You guys know me. I like efficiency. Simplicity. And things done MY WAY.

With Zola’s registry, I’ve found just that. Incredible right? I mean, I’m never 100% happy with anything I havn’t conjured up and crafted to perfection. Zola just makes everything SO EASY.

Who really has time to start a registry at several of their favorite stores? It requires going online and setting up new accounts at each store. Then maybe they require you to go into the store and meet with their personnel to discuss you even starting up a registry with them. And if that’s not time consuming enough, don’t forget you have to grab one of their laser tag machines and drag your fiance’ around the store tagging all the items you think you want. I’m just gonna come out and say it: BORING. And so UNFAIR to your man.

Men totally don’t give a hoot about wedding details. Picking out dishes and tableware is the last thing they want to do. They may get excited about certain steak knives or a set of martini glasses, but don’t get too enamoured with that thought just yet. Honestly, and I’ve asked A LOT OF MEN, they’re totally happy with whatever we include in our registry. “Yes babe” is a very common phrase when it comes to wedding planning. Believe you me, now that I’m planning my own, I hear it ALL THE TIME. Lucky for my baby, I really “get it” when it comes to men and their lack of wanting to go anywhere near anything labeled “wedding planning.”

ENTER ZOLA.

I think it took me less than 5 minutes to set up our registry. And definitely under 30 minutes to register everything we want. EASY. EFFICIENT. The only way to do things in my world lol. You literally download the Zola app on your phone, set up your username email and password and TADAHHH… you’re registered and ready to go. Find a fab engagement picture of the two of you to post at the top and you are all set.

The most exciting thing for me about Zola is their CASH FUNDS. You can set up a cash fund for ANYTHING. So I did exactly that. I listed our favorite animal rescue, Thrive Animal Rescue. I cannot wait to write them a check and do our part in helping rescue beautiful, abandoned dogs located in shelters throughout Southern California and the USA.

If you want another cash fund, Zola can recommend SO many of them! Or you can get creative and add your own! You can set the amount you want people to donate up to, let’s say $1000 for example. Then your guests can donate a fixed amount you provide or any amount. It’s all up to what you “type in” when setting your site up! EASY PEASY.

You can also categorize each of your gifts in terms of theme. For example, we want a few different dish sets. SO, instead of having dishes all over our page, I made a category for dishes and placed them all under that heading. I did the same for pots and pans, group gifts and bar items.

Another favorite of mine? Zola lets you register ANYTHING YOU WANT TO. You just click on “add anything” and go directly to that site to add the items you want. You can ask for guests to give you the monetary equivalent for the gift or buy it directly from the site you gave them. I recommend having your guests buy directly from the site so that they pay for taxes and shipping. Plus, it’s more fun for them to feel like they purchased the actual gift. Some guests will even wrap it up and hand deliver to your wedding. Others may choose to ship your gift directly from the site. Either way, it’s so easy for the bride and groom!

Are there any negatives? Like everything else in life, OF COURSE THERE ARE! But not many. The biggest issue we’ve had is people not properly reading Zola’s clear and easy to read instructions. But when there’s confusion or a guest hasn’t confirmed with Zola that the gift was in fact purchased, Zola’s customer service is ON IT. They will reach out to your guest to confirm so that YOU don’t have to. Awkward much if we had to be the ones asking if they bought our gift, RIGHT?

So please please please check out this fun site! As a bride, I’m telling you it’s so easy and fun! And it looks so nice too. We can personalize our photos, themes, categories and gifts any way we want to. We can even leave messages and descriptions for guests. Does it really get any better?!

xx Shanna