what’s cooking in my design kitchen

Hello ladies! Sorry for the long silence – I’ve been busy and happily designing away. To keep you in the loop – apart from very exciting brand design projects for wedding professionals and a sweet wedding illustration commission, I’ve been busy developing new exclusive design items.

Get this – I just created my first scarf design!

I found a fashion fabric house who works with me on creating high quality fashion scarves in quantities as low as 10 pieces. So now I can offer custom-illustrated scarves for brides and their bridesmaids or guests. I cannot say how excited I am about this! Imagine, your very own design, captured on your own limited-edition fashion scarf, to accompany you wherever you go, reminding you of your happy wedding celebrations. To keep, forever. And you (and whoever you gave it to as gift) will be the only one to own it! SWOON, right?! I can’t wait to design one for one of my next brides! For now, here are some mood board teaser images for you of an upcoming engagement photo shoot in New York, for which I created such a fashion scarf. 

This will be the upbeat summery color palette of the photo shoot:

this is the kind of fabric my scarf will be made of:

(click image for image source and credits)

and we’ll also have new clear perspex items in our fashion-inspired wedding shoot

- as you may know by now, I love designing with clear materials!

custom illustrated drink stir by Astrid Mueller Exclusive - photo by AndreaAndMarcus.com

See the full mood board for this inspirational photo shoot here on my pinterest account

Sign up for my news to be in the first row when I’ll reveal the photos!

 

Unique wedding design idea: tailor-made swizzle sticks

Last fall, I shared a sneak peek with you of an exclusive new design item that I’ve recently developed: tailor-made illustrated drink stirs. Couture wedding photographer Andrea from AndreaAndMarcus.com offered her talent and created a lovely styled shoot with the swizzle sticks I had made for her. I’m super excited that the beautiful vintage-inspired wedding blog Love My Dress from the UK just featured lots of eye candy from the photo shoot!

Enjoy a few sneak peeks from the Love My Dress blog feature:

unique event design element and conversation starter: tailor-made illustrated drink stirs

special design accent for the cocktail bar: a matching display and keepsake item

I think these drink stirs are a lovely and very personalized design element for engagement parties, bridal showers, the bridal cocktail bar, or even the reception. A great conversation starter and guest favor too!

Since I’ve first written about them, I’ve received a lot of inquiries. A bride I recently designed for had also spotted them, fell in love, and commissioned me to design swizzle sticks for her own wedding. She got married in beautiful Venice, Italy (how romantic!!!), and celebrated in the magnificent Ca’Sagredo Hotel right on the Canale Grande. I just saw the photos from AndreaAndMarcus.com yesterday (still top secret), they are G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. and will be featured on Style Me Pretty shortly. I can’t wait! Stay tuned, I’ll share glimpses here when they’re online!

To see more photos and inspiration from this lovely shoot, visit The Lovely Dress Blog. For further unique wedding ideas or if you’re interested in couture swizzle-sticks for yourself, visit AstridMuellerExclusive.com or email me – Looking forward to hearing from you!

How would you incorporate the drink stirs into your own festivities?

PS: If you’re a wedding designer or blogger and would like to blog about them too, email me, I’ve got more photos that haven’t been published yet.

Velvet Winter Wedding Inspiration

If you’re not just getting ready for a holiday weekend but also musing about your upcoming winter wedding, get ready to indulge in some style inspiration I’ve put together for you:

Counter-balance the cool weather with warmth in your wedding design. This topshop Christmas 2010 campaign beautifully reflects the colors I wanted to use in my styleboard: white, dark purple, and accent colors black and deep red. I also envisioned warm materials like velvet, fur, and, of course, lots of candles!

Oh goodness, now I got myself inspired!  If you love this style direction and may use it for your wedding, let me know…I’d love to see what your event details will look like! And, of course, if you like the idea of a tailor-made illustration of you and your fiancé to personalize your wedding, I’ll be delighted to design for you.

Happy Holidays – have a fabulous celebration!

CREDITS:

1. gown and photo by Sassi Holford, via the sassy bride blog
2. velvet wedding cake by NYC via Houston Wedding Blog
3. handmade candle by Kandeladesign, custom-tailored illustration by Astrid Mueller
4. Bordeaux Velvet Open Toe Platform Pump with Strass Heel by Brian Atwood
5. personalized luxury monogram pendant by West Avenue Jewelry, via MAX&CHLOE found through Merci New York
6. love delicacies, styled and photographed by Andrea & Marcus

How I helped a bride explain her celebrity name

In my post from last Friday, I promised to solve the riddle around why Lovleen and her fiancé have a celebrity couple name. Lovleen was also looking for a subtle way to explain it to all of her engagement party guests.

The story is sweet and simple: Lovleen’s friends call her Lo, and Rohit’s buddies gave him the nickname Ro. Ever since they started going out together, the nickname RoLo caught on, inspired by Angelina & Brad’s “Brangelina.”

So, how could they use it as their monogram without getting puzzled looks from their guests?

Since I was designing guest favor tags for Lovleen, printing it on the tags was our first thought. The challenge was how to explain it briefly and elegantly.

One of my Twitter friends, Amy from I Want A Poem, happens to be a fantastic poet for romantic celebrations. I instantly thought of her – we could communicate Lovleen and Rohit’s story in a romantic poem! Lovleen was thrilled when she heard the idea and saw her poem.

Read for yourself:

Rohit and Lovleen,

A hot couple, it’s true.

They have their own abbreviation

As all hot celebrity couples do.

First came Brangelina

then Abhiwariya,

Now, here to steal the show

Are our very own twosome;

It’s the one and only RoLo.

The hottest couple of the year

We present to you today.

Move over Brangelina,

RoLo’s here to lead the way!

We then decided to create the favor tags for the wine bottles in three parts. The cover would feature their custom monogram and pattern, a middle page their personal wedding illustration, and a third their unique, letterpressed poem.

This was the print preview before we went into production:

You can see a photo of the finished wine favor tags in one of my earlier posts.

Come back next Friday when I plan to share new inspiration – I’m bursting to share some art and fashion muses that I currently love! All I have to say is vintage and Pin Up!

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