Meet the 21st Century Duogram

Never heard of a duogram? Meet the close cousin of the monogram. And think of Amal and George Clooney when they set the wedding world on fire with their gorgeous AG duogram emblazoned everywhere in Venice for their wedding festivities in 2014. As you might have guessed, a duo-gram means two different people’s initials create the design, as opposed to a mono-gram when only a single person’s initials are used.

So if you wish to use a design of the bride and groom’s initials before the wedding (such as on the wedding invitation or thank you notes for gifts received prior to the wedding), you should consider having a duogram design made of just the first initials of the bride and groom only, and not use the last name initial. Combine the first initials of the bride and groom by joining them with either an ampersand “&” or a design.

As the vows have not been said, it is improper to use the bride’s married monogram on the wedding program. The wedding program is the last opportunity for the bride to use her maiden monogram.

Since most couples do like to have a duogram combining their names for use after the wedding, style the initials so that the brides’ first initial is first, the married last name is larger in the middle, and the groom’s first initial is last. The reason for this is that is it customary to not separate a man’s first name from his last name. So when you are writing out names of couples, or having your names engraved on the cake serving set, it should look like “Stephanie and John Smith” not “John and Stephanie Smith.”