The default expectation for a coordinates sign is that it shows the wedding venue. About 60 percent of orders are that. But the other 40 percent are more interesting, and some of them are the kind of gift idea that almost nobody thinks of until they hear it. Here's what those orders have looked like over the past few years.
1. The place where you got engaged
This is the second most common coordinates choice and often more emotional than the wedding venue. The wedding venue is a public event with hundreds of people. The engagement is usually private.
Examples I've seen: the corner of a Brooklyn rooftop, a specific hiking trail, the beach at the end of a vacation, a particular table at a restaurant where they had their first date and went back to for the proposal.
Most engagement coordinates are paired with the date of the engagement and a small caption like 'Where you said yes.' This kind of caption is usually private to the couple. Visitors see the coordinates and don't necessarily know the story unless asked, which is the appeal.
2. The first apartment together
For couples who lived together before marriage, the coordinates of their first apartment is a quiet but loaded choice. It marks the place where everyday life as a couple actually started, which is sometimes more meaningful than the wedding.
This pairs well with the move-in date as the 'event.' For couples who have since moved several times, the sign becomes a kind of monument to the place that launched everything.
3. The hospital where children were born
Coordinates of the hospital where each child was born, with their birth dates underneath. This is one of the most-displayed pieces we make because parents tend to hang it where the kids will see it as they grow up.
Format: one set of coordinates per child, with the child's first name and birth date. For multiple kids, the sign reads like a small map of the family's beginnings.
4. A grandparent's house
This is more common as a gift to a parent or grandparent than as a self-purchase. The coordinates of the house where they grew up, or the house where they raised their kids, on a wood plaque.
Most grandparents who receive this have lived in several homes since the one being commemorated, sometimes the original house is gone. The sign becomes a way to keep the location in the family even if the physical place is gone.
5. A place that no longer exists
This is one of the more unusual orders and one of the most emotional ones. Coordinates of a closed restaurant where the couple had their first date. Coordinates of a college dorm that's now demolished. Coordinates of a family farm that was sold years ago.
The piece becomes a quiet record of a place that's not findable on a current map. The coordinates still work, of course. Latitude and longitude don't care what's built on the spot.
6. A favorite vacation spot
For couples who have a place they've gone to repeatedly over the years, the coordinates of that spot work as a kind of 'this is our place' marker. A cabin they rent every summer, an island they keep visiting, a city they spent their honeymoon in.
This pairs well with a phrase like 'Our place' or the name of the location in small text. It reads as quietly settled rather than commemorative.
7. A trail or mountain summit
For outdoor couples, coordinates of a summit they've climbed together, or a specific spot on a meaningful trail. The Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, Mount Rainier, Half Dome.
The piece reads as commemorative without being explicitly about the wedding. It works in cabins, mountain houses, or as decor in a more outdoor-themed home office.
8. Multiple coordinates as a timeline
Some couples order signs with three or four sets of coordinates representing different chapters: where they met, where they had their first kiss, where they got engaged, where they got married. The sign becomes a small map of the whole relationship.
Format works best on horizontal signs (20+ inches wide). Each set of coordinates gets a small caption. The piece reads less like a marker and more like a story.
9. The home they're in now
The coordinates of the current home, with the move-in date. This is a kind of housewarming gift to themselves, and a way to mark the home as theirs in a quiet way.
Works especially well for first-time homebuyers, where the act of buying a home is its own milestone separate from anything else.
10. The unusual one
The most memorable coordinates order I can remember was a couple who'd been together for fifteen years and wanted the coordinates of the specific gate at the airport where they first saw each other. He had flown in to visit her, she'd been waiting at the gate, and that moment was the beginning of the relationship.
The coordinates of an airport gate. The format was the gate code with the latitude and longitude underneath, and the date. Nobody but them would ever know what it meant, which was exactly the point.
What this list is really saying
The reason coordinates signs work as gifts is that they're flexible enough to mark any place, but precise enough that the place has to actually matter. There's no point in coordinates if the location is generic. The pieces that get hung and kept are the ones where the spot was specific.
If you want to browse the coordinate sign options, the family name signs collection includes coordinates pieces. Most listings let you enter any latitude and longitude, with custom captions. Everything ships in 1-2 business days from Fairfield, New Jersey.
