If you’re looking for ways to make your wedding uniquely your own, option is to display a custom wedding crest.
A wedding crest is a symbolic design that represents a couple and their union. These crests are a longstanding wedding tradition that adds a personal touch and sense of heritage to the celebrations.
As weddings become more customized, custom crests are making a comeback.
Here's a closer look at these crests and ideas that you can use if you'd like to incorporate one into your wedding.
Understand the Difference: Wedding Crests and Monograms
Before we go into wedding crests, though, we'd like to clarify the differences between wedding crests and wedding monograms.
A monogram contains only the couple's initials, usually styled and overlapped in some way. It might, for example, display the initials "J" and "S" for "John Smith" and "Jane Doe" becoming the intertwined monogram "JS."
A crest aims to tell a richer, more personal story of who the couple is together than a monogram. Crests are more customized art pieces that are used as stand-alone focal points.
A crest can include initials, but it will also incorporate meaningful symbols, illustrations, dates, mottoes, flowers, and other design elements. It represents your family history, interests, values, and relationship journey.
What to Include in Your Wedding Crest
If you decide to create a wedding crest, you can include any details that hold significance for you. Traditional crests contain such elements as:
-Last name initials of the bride and groom: Use your first, last, or married initials.
-Date: Display your wedding date or the year you met.
-Symbols: Depict symbols that represent your love, interests, or values.
-Flowers: Incorporate your wedding flowers or botanicals with special meaning to you.
-Mascot: Add an animal mascot if one is special to you as a couple.
-Cities: Highlight cities important to your relationship.
-Motto: Include a meaningful quote, verse, or motto.
Reasons to Design a Wedding Crest
A wedding crest adds deeper meaning and personalization to your wedding day. Here are some of the top reasons couples opt to have a wedding crest.
Honors Your Heritage
A wedding crest allows you to pay tribute to your family histories, ethnicities and cultural traditions.
Symbolizes Your Union
Your wedding crest visually encapsulates your relationship and the promises you make to each other on your wedding day.
Adds a Personal Touch
You can make your crest completely unique by weaving in details that tell your love story, from a pet portrait to an image that symbolizes your first date.
Ties in Your Wedding Theme
Create a crest that aligns with your wedding style and mood.
Unifies Your Wedding Details
The crest visually brings together all your wedding stationery, decor, and details.
How to Create Your Wedding Crest
You have several options for bringing your wedding crest to life.
Hire a Custom Crest Designer
Many graphic designers, artists, and stationers on sites like Etsy offer custom crest design services.
Provide them with your vision, symbols, color scheme and any other crest elements you want incorporated. They'll create a digital file you can print anywhere. Prices range from $150-$500.
Design Your Own Custom Crest
For full control over the process, use Photoshop, Canva, Illustrator, or other design tools to craft a custom crest yourself.
Start with a template or blank canvas, and add shapes, imagery, text and other elements to create your layout.
Watch tutorials for guidance. Print through an online service.
Order an Emblem Stamp
Get your crest made into a wax seal stamp or custom ink stamp to emboss paper goods.
Research Family Crests
If your family has a historic coat of arms, you may be able to incorporate this traditional crest into your wedding symbol. Check genealogy resources and ask relatives if your family has a crest already.
Where to Display Your Wedding Crest
Your wedding crest can be incorporated throughout your wedding day decor and stationery. Common places to display your crest include:
Wedding Stationery/Invitations
The crest looks lovely framed or printed on your invitations and save-the-dates.
Wedding Website and Email Signatures
Upload the crest as your header image or add it to your email signature line.
Signage
Display the crest on welcome signs, seating charts, photo booths, bars, or buffets.
Favors and Gifts
Have the crest etched, printed, or embroidered on wedding favors, welcome bags, or your gifts for your parents or the bridal party.
Ideas for Custom Crests
When designing your wedding crest, the possibilities are endless. Get creative with these ideas:
-Hobbies: Showcase your favorite hobbies like hiking, baking, books, or wine.
-Careers: Reference your jobs, degrees, or how you met at work.
-Travel: Highlight your favorite travel destinations or your honeymoon location.
-Food: Feature favorite foods, family recipes, or your wedding cake.
-Pop culture: Work in movies, shows, or music you both love.
-Humor: Add an inside joke or play on your names.
-Vows: List key words from your vows or reading passages.
Matching Your Wedding Theme
Your crest should align with your overall wedding aesthetic. Here are some ideas:
-Classic/Formal: Use traditional imagery like flowers, a motto, and initials in an elegant style.
-Rustic: Depict autumn leaves, mountains, or trees in an earthy style.
-Vintage: Add a banner, ornate frame, and old-fashioned typography.
-Modern: Keep it simple with clean lines and minimal symbols. Avoid intricate detailing.
-Whimsical: Get playful with bright colors, charming illustrations, or fantasy elements.
-Boho: Incorporate nature motifs like feathers, dreamcatchers, or botanicals.
Wedding Crest Trends
The wedding crest is timeless, but here are some current trends:
The Watercolor Crest
Watercolor crests, growing in popularity, are an artistic way to add soft, dreamy style to your wedding.
The wash of watercolor in shades like sky blue, lavender, pink, and sage green create a romantic ethereal crest perfect for modern rustic, boho, or whimsical weddings.
When designing a watercolor crest, it works best to keep the design simple. Focus on just a few key symbolic elements so they can be recognized within the flowing, liquid texture of the watercolor. Delicate flower blossoms, flowing banners with vows or dates, creatively rendered tree branches, and minimal outlines of shapes work well. Avoid too many small details.
The crest artwork can be custom painted on paper or digitally for versatile use on your invitations, signage, website, and more.
Watercolor crests lend themselves to creative, artistic freedom since they don’t need perfect precision. Each crest will have a unique, one-of-a-kind painted look.
Including Beloved Pets
For many couples today, pets are part of the family. Showcasing furry companions in your wedding crest has become a popular way to honor their role in your relationship.
Pets provide endless inspiration: Use their names, breeds, paw prints, fun characteristics, or things they love in your wedding crest.
Getting custom portraits of your pets drawn in the style of your crest is a particularly thoughtful touch. Pet portraits make wedding crests more lighthearted and capture your quirky personalities.
Final Tips
Here are a few more suggestions for creating your custom wedding crest:
-Select two to four focal motifs you want to feature. Avoid cluttering your wedding crest with too many design elements.
-Choose a color scheme that coordinates with your wedding palette.
-Size your wedding crest correctly for readable details, scaling it on invitations, signs, and favors.
-You can add a frame, wreath, or other border if desired.
The Bell Tower on 34th is a Houston wedding venue dedicated to delivering excellent events that no one will ever forget.
Our team works closely with newly engaged couples to help them realize their wedding vision.
Contact us to learn more.
The Bell Tower on 34th
901 W 34th St, Houston, TX 77018
(713) 868-2355