Big Phew... and introducing "TWDD"

I nearly jumped out of my seat with a "woo hoo!" today- I heard back from the wonderful etsy vendor I asked about doing our cake topper!

Paula from the etsy shop polymerpaws does WONDERFUL sculpts of many things- dogs (mostly boxers) are a big part but also whimsical little odds and ends- I loved this series of clams on the half shell she did, some looked scared, some looked sleepy, etc. Please visit her shop! She has been uber busy (I had e-mailed a while ago and got a little worried!) and also moved, so she's just now getting back to restocking her shop. She isn't doing custom work at the moment, but since I asked her a while back (um, maybe the week we got engaged?) to do our cake toppers, she said she would still do it for us. Literally, overjoyed is not a strong enough word. I was starting to look for other things I liked for cake toppers, you know, just in case, and nothing came close to comparing.

You probably remember Oliver from one of my previous posts. I commissioned a sculpt from Paula of Oli in my FAVORITE photo of him:

Seriously, misery embodied in a pug!

Paula created this wonderful sculpt that made me tear up upon seeing it.

She managed to capture the perfect "I seriously hate you, and better get treats for life for this" expression.

Paula will be doing a bride and groom pug for us. I am leaving all the little details of them to her- she's a professional and I trust her.

I've been doing that a lot lately- while I considered myself a really creative person who would become a total DIY bride, I am more apt to commission stuff from etsy.com. I think that many times my attempts aren't even close to being as good as I had hoped, and then it's even more wasted money. You can find a ton of great, affordable vendors on etsy. I'm having ALL our printed materials designed on etsy for like $125- from monogram to save the dates to invites to seating chart. I love etsy. More on that later.

Having pugs as a subtle theme is one of the Things We're Doing Different. I think some will be well-received, while others we're kind of keeping to ourselves so we don't have to defend them. We've been asked jokingly "so you're not doing a pug-themed wedding... right?" (Um... would I if I could? Possibly. Don't judge.) Stay tuned in the coming months (EIGHT MONTHS FROM TODAY TO BE EXACT HOLY CRAP) for more and more about the TWDD.

What things are you doing differently than the "norm" dictates? Are you more a DIY or DIT (do it themselves) type of bride?

Also... quick poll... do you pronounce etsy "ehtt-see" or "eeet-see?" I'm a screechy-e etsy girl myself!