Amy Vanderbilt on Monogram Etiquette

This server is monogrammed with a single, elegant initial for a last name – “After she was married, or if her husband’s family presented silver, that silver was marked with her married initials or the single initial of the new family or with her husband’s crest. This meant differently marked silver used on the same table. And while this is very usual, especially when we have inherited silver, many brides prefer unity in monogramming. The bride often has her silver marked with her new initials, or the single initial of her new name or with her husband’s crest, if they both wish.”

How should silver be marked? In hope chest days a girl began collecting her silver piece by piece, long before a knight even appeared over the horizon. It was monogrammed with her maiden initials or the single letter of her last name or with her family’s crest, and it remained her personal property. After she was married, or if her husband’s family presented silver, that silver was marked with her married initials or the single initial of the new family or with her husband's crest. This meant differently marked silver used on the same table. And while this is very usual, especially when horizon. It was monogrammed with her maiden initials or the single letter of her last name or with her family’s crest, and it remained her personal property. 

After she was married, or if her husband’s family presented silver, that silver was marked with her married initials or the single initial of the new family or with her husband’s crest. This meant differently marked silver used on the same table. And while this is very usual, especially when we have inherited silver, many brides prefer unity in monogramming. The bride often has her silver marked with her new initials, or the single initial of her new name or with her husband’s crest, if they both wish.

Ornate initialing or monogramming has given way to simple markings, usually suggested by the jeweler as being in harmony with the design of the silver. Sometimes triangles or inverted triangles are used, with the bride's initials or her first initial and the groom's combined with his last initial. This may be: 

N (his last name), 

JP (their two first initials) or

J F triangle or with her first two initials at the base). 

G (her maiden initials in an inverted JP (their two first initials)  

or 

J F G (her maiden initials in an inverted triangle or with her first two initials at the base). 

– From The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette, 1952

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia