You can be turned into a diamond, sent up in space in a rocket, or buried in a wildlife meadow. Lindsay Jennings looks at the jolly good send offs on offer when you fanally depart thisl life.

CELESTE Egan had always wanted to walk down the aisle with her father when she got married. But when Mick Egan died of a brain haemorrhage eight months before her dream wedding, it looked as if she would never get her wish. Until, that is, Mick's wife of 30 years, Susan, had her husband's ashes turned into a blue 0.32 carat synthetic diamond - the colour of his eyes.

In the end, Celeste carried her father down the aisle in a small pouch wrapped around her wrist. He was her "something blue".

Celeste, an accountant from Lancashire, said: "It made my day complete having the diamond there because Dad could accompany me down the aisle, although in a different way.

"My wedding day was very emotional but it was a nice emotion."

Susan said her husband was her diamond geezer, who will now be with her forever. She joins an increasing number of people who are looking for alternative ways to say goodbye to their loved ones. The British - not really known for being comfortable with discussing issues around death - are now choosing to be buried in wildlife meadows in cardboard coffins; have their ashes sent soaring into the sky in a firework display or, like Susan, have their loved ones turned into a diamond.

The company behind Susan's diamond is LifeGem UK, which started up in America before expanding into Britain in 2004. The company uses up to ten per cent of a person's ashes and extracts the carbon before heating it up to extreme temperatures and converting it into graphite. Then skilled diamond cutters facet the gem into the required size - from .20 carats upwards. The diamonds come in yellow, green, red, blue or white and are priced from £2,100 to £17,000.

"We only produce the diamond because we find the setting of it is such a personal matter for the customer," says Patrick Hampson, office manager at LifeGem Uk, based in East Sussex. "If a husband dies, very often the widow will take the wedding ring and have the diamond set in that. Some people prefer to set it into a pendant so they can hang it around their neck close to their heart. I always quote one woman who said 'my husband never gave me a diamond when he was alive so he can give me one now from his ashes'."

The ashes of Star Trek actor James Doohan were launched into space this week from a site in New Mexico, while his fans watched and cheered. His ashes were accompanied by the remains of former US astronaut Gordon Cooper and those of 200 other people. It followed the firing into space of Gene Roddenberry's ashes, the creator of Star Trek, ten years ago

Doohan's widow, Wende, helped "press the button" for her husband's voyage to the final frontier. "He would so have loved to have gone into space as Colonel Cooper did in real life," said Wende of her husband.

"He enjoyed some of that vicariously through Scotty and when Gene Roddenberry's ashes were sent into space he said 'that's what you have to do with me'."

The launch was organised by Space Services Inc and during the 15 minute flight, the rocket flew 70 miles above Earth before separating into two parts. The parts then returned to Earth on parachutes with capsules holding the remains. The waiting loved ones were then reunited with the ashes.

In this country, Heavens Above Fireworks, in Essex, can help people go out with a bang. Prices start from around £400 to be blasted into space like Scotty or from £500 for a firework display, using fireworks specially adapted to incorporate the ashes. Displays can be synchronized to music or a champagne toast can be organised. They can be grand affairs or a few simple rockets to fire at home.

Either way, the options sound rather more dignified than the antics of Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who reportedly once snorted some of his father's ashes. "My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "It went down pretty well and I'm still alive."

According to funeral directors Philip Harrison, 46, and Mark Wait, 42, of Acorn Alternative Funerals - a subsidiary of Newcastle and Gosforth Funeral Service - the best time to plan the way we want to go is when we're still alive. And they can meet pretty much any request, no matter how bizarre.

Fifteen years ago the closest woodland or wild meadow burial site - often a choice for people with environmental principles - was at Carlisle. Now there are several, including ones at Medomsley, Seaham and, later this year, a four acre site off South Road, Durham.

"The idea of a woodland burial site is to try and return the body to nature and to be as natural as possible," says Mark. "The coffins can be made of pine, willow, bamboo or cardboard. People can even be wrapped in a calico shroud if they want - although you can't have a body on show so you'd have to have alternative method of transport such as an estate car with the windows blacked out.

"Transport wise you can get flat back wagons, motorcycles, a horse and carriage. In the Sheffield area of Yorkshire there's even a steam railway which will transport people up to the burial site."

There are also burials at sea - although these can be faced with restrictions from Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). "The coffin has to be properly weighted with the currents and everything," explains Mark.

"If you're cremated you can have a casket made of sand and gelatin which you can throw into the sea, just like a ball, and within 12 hours it's dissolved and the sea has taken the ashes away."

"We've also had people who want to be buried in their gardens," adds Philip. "But that can raise issues with underground pipe work and water tables. You've got to be careful and you've got to think about the value of the property, and if you sell it you can't take your mother or father with you."

But perhaps the great thing about their funerals, say Mark and Philip, is that they're bespoke. You can have a hand painted coffin in a favourite football team's colours. Anything you want.

"I was talking with some friends lately and they were pre-planning theirs," says Philip. "I was thinking I'm a funeral director and I've never even thought about my own. You should portray your wishes to your next of kin. Me? I think I would prefer a woodland site."