Hidden Gems: Meet Jennifer Stein of Destination I Do

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Stein.

Hi Jennifer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was about 14 years old, I was on vacation with family in Maui. It was there I saw my first destination wedding. Two people committing to forever, standing on the beach with the Hawaiian sun setting in the distance, was my first glimpse of romance, and it stuck with me. I thought, “When I get married, that’s exactly what I want to do.” Fast forward to college, I worked at a local golf course as an assistant wedding planner and saw one couple after another walk down the (albeit pretty, but same) aisle, over and over. It just felt like an identical event from one weekend to the next. The Maui elopement still seemed like the way to go because at least it felt unique and special. The local weddings at the golf course lacked personality, and by traveling to another destination, weddings inherently became more personalized.

While working on my college degree, I skipped from one major to another until I landed on communications and business. With a double major from two of the best colleges at ASU (W.P. Carey School of Business and Walter Cronkite School of Journalism), I was ready to start my career.

A friend was working at a local magazine publisher that published nearly 30 different business-to-business titles that were nationally circulated. As luck would have it, they were hiring, and I landed the job as a circulation manager. Within the first week, I fell madly in love with publishing and media. The idea that you could take abstract ideas and create something tangible blew my mind. I loved the creative process, the collaboration of platforms (audience development, editorial, sales, traffic, production, design), and the final result – a magazine or website that would help educate or inspire people.

Over 4 1/2 years, I was promoted and worked harder and harder as the company’s circulation director. As I rode the elevator up to the 21st floor (where my office was), I was hit with the realization that I didn’t want to work THIS hard for someone else any longer. I had always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and it was smacking me across the face. As I wrestled with this need to do something on my own, I started to confide this in my mom (who, at the time, was on her 3rd business venture). The need to be a business owner was in my DNA.

She and I met for lunch one day, and after weeks of brainstorming ideas of businesses we could potentially collaborate on (wedding planning was one of them), she told me that she had an idea late the night before. She said, “Why don’t we combine your love of destination weddings and knowledge of wedding planning and publishing? We could publish a magazine about destination weddings!” She said the look on my face was one of total astonishment and as if “a light turned on.” I raced back to my desk to start researching if any magazine or media outlet was already covering the subject. This was back in 2004, and as luck would have it, there wasn’t a single thing out there!

I knew I wasn’t alone in my desire for something different in the wedding industry or my deep need to do a destination wedding. The more I researched, the more it became clear – Destination I Do had to happen. My mom and I had met in June of 2004, and by September of that same year, I had quit my job at the local publisher, and we started Destination Media. We immediately started destinationido.com, and our prototype print edition was sent out about 4 weeks later. By May 2005, we contracted with Barnes and Noble and several other retailers to sell our print magazine!

Since that time, we have put out 33 different editions of Destination I Do (the magazine), which were circulated in all 50 states of the U.S. and 12 countries, and have revamped destinationido.com so many times it is unrecognizable from its first iteration. We’ve crafted a social media following and even started a podcast. In May of 2022, we made the environmentally responsible decision to move our business model to digital only, but we still have digital editions of past print issues on our website. We’ve also created a custom publishing arm where I help our clients create content for their businesses. With a deep understanding of what destination wedding couples are looking for, I can help other business owners and managers craft compelling stories for their clients. We help our clients by curating photo shoots, writing copy, or even creating their brand magazines.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
No. Not! We have seen competition come and go, the rise of social media has forced us to reexamine our business model countless times, the economy has not been kind (2008 market crash, COVID-19 to cite the two biggest), and just running a small-female owned business against a male-dominated large conglomerate media landscape has been anything but easy.

But a few things have helped us along the way:

1. A crystal clear vision of who our audience is and how they’re changing.
2. Running a debt-free, cash-operated company the entire time kept our autonomy and ability to quickly maneuver when we needed to.
3. Having faith in our maker and finding the right people to come alongside us at the right time has been invaluable.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Destination I Do?
Destination I Do is a global media outlet focused on destination weddings, honeymoons, and romantic travel. We are the longest-standing brand that focuses on couples traveling for their weddings. Established in 2004, we went from a small, home-grown product to an internationally recognized brand. We inspire couples and meet them where they are in any planning stage. We feature real couples regardless of race or gender and are proudly inclusive of all kinds of love. Celebrating cultures from around the world and here in the United States, we look to the travel aspect to set us apart from other media outlets in the wedding space. It’s not just about fashion or curating the right wedding decor (although we cover these beats); for us, it’s exploring the destination and uncovering the path less traveled. We are most proud of our inclusive approach, long-standing product, and unwavering devotion to quality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://destinationido.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinationido/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/destinationidomag/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2758150
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DestinationIDo
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWBs5l4izNtMGlzj1wiBNMQ
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/destinationido/

Image Credits
Dennis Kwan Headshots, Jeremy Chou, Valorie Darling, Jenni Summer Studios