for a living (NPI) they’ll know if you can do it and if they don’t know the answer they know who to ask.
If I were you I’d discuss your plans with your family and loved ones and/or leave a separate letter for your next of kin detailing what you want done with your remains once you assume room temprature. Just make sure that your family knows about this letter and where it is. A will is not the place to leave funeral instructions. In the initial shock and grief, most folks don’t bother to look at the will until after the funeral.
When I go, I want to be cremated after the doctors take whatever parts they can use for somebody else. I’m claustrophobic and the thought of being underground in a small box, even dead, scares the $&*^# out of me. My family doesn’t need to put the ashes on the TV, though. 
My final destination is with my first wife. We were married for only ten weeks before she died from a pulmonary embolism. I figure this way we’ll at least have some more time together.
Regards,
Zappo
Shirley
What you are refering to is called Sky Burial and it is widely practised by Tibetan Buddhists. It makes a lot of sense for their climate, not much wood to burn with or make coffins.
The bones, after the flesh is removed, part by Buddhist butcher/priests, part by the vultures, are smashed then ground and mixed into a meil and fed to the vultures as well.
I like it myself, I have a friend who witnessed one of these ceremonies himself.
Since my husband has a terminal disease, we have discussed this at length. He believes I am too young to not remarry, (I’m 42), so we should not buy adjoining plots. We both want to be cremated anyway, so why waste the money, and the land? So I will keep his ashes in an urn. We’ve jokingly thought about placing them inside a bowling ball, since he was a pro bowler for some time.
[gross aside]
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned Soylent Green, yet…
[/gross aside]