My First Vendor Letdown

You might remember my overjoyed post about my cake toppers. I've been secretly sweating it behind the scenes. My first order with this vendor was great, but she hasn't been available at all lately. In July, she told me she should be ready next month. I still haven't heard from her (despite trying to make contact) and sent a message today to cancel my verbal order. It was sad- since I love her work- but now doesn't seem to be a good time in her life to be making custom orders, and I want to get things done early that can be!

I've seen adorable wedding salt and pepper shakers of other dogs before: like these Dachshunds!

These Chihuahuas are also adorable... Mr Pug had two chihuahuas growing up but it would sure be an insult to pugs to have this at our wedding!

I typed "pug cake topper" into Google and got a ton of ideas. There were some more traditional options (I think this one is meant to be added to a glass or crystal couple figurine topper.)

I tried searching salt and pepper shakers too. These babies are cute but not quite what we're going for in our wedding.

I found these cuties on Etsy! I love them, but there's something about the felted medium that reminds me of hair in my food... fibers on icing is a little off-putting for me. These would probably be better for fondant.

Look at those tails!

I've seen the below salt and pepper shakers before- in fact I got them as a gift once for a friend! I think I could DIY the wedding elements (kind of like they were added in the felted pugs) and custom do the veil, bow tie, etc. I love these pugs, but there are a few issues. I'm going more for a fawn pug thing, so one black pug throws that off. Also, blue and pink aren't in our wedding colors at all- I could try to change that, but it might be hard. More importantly, these puggies are long. Way longer than a cupcake. Which means we'd have to get a larger small cake made for the top of our cupcake tower, instead of a regular cupcake, large cupcake (muffin sized), or even just a smaller cake.

Then I found these and fell in love. I emailed to see if I could get them as two fawns, and also to find out the size. Honestly I'll probably get them regardless of fawn status- just so long as they aren't too big. They are the perfect mix of whimsical and realistic. I am hoping they come back as only 1-2.5 inches.

Are you utilizing a non-cake topper as your cake topper- like salt and pepper shakers? What other interesting cake toppers have you seen? And have you ever had to fire a vendor- especially one that you really liked?