Girlfriend getaway idea: a glamour day in Beverly Hills

Looking for girlfriend getaway ideas, whether it is for your bachelorette celebration, or just for fun?

Beverly Harris from Beverly Harris Weddings and The Beverly Hills Insider, is a previous branding customer of mine, and she’s fabulous. She works with the best addresses in Beverly Hills, and apart from orchestrating and designing weddings and events in Beverly Hills, she also plans special Beverly Hills pamper days for brides and their girlfriends. How about some spa-time, cocktails over the rooftops of Los Angeles, a mouth-watering lunch right around the corner of Rodeo Drive, and private-appointment boutique-shopping, in your own private limousine, together with your girls?

I know. Right? Last year, I contributed stationery, celebration design elements, and a few special gift items to such a girlfriend day. Take a peek! 

The program of the day {stationery design: by Astrid Mueller Boutique Branding}

Starting the day with a beauty and make-up session at the Peninsula Beverly Hills…

Spa time, pamper time! With beauty indulgences from The Naked Princess 

A toast to the bride! Having a great time at the Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills

Warm summer breeze over the rooftops of Los Angeles. Can it get any better?

special design accent: Lucite drink stirs by Astrid Mueller Boutique Branding
for Beverly Harris Weddings - tailored to her brand

lunch at the celebrity hot-spot Villa Blanca, right around the corner of Rodeo drive,
with a gift-giving session: a design-inspired necklace by possibility for the bride…

a sparkly hair accessory by Emici Bridal for one of her friends…

custom-made Lucite drink stirs for the bride! By Astrid Mueller Exclusive

No pamper day without tasty delicacies along the way!

delicious cupcakes by CRUMB’S BAKE SHOP,
with personalized crystal-encrusted cupcake sticks by Astrid Mueller Exclusive

after lunch, strolling around the neighborhood, enjoying the nice California breeze

A princess moment for the bride – a private appointment at JLM Couture

… of course not without the perfect shoes!

the private Limo driver for the day: by Exquisite Transportation

on to a girlfriend shopping stop at the Naked Princess…

…testing out spa goodies

…and browsing tantalizing lingerie!

then back for refreshing cocktails and a mellow evening breeze at the Peninsula Hotel

A special gift for the bride, Sarah Jo, who is a singer and songwriter,

a ring with a special good-luck message ” KEEP SINGING, LIVE YOUR DREAMS”
engraved, silver and clear Lucite, special commission, by possibility

Aren’t we all dreaming about visiting LA again soon?

If you’d love to celebrate such a day with your girlfriends, contact Beverly Harris, who could organize it all for you. She’s immersed in the Beverly Hills community, and can personalize your day to your personal preferences. Tell her I said hi, and ask her about all the possibilities!

CREDITS: Photographer: Kishana Highgate Wedding Planner & Shoot Producer: Beverly Harris Weddings Hair/Make-Up Stylist: Denise MarquezTransportation: Exquisite Transportation Silk Flower Hair Accessories: Emici Bridal Stationery, Scarf, and Swizzle Sticks: Astrid Mueller  Custom commissioned ring and necklace for the bride: possibility Venue: The Peninsula Beverly Hills Restaurant: Villa Blanca Bridal Salon: JLM Couture Flagship Boutique Lingerie Boutique:Naked Princess Cupcakes: Crumbs Bake Shop

Designer spotlight: modern branding studio mint102

Okay. You probably already know this. But I LOOOOOOOOOVE beautiful typography. And great design. And visuals you can swoon over. Follow my pinterest treasury if you like to dive into my world of inspiration {but don’t say I didn’t warn you: It’s crazy addictive}.

Warm compliments over to my designer colleagues at mint 102. I originally spotted them through this hot and bothered neon-kissed design suite:

event invitation design and event branding details by studio mint 102
for salon + beauty lounge flawless finish, Watkinsville, GA

Brand Identity Design – how to stand out from the crowd

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So you’ve done your branding homework. You have a unique offering, you know who your best customers are, you have your positioning, your brand emotion, and unique brand characteristics down… you’re ready for a unique brand identity design that really clicks with your audience.

You and your brand identity designers will be faced with a key question: how can your brand be visually presented so that it stands out, in today’s visually over-crowded environment? So that your storefront(s) will tempt passers-by to a second look, and intrigue them to come in? How can you leave a lasting impression so they’ll remember you next time they look for your offering?

How can you get into the minds of your ideal customers?

One of your options may be to work with illustrations in your brand communication.

brand communication concept sketch for Triumph {by Atelier Giselle}, with a feature illustration

concept sketch, showing a possible use for the key illustration visuals inside stores

fashion-inspired brand illustration concept for Triumph, a pitch proposal by Atelier Giselle

Illustrations are a great medium to evoke emotion. Think about Starbucks and how they use illustrations in all locations to create an inspiring ambiente with a feeling of warmth that invites you to relax, linger, and drink coffee.

I created the above brand illustration concept in a store concept pitch for the lingerie label Triumph. Goal of the illustration: be a memorable eye-catcher of the brand, convey elegance, fashion, and a sense of sophisticated sexiness. In this concept, the brand’s crown element from the logo was woven into the pattern of the illustration, creating a subtle repetition of the brand insignia, for enhanced brand-memorization effect. The pattern was a visual metaphor to lingerie lace patterns, and could have been used in additional communication elements such as packaging, shopping bags, as design accent on the website and more.

Illustrations are just one way to go, of course. Clever emotional photo use in the brand communication or puristic identity design solutions can have just as strong of an impact – it always depends on the brand. As with everything else: not everything is right for everyone.

Nonetheless, illustrations are worth considering for a moment – they hold many brand communication benefits, and in today’s very photo-saturated environment, they pose a great opportunity to make your brand stand out. Would your brand benefit of illustrations in the communication? If you feel the idea may be interesting, ask your identity design agency for at least one brand design concept that works with illustrations, to help you see how this could work for you. If you don’t have a brand designer yet, come stop by my brand design portfolio at Atelier Giselle and my identity design portfolio for wedding professionals – if you feel intrigued, I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!

Unique invitation design accent – edge gilding

This post will be a little biased, but nonetheless sincere. Of course, all my branding clients have their own unique talents. But here’s one that may be interesting to you if you plan a special celebration or wedding in the near future, or need statement stationery for your business. Swoon moment! Curtain up for the Manhattan-based luxury print & and paper boutique print icon! Apart from heritage production techniques and a plethora of modern creative print methods, one of their unique specialties is gilding, also called edge-painting. A few inspirations from their portfolio:

wedding invitation with custom calligraphy and black edge painting

modern clean-chic event invitation with red gilding

black-tie invitation suite with gold crest and gilded edge

elegant contemporary Bat Mitzvah invite, letterpress printed and with lavender edge painting
all of the above stationery samples were designed and printed by print icon New York

If you love clean chic but like to make a fine design statement, edge gilding in your color can give your stationery the perfect special edge. Custom-colors are possible – in fact, print icon is passionate about unique and artistic productions and personalization. Call them for a personal consultation - ask for Vahid, founder and owner, and tell him I said hi! He’ll be delighted to hear from you and consult you personally.

PS – if you’re interested in the branding and identity design work I did for print icon you can read up on it here in this branding case study on Sage Wedding Pros.

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