ABOUT CHAMPAGNE & INK
We believe the best weddings feel personal. Not because every detail matches, but because every choice feels like it belongs.
That idea has shaped the way we approach wedding stationery for more than a decade. We don't begin with a template or a list of pieces you need. We begin with you, your plans, your venue, the atmosphere you're creating and all of the ideas you may or may not know how to pull together yet.
That's where we come in.
We're Danielle and Ellen, the duo behind Champagne & Ink. Together, we bring big-picture creative thinking, graphic design, letterpress printing, production know-how and a slightly obsessive attention to detail to every wedding we work on. We brainstorm, sketch, edit, print, organize, troubleshoot and collaborate with your planner and creative team to make sure what we create feels completely at home in your celebration.
And while beautiful paper is at the heart of what we do, what our clients value just as much is everything they don't have to think about. Wording and etiquette. Printing and production. Addressing and assembly. Timelines and logistics. The hundreds of tiny decisions between an idea and the finished piece.
We've got those.
Photo: Erin McGinn
HOW IT STARTED
Long before Champagne & Ink, we were the friends throwing the parties.
Weddings, milestone birthdays, baby showers, retirement parties and plenty of just-because gatherings. We were always the ones jumping in when someone got engaged, needed an invitation made or had an idea they wanted help bringing to life.
For years, we worked for other people doing other things, with those celebrations serving as our creative outlet. Then one summer, after a few brainstorming meetings and more than a few glasses of wine, we finally got serious about the idea we'd been circling for years.
We combined Danielle's background in events, photography and organization with Ellen's background in advertising and graphic design, added our shared obsession with beautiful paper and letterpress, and Champagne & Ink was born.
Since launching in 2013, that daydream has grown into a Newport-based wedding stationery and design studio working with couples and planners throughout New England and around the world.
More than a decade later, we're still doing the part we loved from the beginning: sitting around a table, throwing ideas back and forth and figuring out how to make something really special.
MEET DANIELLE:
I've always been drawn to the big picture. I love taking a collection of ideas, references and half-formed thoughts and finding the thread that can turn them into something personal, considered and a little unexpected.
My background in photography, art, events and business has shaped the way I approach our work today. I'm constantly looking beyond the paper itself, thinking about the venue, the florals, the tables, the fashion and all of the details that will eventually surround what we're creating. I love the early stages of a project, when Ellen and I can brainstorm with a client or planner, toss around ideas and start imagining what something could be.
I'm also usually your main point of contact throughout the process, which means I'm equally happy dreaming up the details and making sure we have a plan to actually pull them off. I keep an eye on the big picture, the timeline and all of the moving pieces so that the creative process feels exciting rather than overwhelming.
YOU'LL FIND ME: Responding to your emails and messages, brainstorming with you and your planner, sketching out those crazy big ideas, helping with wording and etiquette, keeping everything organized and on schedule and, most likely, pouring you a glass of champagne somewhere along the way.
Photo: Erin McGinn
Photo: Erin McGinn
MEET ELLEN:
My husband and I moved a few years ago to Newport RI, his hometown. Prior to our move I had been working at an advertising agency; I then moved into being strictly a freelance graphic designer. I saw this as a great opportunity to immerse myself into the community, and to bring my particular talents to a larger audience. Honestly, there is nothing I love more than designing paper goods for weddings and being able to letterpress.
YOU’LL FIND ME: Geeking out over papers and textures with you in our consultation meetings, perfecting the typography hierarchies in your design, tackling all of the ordering, tracking and quality checking, dancing through design blocks, and hand feeding each of your designs through our Letterpress machine.
Things D loves ...
Stripes
Coffee
Saturday Mornings
A Good Pen
New Journals/Notebooks
White Space
Photography
Things E loves ...
Night Swimming
Patterns
The Open Road
Cats
Beach BBQ's
Cotton Paper
A Good Pair of Jeans
Things we both love ...
Flip Flop Weather
Calligraphy
Champagne
The Ocean
A Good Book
Crossing Things off Lists
Our Story on Marketplace Money : From College Friends to Business Partners, these stationers are celebrating 10 years in Business together.
My Economy - November 2023
Photo: Erin McGinn