I Do Diary \\ Evoking Beauty & Organisation.

Glistening gold and marble infused design, evoking beauty and organisation for your wedding day.

I Do Diary is a couples planning dream, taking the stress out of planning and inspiring the journey of organising a celebration to remember. Artfully curated with prompts, checklists and detailed information to guide through each step from 12 months prior, all the way up until the wedding. A planner, gift and wedding keepsake with modern detailing inspired and created by New Zealand bride, Jasmine Traynor.

After meeting Jasmine, founder of I Do Diary at Wild Hearts in Auckland this year, we wanted to get to know a little more behind the story of this beautiful brand. Jasmine also kindly shares her experience with planning her own wedding and the overwhelming rollercoaster which led her to start her own planner business.

Tell us about I Do Diary and how your business came to be?

The inspiration behind I Do Diary came from being a bride and going through the process myself. I felt a lot of the planning burden fell naturally on my shoulders as the future bride-to-be. Whether this was my doing or not, I know most of us brides tend to take on the “wedding planner role” as it’s something we have dreamed about since we were young. Being one of the first of my close friends to get engaged, I felt like I was going in completely blind. I’d never planned an event of this scale before, let alone had to pay such close attention to budgeting, booking in vendors and keeping on top of many different moving parts. I felt stressed and overwhelmed, which put a damper on the whole process. In the months following my wedding, I remember thinking “If only I knew then what I know now.. I would have been far less stressed and could have truly enjoyed the planning process. This was what led me to creating I Do Diary. We are brand new to the NZ market – after launching just 2.5 months ago.

Where did you draw inspiration from to create options to help couples plan their weddings?

I was gifted a wedding planner book myself, however I felt like it was missing a lot of key information. After trying to find something more comprehensive, I struggled to find a planner on the market that ticked all the boxes. Most of the planners offered blank pages with tab headings such as ”Guest List” and “Budget”, leaving you to figure everything out yourself. I wanted a planner that did a lot of the hard work for me and spelled out exactly what I had to do. One that could reduce time and stress, and eliminate the need to use endless to-do lists, reminders and spreadsheets (not to mention floor space!) As I could not find a suitable product that met all of my needs, I set out to create the planner I always wanted. It took 18 months of research and planning, feedback gathering and fine-tuning to finally create the perfect planner – I Do Diary.

Can you please give us a rundown of what to expect inside your guides to wedding planning?

I Do Diary was designed by a bride in a bid to pay it forward to future brides. I Do Diary is the perfect one-stop-shop for planning a wedding. Taking couples from their engagement right through to the wedding, along with a 12-month countdown checklist, we’ve covered all the bases. It’s also the only wedding planner on the market to feature a Marriage Prep section. This reminds couples what the day is truly about, and sets them up for success beyond the wedding day. Within the book there’s plenty of room to plan and brainstorm, prompt and steer couples in the right direction.

I Do Diary includes:

Key details, vendor info & marriage prep
Engagement and hens/stag do’s planning
Budget guide/estimates, savings plan and payment tracker
Wedding vision board and brainstorming
Monthly countdown, floral, décor/stationary checklists and vendor comparisons
Wedding timeline, vows & speech prompts, photography list and packing guide
Guest list, seating plan and table layout
12 month calendar to track upcoming appointments, payments and key dates

What is the timeline for planning a wedding using your book. Eg, is this a year of planning or does it have flexibility with dates and timeline?

The best time to grab a copy of I Do Diary is just after you’ve got engaged (i.e I Do Diary would make a great engagement gift). It can be used at any stage of the planning process, however I would recommend having it at least 4-6 months out from the wedding day in order to get the most use out of the book. The calendar section offers a 12 month countdown and full year calendar (without dates). This means that no matter what time of the year/planning journey someone purchases the book they can start using the calendar from then on, or may choose to wait until they are 12 months out from the wedding date in order to have all 12 months of calendar space available to visualize upcoming wedding appointments and to-do’s.

Where can couples purchase on of your diaries?

Our books are currently available online through our website here.

Do you have style options for the diaries?

For now we are offering one design only – a hard front cover + spiral binder with stylish gold and marble design. As for other style options, all I will say is watch this space.. 😉

Tell us about the budgeting and finance planning in your diary?

Absolutely! Our diary offers a section dedicated to budgeting and finance. Within this section we help prompt couples on key items to include in their budget (eg a specific budget for beverages, food, decor, venue, accommodation, vendors and other costs). As well as the budget breakdown we offer a wedding estimates, breakdown and planning section, as well as savings plan and payments tracker. These were key themes identified by brides themselves to help them stay on top of their costs.

What are you most proud of when it comes to working in the wedding industry?

Firstly – I love love. Who doesn’t? The thought of working in an industry that revolves around peoples love and happiness is something I only ever daydream about. My ultimate goal is to go all in with this business and focus on doing what I love – inspiring others and radiating positivity and happiness so they can enjoy the wedding planning process. The sense of helping others, lessening the load and building a community within the wedding industry excites and uplifts me. I can’t wait to see where I Do Diary takes me and the wonderful people I will get to work with in the future.

What is next for you and your business?

There are some very exciting things in store for the future of I Do Diary. We will be launching some new products, designs and limited edition styles as well as a 2.0 version of our original Wedding Planner book. As well as this, we are looking to expand beyond New Zealand borders by early next year, starting with Australia. To stay in the loop you can follow our journey on instagram – instagram.com/idodiary

Jasmine Traynor (Founder, I Do Diary)