Military Framing in Somerset, NJ
Custom Frames for Service Medals, Folded Flags, and Memorial Displays
Custom military framing at our Somerset, NJ frame shop for veterans, active service members, and military families. We frame service medals in regulation arrangements, folded American flags from military funerals with citation displays, unit patches and insignia, rank displays, retirement memorabilia, deployment commemorations, and memorial pieces for veterans who have passed.
We approach these projects with the appropriate care. Service medals arranged according to military regulation when families want the official display. Personal arrangements when families prefer a more personal layout. Folded flag presentations with citation cards, branch emblems, and unit identification. Most military framing projects finish in 3-5 business days. We accommodate timelines around significant dates: Memorial Day, Veterans Day, military funeral service dates, retirement ceremonies, and personal anniversaries.
Somerset veterans and families trust CustomPictureFrames.com for military framing. Located in Somerset, NJ, we serve Somerset and surrounding areas with custom-cut frames in any size, non-glare acrylic glazing, and 3-5 business days turnaround on standard orders. Shadow boxes for medals, dog tags, flags, and unit insignia are built between 1 inch and 4 inches deep with acid-free backers and pin mounts. We also frame standard 5x9.5 burial flags in triangular display cases. Local pickup at our frame shop is available by appointment for customers who prefer to skip shipping. Open the frame designer to enter your exact dimensions.
Start your military shadow box design here. Walk in to finalize composition, mounting, and depth at our Somerset showroom.
The live designer is ready. Choose Military Frames, Shadow Boxes, or Custom Picture Frames, enter your exact dimensions, depth, mounting, and materials, see live pricing, then walk in to finalize composition at our Somerset showroom.
Open the Frame DesignerWhat Makes Military Framing Different
Military framing is not generic shadow box work. The pieces represent service, sacrifice, and memory, and the build has to reflect that. Four considerations drive every military framing project, and we walk through each one with you in person.
Medal and insignia configuration
Each branch has its own precedence order for medals, ribbons, badges, and qualification devices. We build the shadow box layout to military regulation when families want the official display, or to a personal arrangement when families prefer to group medals by deployment, by significance, or by chronology. Both are valid. We talk through the choice in person before laying out the piece.
Flag presentation
Folded American flags from military funerals are typically housed in triangular walnut, oak, or cherry display cases. We frame those cases standalone or build them into larger shadow box compositions that pair the flag with service medals, the citation card, branch emblems, and unit identification. The flag is handled carefully throughout, and any presentation materials are returned to the family at pickup.
Archival materials
Acid-free, lignin-free backing and matting throughout, protecting citation cards, photographs, and ribbons from acid migration and contact damage over time. Reversible mounting for medals and patches so individual pieces can be removed without damage if a family member wants to redisplay them in a different composition later.
Depth and composition
Kiln-dried hardwood mouldings with deeper rabbets to accommodate the depth of medals, devices, and folded flag cases. Background fabric in navy, black, or branch-appropriate colors. Engraved nameplates in brass or silver identifying the service member, unit, and dates of service when families want that detail included. Composition is designed in person, depth, balance, and visual weight all matter to how the finished piece reads.
What Veterans and Military Families Bring to Our Shop
A short list of the projects that come through the door most often. Categories overlap, and most pieces combine two or three.
Service medals
Single-medal displays for a specific commendation, or multi-medal shadow boxes arranged in regulation precedence order or grouped by deployment, campaign, or career chapter. Background fabric in navy, black, or branch color. Engraved nameplate optional.
Folded flag displays
Triangular flag display cases in walnut, oak, or cherry, either standalone or combined with the citation card and service medals into a larger shadow box. We frame flags received at military funerals as well as flags flown over significant locations or presented at retirement ceremonies.
Unit patches and insignia
Unit patches, branch insignia, rank devices across a career, qualification badges (airborne, combat, aviation, diver), and challenge coins. Mounted on archival background fabric with engraved identification of unit and dates of service when requested.
Retirement displays
Retirement certificates often paired with a folded flag, service medals, unit patches, and a career timeline of rank devices in a single composition. Built around a retirement-ceremony date when families let us know the timeline during design.
Deployment commemorations
Deployment patches, mission-specific insignia, map fragments or coordinates, deployment photographs, and unit memorabilia from a specific tour. Often gifted to service members at homecoming or assembled later as a record of a particular chapter of service.
Memorial pieces
Memorial shadow boxes for veterans who have passed. Typically combine the folded flag from the funeral with the citation card, service medals, branch emblems, photographs, and personal items the family wants included. Designed in person, paced to the family's timeline.
Whatever the piece, the conversation starts the same way: what is being commemorated, what items are involved, who the finished piece is for, and what date matters. We design around the items in front of us, not a template.
Why Veterans and Families Choose Our Somerset Shop
Three reasons veterans, families, and units bring military framing work to our Somerset shop rather than to mall-based framing kiosks or online services.
On-site shadow box construction
We build every military shadow box on-site at our Somerset production facility. That means non-standard sizes, custom depths to accommodate folded flag cases plus medals plus insignia in the same composition, and the flexibility to build around a specific set of items rather than fitting them into a stock template. Mall kiosks ship boxed-up frames from warehouses; we build to what is in front of us.
Familiarity with military conventions
Branch-specific medal precedence, ribbon ordering, badge placement, folded flag handling, citation card display. We have built enough military shadow boxes to know the conventions and to know which questions to ask families during design, and we are equally comfortable building a personal-arrangement piece when that is what a family prefers.
Archival materials as standard
Military pieces are heirloom objects intended to stay with families for generations. Acid-free backing, clear framer's grade acrylic, and reversible mounting are standard practice for this category of work, not upcharges. The piece is built to last without the customer needing to specify archival.
How Military Framing Works at Our Somerset Shop
Every military framing project is designed in person after we see the items. Composition varies significantly based on what is being framed: a single medal versus a multi-medal display, a standalone folded flag case versus a flag combined with medals and a citation card, a retirement display versus a memorial composition. The combination affects both the build and what it costs. Use the designer above to scope a configuration with real-time pricing, then bring the items to our Somerset showroom, or send photographs if you would prefer to scope the project first. We finalize composition, depth, matting, and archival choices in person, write up a quote and timeline, and you approve before we build.
Process & timing
Walk in any weekday between 9am and 4pm, or book an evening or Saturday slot for a quieter consultation. Standard military shadow boxes finish in 3-5 business days. We accommodate Memorial Day, Veterans Day, funeral service, retirement ceremony, and personal anniversary timelines, tell us the date during design.
Payment
Cash, check, all major credit cards. 50% deposit on larger orders. Balance due when you pick up the finished piece.
Drive Times to Our Somerset Shop
Our shop at 6 Shirley Avenue sits just off Easton Avenue (Route 527) in Somerset, NJ. Approximate drive times during off-peak hours from central New Jersey towns:
For pieces tied to Memorial Day, Veterans Day, retirement ceremonies, or funeral services, please give us the date during the design conversation and we will set the production timeline to land the piece before it. Multi-component memorial work benefits from earlier scoping; if a date is approaching, call ahead and we will pull moulding samples and the appropriate background fabric before you arrive.
Common Questions About Military Framing
Do you arrange service medals according to military regulation?
Can you frame a folded American flag from a military funeral?
How long does military framing take?
What materials do you use for memorial and conservation pieces?
Can you frame unit patches, insignia, and rank devices?
Do you frame retirement and deployment memorabilia?
Can you build a memorial piece for a veteran who has passed?
What does military framing cost?
Bring Us Your Pieces
Walk in any weekday between 9am and 4pm at 6 Shirley Avenue, Somerset, NJ, bring the medals, flag, patches, or documents, or send photographs if you would rather scope the project first. For memorial work or pieces tied to a ceremony date, calling ahead lets us pull the appropriate moulding and background fabric before you arrive.