What are funeral visitations like where you live?

A couple of weeks ago, my mother died and is usual in this part of the country, we held a visitation (or viewing or mass) and then the next day the funeral. The visitation was arranged so that after visitors viewed my mother’s body, they were forced to go through a “reception line” and talk with my brother and me. Nearly 400 people came to my mom’s visitation and I had to talk with all of them. While I am incredibly grateful for the show of support and all of the kind words, I felt like I was involved in an endurance test on Survivor. I was exhausted and sad and honestly didn’t feel like I could make it through the night (we had to stand the whole time). There was a lounge, but every time I went to sit and take a break, someone would come and get me because there were people in the reception line again. I was just curious how other areas of the country or other faiths (maybe?) do this. It couldn’t have been easy for the guests either – some of them had to wait 30–45 minutes and many were elderly. I just think there must be a better way.

I was in Iowa and it was a Protestant funeral, BTW