Love. The first word that comes to mind when I think of Astrid Mueller. Astrid truly loves working with her clients and vendors, she puts love into everything she does [work and life], and takes the love of her clients and puts it into the perfect illustration! Astrid is not only extremely talented, but also, one of the sweetest and most thoughtful vendors I’ve come across! While I could go on and on about how truly fabulous and artistic Astrid is, I don’t want to keep you from seeing for yourself! Enjoy getting to know Astrid and her to-die-for illustrations!

Champagne: How did you get into wedding illustrations?

Astrid Mueller: A friend invited me to create an illustration for wedding stationery she was designing.  Up until that point, my clients had been magazines and international companies like Diesel and Marie Claire. I was thrilled with the opportunity to take on such a novel, romantic project. 

The couple loved how they looked in their stylized illustration so much they ended up commissioning five additional illustrations and a personal logo…and they invited me to their wedding!

I’m a total romantic and was so moved by the experience I knew I had found my calling.  I expanded my business and have been creating wedding illustrations ever since!

Photography by Tag7

Champagne: What is your favorite part of your job?

Astrid Mueller: There is nothing more rewarding than when a couple sends me an email bursting with exclamation points and capital letters, telling me how much they love their illustration!

Photograph by Photoart.ch

Champagne: How would you describe your ideal client?

Astrid Mueller: She’s planning a stylish, modern wedding that’s full of love, laughter and one of-a-kind personal touches. She’s a woman with an eye for high quality and good design, and she loves to be unique.

Champagne: What do you do when you’re not doing what you do?

Astrid Mueller: I am so fortunate that my work is also my passion! I find such fulfillment designing for brides and the wedding industry, as well as growing my businesses. Often, in my spare time, I keep an eye out for beautiful things to inspire me. I also enjoy discussing art and business with other designers and industry professionals.

Outside of “work,” I delight in time with friends and family, fabulous food, warm summer rains, and traveling and discovering all the little miracles in this world with my love.

Champagne: Currently, you’re in Switzerland. What do you love most about it there?

Astrid Mueller: I feel so spoiled to be from Switzerland and able to live here whenever I like! At the top of the list would have to be seeing my friends and family regularly, though between the fresh air, the food, the unlimited possibilities for travel and different excursions, it’s hard to choose!

Champagne: How does it work when you work with an out of town bride?

Astrid Mueller: It’s my mission to personalize each couple’s illustration as much as possible, so I usually start with a phone call!

I love to learn all about the bride and groom;  who they are, what’s important to them, what inspires them, and how they envision their dream wedding.  This is vital to my creative process and allows me to infuse their character into their illustration.

More than just creating a reflection from a photograph, it’s my goal for a couple to exclaim, “Wow! This is totally me!” when they see their finished design for the first time. After the initial phone call, I often communicate via email.  I involve my clients in every step of the design process. I first share concept sketches, then rough illustrations, near finished designs, and so on until it is complete.

Then, if my client chooses, I make suggestions on how their custom artwork can be applied to personalize their wedding, from bespoke stationery and design accents to keepsakes.

Photograph by Daniel Zihlmann

Champagne: Anything else you’d like to tell our clients/readers?

Astrid Mueller: Yes! If you love my illustrations and are looking for ideas to personalize your wedding in style, I’d love to hear from you! Apart from illustrated wedding stationery, I also create unique design products for my clients. I would be excited for the opportunity to develop a personalized design concept for you!

Champagne: Thank you, Astrid, for sharing more about you and your art with us! We look forward to working with you soon!

Make sure to visit Astrid Mueller’s website, follow her tweets and “Like” her on Facebook! 

Cheers,

Mandi, Rachelle & the Champagne Team

The other day Rachelle, Amanda, Danielle and I all got together to talk about some upcoming stylized photo shoots we have in the works and got a little side track when we starting talking about what Danielle and Amanda’s dream weddings would be! We decided that Amanda would make an inspiration board based off of what Danielle described would be her dream wedding and Danielle would make an inspiration board off of what Amanda described as her dream wedding and we’d share them with you! Today I’m going to share with you the inspiration board that Danielle put together for Amanda! Enjoy!

Here’s part of what Amanda said while describing her dream wedding,

“I would love my wedding to be in the spring time with a color scheme of black, white and a grass green. Somehow I would like to incorporate black and white stripes, whether it be the table cloths, drapery or the ribbon on my bouquet.  My vision for bridesmaid dresses would be a black strapless, empire waisted, cocktail length dress with a green sash. I picture a whimsical wedding, with chandeliers, lots of candles and white/silver butterflies hanging from the ceiling. I love shopping at Anthropologie and would love a touch of that thrown in. My dream dress would be a Monique Lhuillier gown, that is full, fluffy and fairy tale like, with a pair of sparkly pair of Christian Louboutin heels. For flowers, I would want white (maybe yellow and orange too) roses and tulips with green leafs surrounding the bottom of the vase.”

Here’s what Danielle put together:

We’ll be sharing Amanda’s inspiration board for Danielle tomorrow! It’ll be interesting to see how their vision changes over time… Do you think it’ll be the same for their real wedding? What was something that inspired the design for your wedding?

Hope you’re enjoying this blustery day!

Cheers,

Mandi, Rachelle and the Champagne team

Today we have a guest blog by one of our lead coordinators, Danielle! We love finding ways to double place cards as favors! She found a few unique favor/place card ideas and tried one of her own! Below you’ll find her inspiration board and one way that she chose to use the inspiration board to create one of her own!
Enjoy!

With spring here, many of us are decorating our backyard or patio with spring flowers. While browsing the internet I found this idea for a place card holder and decided to make a few of my own and share them with you! It was a fun thing and easy thing to do. Not only do they make a fun place card holder, but it doubles as a wedding favor. Depending on how many guest you are inviting, have a planting party and invite friends and family over, and even kids to help you with them!

Inspiration:

Images courtesy of Martha Stewart Weddings

Danielle’s idea: Flower pot place card holder [Doubles as a favor that you’re guests will love!]

What you need:

Pot: 48 cents on sale at craft store (2.25 in.)
Soil: Free- use extra from the left over soil from the flowers
Flower/moss: $1-2
Paper: Free, scrap paper
Stick: Free from your back yard!
Time: a couple minutes per pot
Total 1.48-2.48 depending on flower or moss

How to make them:
• To make the place card pots I took off the excess soil from the roots and placed it in the pot.
• Once it was in the pot I trimmed the plant so it would better fit.
• I taped the actual name card to the twig but glue would work just as well and stuck the twig into the plant.
• Easy as that you have a super cute and fun place card holder for your wedding!

Tips and tricks:
• Flowers with multiple blossoms can be broken up into 3 pots, if broken up to much it will disturb the root system and possibly kill the plant.
• Water the plants a few days before the wedding so the excess water will drain before its set on your nice table cloth
• Look for sales on flowers at local stores

Other fun ideas:
• Write on paper with seeds in it
• You can find an abundance of moss in your backyard
• Add fun rocks to decorate the soil
• Use some ribbon to dress up the pot.
• Paint the pot
• If you are not a flower persons succulents make a great alternative [use a more rocky soil]
• If you are not a green thumb fake flowers work as well

Check back soon for more great ideas!

Cheers,

Mandi, Rachelle & the Champagne team

Upcoming Events:
Join us at the Perfect Wedding Guide’s Spring Boutique Bridal Show on March 20th, 2010 from 12-4pm and be entered to win a wedding dress from AniA Collection and a pair of 1 carat diamond earrings from Joseph K… Not to mention many more giveaways every half hour! It’s a show you won’t want to miss!

Contests:
Log on to 105.1 The Buzz Contest page to enter to win a Month of Package from Champagne Wedding & Event Coordination. [Not valid on previously purchased packages; Enter by March 20th, 2010]