Pull a Vanderbilt

I’ll never forget visiting the Breakers in Newport, RI for the first time. The tour guide pointed out the Vanderbilt family crest — acorn and oak leaves — on the wall and mentioned how it was made up because the family had no real crest. That’s when I realized if the Vanderbilts could conjure up a family crest out of thin air then so could I. But, if you’re not an artist, today’s featured company can help you “Pull a Vanderbilt.”

The somewhat ironic part about the Vanderbilt crest at the Breakers is that it stood for strength and longevity and two of Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s sons didn’t make it past 45. So, when I decided to pull a Vanderbilt and create a crest for my wedding invite, I kept it simple without focusing on also creating a family motto that might haunt me or my progeny.

MY “Family Crest”I created a custom crest that embodied the heritage of both my husband and me. As I’m a bit of a mutt — Scottish, Irish, German — the majority of the crest is about moi: thistle, shamrock and oak leaf. Unbeknownst to me and probably everyone else, the oak tree is a German symbol, I figured better than a beer stein. My husband is Chinese so I did plum tree flowers on the bottom to symbolize his heritage.

I thought this was pretty darn cool UNTIL my friend Amanda (Figs, Bay, Wine) told me about Caroline Brackenridge. Her name is almost the same as my artist mother, Carol Breckenridge, so naturally, I feel a certain affinity for this amazing artist. And I cannot wait to have her do a custom monogram for me.

You can put it on anything, stationery, china, silver, linens. Oh and I learned from her website that people used to monogram their linens because the wash ladies would bring all of their employers’ clothes to the same stream and wash them together. Each piece was essentially branded so that you wouldn’t lose any linens in the wash.

It’s not cheap. $575 for the design plus $175 set up fee for the initial embroidering and this doesn’t include the linens or stationery. But you’re commissioning a piece of customized artwork for you and future generations. It would make an amazing wedding gift — and since that’s more than most would ever dream of giving as a gift to a new couple, it would make an excellent group gift.