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Wedding Gift Lists – Yay or Nay?

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PrezolaHere at Smashing The Glass, we’re big fans of gift giving (and, if we’re honest, gift receiving), but we know that not everyone feels the same way as us.

Gift lists can feel thorny for some. Couples who have lived together for a while can find themselves stuck on what to ask for, as they already have everything they need to start a life together. Others may find gift lists a bit too traditional, or feel uncomfortable asking for things for themselves. However, we’re so strongly in favor of having a gift list, that we’ve decided to make it our personal mission to change your mind!

Because we’re such huge advocates of the idea, we thought we’d call on some true experts to help make the case for us, our dear friends at Prezola!

Prezola, the UK’s favourite wedding gift list, known for being stylish, on-trend and, great news for the wedding budget, free, are taking over the STG pages with some top tips for creating the perfect wedding gift list.


Remember that people will get you gifts regardless

Even if your invitations specify “no gifts”, it is inevitable that people will want to bring something. Many would feel uncomfortable arriving to a wedding empty handed, while others may assume that you don’t really mean it.

Whatever their reasons, well-meaning people will definitely ignore you. You may as well give them a list full of things you truly want and will cherish forever, instead of being forced to stare at that lovingly given hideous china ornament from great aunt Marion for the rest of your married life.

Get over your discomfort 

We totally get it – it can feel uncomfortable to ask guests for gifts on top of their already considerable travel or accommodation expenses, but they will have factored that in and will be really happy to have some guidance when it comes to buying you a present.

If you still feel a bit iffy about it, there’s no harm at all in making it clear in the invitation that you are not expecting anything but the pleasure of your guests’ company, but for anyone who wants some guidance, you have provided a gift list.

Reduce the risk by using a protected gift list

Using Prezola takes away all of the potential risks associated with giving wedding gifts. It prevents potential loss from guests do not turn up with envelopes of cash, or cheques, potentially made out to the wrong name. Everything is insured and 100% guaranteed to be delivered to you, so a gift list really does give you peace of mind.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

A Jewish-French-Greek-British Animal-Filled Wedding at London Zoo, London, UK

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Before we get started, we need to present today’s bride, Clelia, with a medal for THE most Smashing The Glass-obsessed bride ever to grace these pages. Clelia took an extraordinary amount of inspiration from the blog, including sourcing almost every vendor and having one of our past real brides, Lauren, create her incredible chuppah design.

Helping Jewish brides to plan their weddings is exactly what Smashing The Glass is all about, and Clelia embodies our spirit and ethos and then some! Thanks for making us such a huge part of your journey, Clelia, we are truly honored.

Now back to staring at wedding pretty and getting inspired, which is what we’re all here for. If you’re a fan of adorable monkeys and meerkats (and if you’re not, who even ARE you??) you’ll love today’s into-the-wild venue, London Zoo. We’re SO here for Clelia and George’s animal kingdom selfie competition – what an inspired way to make the most of such a unique venue! 

Clelia and George were full of gratitude for the way their loved ones came together to help make their dream day perfect, and it really shows in the images and Clelia’s moving writeup. We’re all also totally behind Clelia’s words about body positivity and self love, and are so grateful to her for sharing her feelings on this. 

It was also, as we mentioned, a wedding packed with STG Recommended Vendors, including ludicrously talented klezmer band, Shir, wonderful rabbi, Paul Glantz, and ultimate gift-list service, Prezola.

Famed photographer, Laura Babb, and her partner in crime, videographer Peter Wilbourne, did an outstanding job of telling the story of the day through their stunning spread of images and Peter’s cinematic wedding video. We feel like we were there in person! 

It’s finally Clelia’s well-deserved and long-awaited turn to take over the blog for a post. Take it away, Clelia!

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

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Jewish wedding London Zoo UK

Jewish wedding London Zoo UK
How we met

Clelia, the bride: We met in a car park in Northampton when our colleague, Richard, offered to drive us both back to London. Instead of awkward work chat, I asked George every question in the Proust questionnaire. 

When Richard dropped us off at a north London tube station, George asked me out on a date. I introduced him to long haul-holidays, he introduced me to beans on toast and football. I agreed the kids would support Spurs, he agreed the kids would be raised Jewish and proposed under Tower Bridge, a few meters from where he’d first seen me in the office.
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A Cool Jewish Wedding Gift List with Prezola

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Jewish-Wedding-Gift-ListIf you’re unsure whether to have a wedding list, let me tell you, from experience, you really do need one. Your friends and family will WANT to buy you a gift to show the love. But unless you direct them, you’re in danger of receiving presents that are either too chintzy or a tad off piste. Without a list you could be the proud recipient of something you already have or ever worse – never ever want to have.

Prezola really is THE modern wedding registry for our stylish Jewish couples. It’s super polished, eclectic and cool with over 300 top homeware brand to choose from. Including The White Company, Habitat, LSA, Jo Malone, Sonos, Joseph Joseph… 

And hot off the press, I can reveal that the truly stunning Graham and Green and Soho Home (my absolute faves!) have recently just added themselves to that illustrious list. So it’s not without reason that Prezola is now the UK’s favourite independent (multi award-winning) wedding gift list and honeymoon fund. 

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Why I love Prezola

I would have LOVED to have known about Prezola when I got married. It’s such a beautifully curated site with the most gorgeous selection of homewares I’ve seen in one place. It feels so hand picked whether your style is urban and cool or pretty and rustic, glamorous and shiny. And they’re SUCH a lovely company to work with. They’re one of my favourite STG finds and in fact I’ve already made a dream list with them.

Prezola understands the modern Jewish bride

Hugely exciting news is that Prezola now caters specifically for Jewish weddings. Alongside the perfect modern gifts (30,000 to be exact), they now also offer the more traditional Judaica style gifts that relatives just LOVE to buy you. 

These range from Challah boards and Matzah plates that you can use every Shabbat to Passover Seder plates used only two nights in the year

But get this, with brands like Alessi and the fabulous Jonathan Adler, Prezola now have traditional gifts with a modern twist. So STG!

Modern Traditional Gifts

A wedding list is a beautiful thing — it allows you to let people know exactly what you want without the embarrassment of actually telling them personally.

For an engagement present, a beloved aunt bought me and Mr. STG a challah cover, which lets say, left a lot to be desired in terms of design. It now spends its life in the messy drawer in our kitchen. If I had a list at Prezola, I could have chosen a more ‘us’ traditional gift and not feel guilty every time I catch a glimpse of that lavishly embroidered cover.

I love tradition but I also love design. Who says I cant have both?

Prezola certainly knows how to do Friday night, STG style..and it makes me smile whenever I look at this Jonathan Adler brilliant brass bird Menorah below. Here are my dream Judaica picks from Prezola (never thought I would use the word ‘dream’ and ‘Judaica’ in the same sentence till I saw Prezola’s list!)

To see all their fabulous Judaica, click here.

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The Modern Take

If you’ve already set up home, it’s especially important to have a wedding list. You simply don’t need two toasters. And the best part is that you can browse and go a little wild. You know those things that you possibly wouldn’t have bought when you had your sensible head on. Prezola’s list lets you get the big stuff — think gorgeous linens and stunning cookware, but also the fun, cool additions to your home.

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An autumnal Jewish wedding with a bride in a Melanie Potro dress at the Intercontinental on Park Lane, London

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Jewish-Wedding-Intercontinental-on-Park-Lane-London Fall has arrived early on STG! If you’re already missing all the seasonal colourful leaves, chunky knits and spicy drinks, then settle in and relive the season with Frances and Rudi’s magically autumnal real wedding, captured by photographer Elegant & Wild. 

Beautiful bride, Frances, wore an astoundingly stunning bespoke gown made by much-loved Smashing Supplier, Melanie Potro. The gown evoked echoes of Audrey Hepburn, and Frances looked like an absolute dream. We’re totally in love! We also highly approve of Frances’s choice to pair the dress with gorgeous, glittery gold heels.

Talented Frances was also able to harness her creative side, crafting the entire autumnal stationery suite for the wedding and even launching her own website selling her gorgeous products.

Melanie Potro wasn’t the only Smashing Supplier at Rudi and Frances’s big day. Amazing party band, Sensation Band, also played at the reception, even saving the day by keeping everyone entertained during a temporary mishap.

We also want to mention the beautiful, sentimental chuppah idea of using tallis from the bride and grooms’ respective grandfathers. The story behind this is so moving and it was a really wonderful way to honour generations of  their families. 

I’ll hand over to our gorgeous bride to tell us more. Take it away, Frances!  

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How we met

Frances, the bride: We have lots of mutual friends, we were friends on Facebook and knew each other from parties over the years, but in the end it was that good old matchmaker, Tinder, that got us together.

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An appropriately named venue: Intercontinental on Park Lane in London

We got married at the Intercontinental on Park Lane, quite simply because it was central and big enough to hold 300 people. My Dad gave a nod to its significance in his speech, commenting on the ‘intercontinental’ nature of our wedding. Rudi’s family is from Iraq and mine from London, although prior to that Austria, Russia and Poland. We had guests from all over too.

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My dream gift list from Prezola…. What would you choose?

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Prezola-gift-list
From experience, creating a gift list can often be a  daunting part of wedding planning when really it should be one of the most fun. Wandering the aisle with a scanner gun whilst navigating a department store can cause serious headaches, and quite frankly the technology  is more than a little outdated. Plus, what happens if you’re already living together and don’t need another cutlery set, or you have taste that’s a little cooler than your average department store?

Enter  Prezola, a trailblazer of a service who are taking gift list-ing to a whole new level and are re-inventing the experience for modern couples. Of course they offer all the gift list essentials (and 30,000 of them at that) but they also cater to your personal taste and unique story. Not only will you find items that reflect your interests from tech to travel to wine and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, there’s also gorgeous home decor from over 300 of the best homeware brands, and if it appeals, you can also ask your guests to contribute to your honeymoon fund, favourite charity, or even cash to put towards something special. Added to that, you can add in any product from any retailer if it’s not part of their own curation. As personal as it gets, right?!

And because choice is at the very core of  Prezola’s user experience, Mr STG and I were asked  to to go fantasy gift list shopping for our own apartment, and for anything else that appealed to  our exceedingly good taste! Reason no. 18342 why I love my job…

Prezola-gift-list-Karen-Cinnamon

Choosing items for our apartment

Some of you may have seen pictures of our  apartment already on  Instagram. It’s a former piano factory with urban  views over London and has  a  ‘warehouse’ feel (you can see a glimpse of it up there at the top of the post). Our interiors style is a combination of  minimalism, pop art, a love of design and typography, and an urban yet cosy feel – a real mix I know!

Our list is filled  with some interiors  decor that I  frankly have to have  for  our flat, as well as some amazing cookware (for suppers à  deux  and dinner parties), some fun bar accessories (we are partial to an Aperol Spritz or three), our favourite board games, art, books, some sailing action… the list goes on!  Have a look at  my page to see all our choices or have a  quick glimpse of our absolute faves below.

Does your taste match ours? What are your favourite products on Prezola? I hope I’ve inspired you to hop on over to Prezola  to start visualising your future home together. There really is no place like…  Prezola!

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