Ready to design a piece of family heraldry that represents your love story and can be used on the most welcoming details?! Yay! I can’t wait to learn what is most important to you to represent on your crest. As I walk through on my watercolor crest page, you choose your crest color, banner color, text, and style, flowers, icons, and finally the MONOGRAM!! Woot! Woot! I’m going to walk you through things to consider when choosing your monogram style, color, and (possible) combination.

Monogram Styles

In the center of each crest, I include a monogram and offer three different styles: calligraphy, vintage, and serif, so your design truly represents you! Use one of these styles to represent your surname or combine them to include your first initials and shared last name initial. Please keep in mind that not all letters are equal. Some don’t “fit” well together due to symmetry, shape, ascenders/descenders. Rather than a favorite style for all letters, I have favorite styles for certain letters and combinations.

In the first row of examples I put together below, I love the vintage “C” to stand on its own because it’s elegant and interesting. But if I were to select a “C” to combine with other letters, I’d choose calligraphy or serif so the design doesn’t get too busy. Which styles are your favorite for the letters shown below?

Calligraphy, vintage, and serif fonts look lovely on their own or mixed together for a unique look!

Monogram Colors

Mix or match your colors! If you have a certain color in mind, I’m all ears, but most of the time color is decided upon after everything else is designed. Some couples even just say it’s my choice. (Thank you for trusting me!) The colors shown below are the same shades as my crests. Sometimes it looks really lovely to match the crest and banner and other times its fun to bring out a color from the flowers or icons. I can also make shades a little lighter or darker if necessary to make combinations work together. For example, if someone knew they wanted a lavender monogram using a vintage and calligraphy combination, I may darken the lavender for the vintage and use lavender (shown) for the calligraphy.

Colors may vary slightly due to their watery nature. I also adjust them if necessary to complement your flowers/icons. 🙂

Monogram Combinations

Traditionally, prior to marriage, monograms represent each individuals’ first initials. After marriage, couples may use their surname with their initials or their surname alone. It’s up to you whether you’d like to keep things traditional or toss out those old rules. If they are important to you, but you’d love to have a married monogram, as well, that’s an add-on I’m happy to create for you! I can combine different styles and colors to create your unique monogram. Below are some examples of styles on their own and combined with one another. Letters may interlock or be kept separate from one another.

Letters may be interlocked or kept separate from one another. Which style do you prefer?

Getting Started

Interested in getting started on a watercolor crest? Click here to learn more or here to contact me. You may also email me at alicia@thewelcomingdistrict.com.