How important is an open casket funeral to you?

I was just at a funeral for a man who took two bullets to the face. It ws an open casket funeral, which kind of surprised me, because I thought his facial damage would be too severe for an open casket. It turns out that the mortician almost completely reconstructed his face (wax? I don’t know..) and there was this gauzy texture so you couldn’t really discern where the reconstruction ended and his “real” face began. Perhaps his entire face was reconstructed..I couldn’t tell.

I really thought an open casket funeral was a little too much. My husband, on the other hand thinks they are very important because they make closure easier and make the death seem more real to the people who attend. I thought the reconstruction made it seem less real—as if the man wasn’t actually in the coffin, but this weird wax replica was there instead.

Just curious to know what the rest of you thought. If you think open casket funerals are important, would you want one even if yours (or your loved one’s) face was severely damaged?