Ah, funerals and talking about my and my families wishes are probably talked about daily. My boyfriend and I, both funeral directors, keep an open dialog about it. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious but you have to have some sort of sense of humor when dealing with sadness and loss on a daily basis. I think I'd rather be buried.
There is value with laying a body out for visitation. We even have visitations without embalming (dry ice, visitation within 24 hours) and there are new , less invasive techniques being used. Embalming doesn't have to be the scary, surgical, preserve for 1000 years process anymore. We tell families that it's an IV of water, some dye and enough preservative to halt any decomp processes for a few days but leaves the body very natural.
Cremation can also take place after services are held. And at our funeral home we treat cremation & burial exactly the same -- we set appointment times for both and invite families to go to the crematory and cemetery. We eventually would like to have a crematory that we can go in procession to, as over half of all people are choosing cremation and it adds that element of taking and carrying your loved one to that final place.
I have yet to witness photo shoots with the dead, but there are some people that do take pictures. We have people asking us all the time if it's appropriate (they want to but don't want to look morbid).
None of the options are great - cremation, donation, burial or entombment. They all have pros and cons. In the end, the dead don't care & it's up to the survivors to choose what they need to do. Even with organ donation & cremation you have to have your next of kin's permission even if you've written down your wishes.