Staghead designs

My partner and I have been together for 7 years now and we have been discussing marriage for over a year. I (as most woman do) have known what kind of ring I've wanted since I was a teenager. Now that I'm almost 30 it hasn't changed at all, so he has a great idea of what to look for. The unfortunate thing is that it's really niche and hard to find. So far the three websites we have found that carry the type of ring we're looking for have the worst reviews from people who have rings from them on reddit (Staghead Designs, Alexis Russel, and Capucinne). He is feeling super disheartened by this as he wants to get me a ring that I will love and I of course would love the style of ring I've been lusting over since I was 16.
If anyone has ever had a good experience with a company either in Canada, or that will ship to Canada that makes Moss Agite engagement rings, or Salt and Pepper engagement rings in Kite shape, please please let me know what company you used and how everything stood up to time!
​
For reference see below links for style and shape:
https://www.alexisrussell.com/collections/diamond-engagement-rings/products/the-willow-ring-with-a-black-kite-diamond-4
​
https://www.capucinne.com/en-ca/collections/moss-agate/products/unique-engagement-ring-set-geometric-24510
​
THANK YOU :)

I fell in love with a ring tfrom staghead designs so I looked them up on here and it’s seems like a lot of people were not happy with their purchases with them about 3 years ago and their warranty policy. Does anyone have recent experience with them have they truly gotten better or is it a sham ?

I fell in love with salt and pepper diamonds and Staghead had the most beautiful designs. My SO and I have slowly gotten closer to picking something when I decided to look up reviews. The reviews are all over the place and honestly pretty disheartening. I have not found many other designers online that fit my taste but I honestly have no idea how to move forward. Does anyone have experience with getting your own stone or working with a local designer?

Hello all, I have been shopping around for an engagement ring to propose this fall/winter. My partner and I have talked about it in depth, and she has even shown me several images of styles she likes.
She definetly likes the vintage look. A few examples would be the Nicole on Olive Ave, several from Sarah O Jewelry (the mini Monroe marquise is beautiful), the Zella and treva from staghead designs (treva in rose gold with a salt and pepper is the one I've been leaning toward), and the daisy round halo from oscargama. That should give a rough idea of her style.
Most of the images I have seen have been oval, then round, then a few pear. We have talked about stones and her favorite are champagne and salt and pepper. She has also remarked that a moissanite or lab grown would not bother her. She does not like stones around the band, she says that irritates her middle and pinky fingers. And she told me she loved the detailing on some ring bands, I believe she called it filigree.
I like the look of rose gold, and apparently it is more durable long term. But that might just be my man brain logic. She has shown me images of rose gold, yellow gold, and white gold. Doesn't exactly narrow it down!
I feel paralyzed at this point. I have a reasonable budget, and have a reasonable idea of the style she likes, but I can't make a decision. I keep thinking she'll be dissapointed with my choice. I got a ring measuring kit so we know her size and she also got measured at a shop, and I would be shopping online. None of the stores in our small city carry her style. We've been to the hock shop, and there was nothing that jumped out at her.
She has shown me rings from $1200-4500, and I plan on going on the upper end of that budget. I just want to pick the right one that she'll love to wear for hopefully the rest of her life. We've been through a lot to get where we are today, and I want to make a good choice. I understand the marraige is the most important part, but this is the first time in a long while I'll be able to make a purchase like this to spoil her. Any advice or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: A few more details. She has smaller hands, and is a size 5. She has said she doesn't want anything cumbersome or to large. She has also said she is scared of little stones popping out. I have attached an image of one she had shown me months ago on Sarah O Jewelry, but I don't see it listed on her site anymore. If I could find that one I would probably go with it.
https://i.imgur.com/w3pKkQb.jpg

Hi everyone! Sorry if this isn't the appropriate place to post this but I need help. My partner and I have been together about two and a half years and we've known each other for almost nine years. She's my best friend and without a doubt the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.
I'm here because I need to find a reliable source for moonstone engagement rings. I've looked at Staghead Designs and found an engagement ring that is exactly her style and was planning on getting it engraved. However, I have read some reviews and with looking around the Internet, I'm now hesitant to pull the trigger with them. Has anyone had any luck with that company before? Are they reliable or just Instagram advertising garbage? If that is the case, is there any other source you would recommend for trustworthy moonstone engagement rings?
Again, sorry if I'm in the wrong place, but I'm in desperate need of advice. Thank you again!

I am finally ready to write my own post-wedding Budget Breakdown! Thank you to everyone who was so helpful throughout the planning process. A special shoutout to weddingsunder10k and all the lovely people who helped out with low-cost ideas and options. Sorry for any weird formatting errors.
My fiancé and I had been together for 6+ years and were formally engaged in September 2019, but we didn’t start planning in earnest until September 2021, primarily due to realizing some aging family members likely wouldn’t be able to attend if we left it longer. With that in mind, we set about planning for a January 2022 wedding to take place on our 6-year dating anniversary! Of course, COVID had other plans… We thought we’d be free and clear as Delta died down but the Omicron variant essentially peaked our wedding week, and we found out 8 days in advance that my fiancé had been repeatedly exposed at work. It was awful but we decided it was the right thing to do, and we postponed the wedding a week in advance. Our venue was SO LOVELY and assured us we were making the right choice. They were ordering the food that evening so we got it postponed in the nick of time and weren’t out any significant money. Our few out-of-town guests were able to get full refunds/cancellation as well so the only injury was to our emotions :))) And neither of us got COVID after all that, but better to be safe.
After keeping a close eye on things, we decided on February 17th, 2022 as our new date, based on the predictions that the Omicron surge in our area would die down significantly by then. It turned out perfectly and, without further ado, the recap is below!
Date: Thursday, February 17th, 2022 Venue: Cooper’s Hall Northeast // Portland, OR Priorities: Great food and drink, beautiful photos, and everyone feeling and looking their best!
Total Cost: $10,847.28 SANKEY DIAGRAM
Except for $2500 gifted by my parents (a totally unexpected gift over which many happy tears were shed, and which is included in the above total), my now-husband and I covered the full event cost ourselves. We paid with a variety of cash savings, remnants of a holiday bonus from my work and credit card reward points. Our original goal was to personally spend under $8k, and we almost did it!
Guests: 27 total, including us (the bride and groom). We invited 26 people, 2 of whom we knew could not attend due to living overseas but who we invited anyway because they’re dear family. My husband is English and both his grandmothers would have loved to attend but there was just no way to get them into the country safely with COVID restrictions and safety concerns due to their advanced age, so we ended up streaming the ceremony via Zoom and sending them a recording after the fact. 1 invited guest RSVPd with an extra guest (literally the very 1st RSVP we got and it was the dreaded “I’m bringing an extra guest” situation!!) but then cancelled 48 hours before the event. We would have been out the cost of their food/drink, as well as having 2 empty chairs, but the stars aligned perfectly and some out-of-town friends who we hadn’t originally invited to the ceremony were in town and available, and they were delighted to come. No wasted budget and we had a blast together.
Because of our small budget and because of the short planning time, we knew we couldn’t have the 75+ person wedding we’d originally hoped for, but we compromised by hosting our 27 person, intimate, mostly-family ceremony and dinner, and then sent an open invite to our many other friends to meet us at the local pub afterwards to grab a drink. I think 40 people took us up on it and the aforementioned 2 extra guests were originally only planning to attend the afterparty, so it made our day and theirs to have them witness our ceremony, too.
COVID Precautions: We required full vaccinations and booster shots, which luckily was no issue with our family and friends. Everyone was delighted to have us taking it seriously given the age of many of our relatives. The venue required masks when arriving and ordering at the bar, but otherwise we were able to be mask-free during the ceremony and our first-look photos, and during dinnedessert. I consider this an excellent compromise given how many of our guests live together already, so the relative exposure was very low.
Our pub afterparty venue did not require vaccinations but did require masks, so we did not enforce a vaccination rule for those guests who just dropped by for a drink or 4. Our elderly family didn’t attend the afterparty and we kept masks on when not actively drinking, so it felt about as safe as we could get (indoor mask mandate was still in place for us at the time).
Invitations & Place Cards: $85.33. Invites were $62.60 plus a single $0.65 Change the Date proof card. We used Zola for our website, registry and invitations and could not have been happier. The invites were beautiful quality and we were able to tweak an existing template to exactly our taste. We did not bother ordering a full round of Change the Dates since all 25 people attending were either immediate family or close friends, so we just texted everyone about the postponement and the new date. I did order a single proof of a matching Change the Date for our wedding album, so we now have a lasting memento of these crazy times! The place cards were $22.08 and matched our invitation suite. I loved them. My mother bought our stamps so cost to us was $0 and about $15 to her.
Venue Rental: $800. We went with Cooper’s Hall Northeast, a smaller satellite location of an incredible event venue here in Portland. If we’d been able to have a larger wedding, we would have gone with the main location, but the smaller offshoot was the perfect size for us and we could not have been happier. They gave us a lowered rate because we were marrying in the offseason and on a Thursday night, which made it even more affordable.
The venue rental included all tables and chairs, linens, glassware and flatware, plates, candles and the many gorgeous potted plants scattered around which really negated the need for much additional décor!
We did not do any kind of room flip or separate ceremony location. The venue set up 1 long table at our request and we had folks sit in their dinner seats to watch us actually tie the knot.
Catering: $1,736.00. This was one of our biggest expenses and also a big priority! My husband and I are both former restaurant industry and many of our friends are chefs and bartenders. We actually met working together in a fine dining restaurant. We are huge foodies and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce our family to fine dining since it’s so important to us and our relationship. The venue does all their catering in-house and it was FANTASTIC. Even our notoriously picky best friend, who is an executive chef elsewhere, was floored and had nothing but compliments. We were quoted and paid $55/person for dinner, which included salads, 2 entrees and 2 sides, all served family-style. We also paid for 2 stationary appetizers ($4/head) and bread and butter ($3/head). I still think about the food now, it was that good. They were great with my husband’s several food allergies and were so helpful making sure our few vegan guests had not only a suitable option, but something special and delicious in its own right – not just a sad mushroom on a plate.
We also enjoyed coffee service with dessert, included in the per-person cost.
Alcohol: $1,041.00. We did break the original $875 budget a little here, and I’m not actually sure how, given many of our family aren’t big drinkers and we only hosted beer and wine. After doing the math, it just seems folks drank a little more than predicted.
All the wine is done in-house and on tap! Our venue is a taproom also and makes their own wine. We picked 4 wines (a rosé, a chardonnay, a merlot and a sangiovese) from a long list and they were delicious. Only 1 person had a beer, so that’ll tell you something. We somehow also spent $67 on hard liquor, which is funny, because only my husband and I were supposed to be able to order it and neither of us did. Bartender whoopsie there but I’m not going to interrogate our family about it. Small in the grand scheme of things.
Cakes: $146.99 Instead of a big wedding cake, we ordered 4 small cakes of different flavors from local bakeries. While it was a pain to run around picking them up individually the morning of, the cakes were a huge hit and we got to support local small businesses. We ended up with a small white cutting cake, a vegan lemon and berry layer cake and 2 traditional Sicilian olive oil cakes – and had an entire olive oil cake left over. It’s now in our freezer and will be enjoyed on our first anniversary.
Labor and Gratuity: $1,463.94. We spent $500 on a day-of coordinator through the venue, who was also our event coordinator leading up, and it was well worth it. I have done event planning and catering for a living, and I did not want to be worrying about those details on my wedding day. She was indispensable and kept the whole day on track with a firm but gentle hand. $353 went towards labor for 1 bartender and 1 server, and the remaining $610.94 was the 22% auto-grat on catering/beverage costs. We had family members tell us 22% seemed high but again, given our history of service and restaurant industry work, my husband and I felt it was absolutely earned and we had no problem writing that check. Tip your servers, people!
Photography: $2,500.00 We used Olivia Strohm Photography and she was a dream to work with. So kind, took our tastes and vision into account and made the photos fun and low-pressure! We told her in advance we dreaded a “standing in lines posing” session and she ran with it and provided us with the “film grain + scandinavian moodiness + food and drink + candid love = the most romantic old family photo album ever found at goodwill meets baz luhrman's r+j” wedding photography of dreams. (Yes, that’s the vision we gave her and she didn’t even flinch.)
My parents generously paid this, which really saved our budget. Otherwise we would not have been able to afford such nice photos and it was a huge source of stress early in the planning process. My family was lower-income growing up so the fact that they were able and willing to pay for this was an unimaginable gift. I believe her usual rate is higher especially now post-COVID but Olivia was incredible and well-worth just about any cost, frankly. She did a mix of digital and 35mm film for us and we had a very hard time choosing which shots to print! Here's a few of my favorites from the actual license signing: X https://i.imgur.com/RiIBHyq.jpg
Floral & Décor: $571.28. I had followed Small Yard Flowers on Instagram for years and had actually bought jewelry from them before, so I never considered any other florist. My bouquet and husband’s boutonniere were $325 total and exceeded any possible expectations. Arielle works only with their own locally grown flowers so it was seasonal and beautiful and best of all, supported a local LGBTQ+ business.
They don’t do full-service weddings anymore so we sourced table garlands elsewhere. This was a slight mess. We did end up going with the Costco mixed greens garlands and they turned out beautifully on the day, but they’re hard to order in advance and were no longer available when the time came to order for our original date! Luckily, it being right after Christmas, my mom had the great idea to run to Home Depot and buy all the clearance evergreen garlands. We spent $75 and I was congratulating myself on cost savings and savviness when, 48 hours later, we had to postpone the wedding. All those evergreens died in my parents’ garage and we ended up ordering from Costco anyway for our new February date. SIGH.
The remaining $71.29 was for a sage green cheesecloth table runner from Etsy. The venue coordinator laid it out under our garland and it was lovely. We ordered way too much length since we originally expected multiple tables rather than one long table, so it was extra $$$ but oh well.
Attire: $1,413.71. We wanted to look good but I had zero intention of spending thousands on a dress, so I took a chance and ordered from LeBride Atelier, an Etsy seller based in Belarus, and she did a great job with my measurements and a few custom tweaks to her original listing. I will say the only issue was the zipper, which actually broke during the reception. The zipper pull itself cracked and fell apart. It was hilarious honestly and my photographer delightfully captured the all-hands-on-deck quick fix situation.
My mother-in-law did all our alterations for free (she’s a talented seamstress) and she actually sewed me into the dress once the zipper broke, so hooray for her! She also made a small adjustment to the fit of the (detachable!!) sleeves on the dress and a minor hem, so all in all, the $475 dress was perfect for the price and made me feel beautiful. I just wish I’d had her put a new zipper in to begin with, prior to the date.
I spent $90 on a veil from the same Etsy shop that we couldn’t use, because it was embroidered with our original date and too delicate to pick out/re-embroider. So we skipped the veil and are planning to cut out the embroidered part and frame it and hang with a wedding photo. I bought my headpiece years ago on Amazon for a dance costume and never wore it but it turned out perfectly to replace the veil.
The groom ordered a new 3-piece suit and shirt ($654.65 from Indochino), as well as new shoes ($47, Calvin Klein on sale). He also bought a tie bar and collar pin (?) but I have no idea where or for how much $$ so they're not included in this budget total. I wore a pair of white heeled ankle booties I’d had for ages and never worn due to COVID. I spent $46 on a new perfume (Bubble Bath by Maison Margiela) and a MAC setting powder that didn’t give flashback since we were using film as well as digital for photos. I also bought a strapless bra and shapewear, and a pearl necklace and earring set (Etsy) for a total $101.06 on accessories. I did my own hair and makeup and felt so feminine and beautiful.
Also, the groom didn’t have time for a haircut so I buzzed the sides of his head the night before the wedding at midnight with borrowed clippers, in our bathtub. Oh my god, it turned out just fine but having never handled clippers before, I was a MESS worrying he'd look awful in all our wedding pictures forever. Don’t do this. DO NOT.
Rings: $811.80 My engagement ring came custom from Etsy based on an existing style and I adore it. I wanted something emerald cut, classic and almost art deco in style, and I didn’t want a diamond. My moissanite beauty came to $352 and is basically the love of my life besides the husband, obviously. We didn’t order a separate wedding band and honestly I’m fine without it. I’m a minimalist when it comes to my jewelry and wanted classic, simple and for it to match my usual white-gold and sterling silver setup.
His ring was $460 including shipping from Staghead Designs and… well, it was a fiasco. I wish I had seen some of the negative reviews here before we ordered. We had to reorder because the original ring looked nothing like the online photos and even the replacement isn’t exactly right. He wears it occasionally [and switches to a plain silicone band for work] but isn’t happy and we will probably buy him something else eventually. I wouldn’t recommend this company unless you are picking out a very simple ring because their listing photos aren’t realistic and you will inevitably feel bait-and-switched.
Music and A/V: $75 The venue included their Sonos sound system for free, and we paid $75 for a microphone and speaker for the ceremony. Husband and I gently bickered for weeks as we put together the perfect playlist on Spotify (and seriously struggled not to kill each other the night before the wedding as we frantically finalized it at 11:32pm). The last song (Closing Time by Semisonic) played as we were leaving the venue, so I consider it all worth it!
OtheMiscellaneous: $203.76 $66.73 on event insurance. $19.94 on pens, page protectors and photo corners for our guestbook/album. My mother had an unused Creative Memories album at home and gave it to us. We pasted our invitation and Change the Date on the first page and had guests write their notes on the following 3 pages, and our photos, once printed, will fill the rest. All in all, a wildly affordable and beautiful option! $20 on a custom return address stamp. This was my only true impulse purchase and we didn’t even use it, because our invites came pre-addressed LOL. Oh, well. We’ll use it for thank-you cards, I guess. $60 on the marriage license and $15.50 for 2 copies. We’re including 1 copy in the album and 1 in our important paperwork file. $21.59 on silk face masks for the groom and I (1 white, 1 black). We wanted something pretty instead of just our usual black KN95s. Pic of me in mine: X
And that’s it! Happy to answer questions if anyone has them, and sorry for the literal novel I wrote. This was a 4-month planning process and at times I was so stressed, I wanted to cry and just elope, but I could not have imagined a more beautiful day. I truly can’t think of anything we would have done differently.

Yeay or nay on purchasing an engagement ring through them?

So we had our rings all picked out and were ready to pull the trigger, until I figured I better look at some reviews outside of the website and the IG. I saw a few concerns about quality and now I would like to find a store similar to Staghead designs that offers fun ring materials like wood and opal but higher quality.
I specifically am looking for a turquoise halo type ring, or a round turquoise ring with separate halo ring like this . My boyfriend is looking for someone who uses opals, maybe as an inlay, like this . I’m not that great at talking about rings and shapes and whatnot but I know for sure that I want turquoise (with many veins) to be my main setting.
Thank you in advance!

I wanted to share here about my experience using Staghead Designs.
I ordered a custom ring using my own stone inlay material. The ring was sent without providing me with any sort of visual approval of the ring. When I received the ring I wasn't happy with what they had done. There were meant to be 3 distinct stone inlays. One of the stone inlays was SO narrow it was practically invisible. And in another section they completely drowned out the blue tone of the stone with copper dust. I asked for them to fix these design issues. They were willing to do this since I had purchased the warranty. However, I had to ship it back to them at my own expense. And now it would be tight to get the ring back in time for my wedding. So I paid to overnight ship the ring to them (nearly $100). They made the adjustments. This time I made them send a visual for me to approve.
After approving the ring, Staghead made a shipping label and provided me with tracking information. It would require 3-day shipping to arrive on time. Unfortunately, the ring was lost before it was shipped out. UPS said they never received it from Staghead and Staghead insisted that UPS had already picked it up. Neither party would take ownership in the situation or help me find the lost ring. Needless to say I was devastated about the lost ring.
A week later, I received a notification from UPS that the package was scanned in and would be delivered in 3 days. So, good news it was finally found (still don't know if UPS lost it or Staghead, of course neither is taking responsibility), but it would not arrive in time for the wedding. And it would be delivered while we were out of town for our honeymoon. We tried to change the shipping speed but were unable to. Eventually we had to ask a neighbor to watch for it so it wouldn't get stolen off our front porch.
The final ring does look nice, but I question the quality of the craftsmanship. The whole experience was awful and had me in tears on several occasions.
I just want to caution people regarding this company. I heard later about a coworker who also experienced issues working with Staghead.

Thanks for reading. Just to clarify, we've been together for 5 years, and I know that a proposal is coming. He talks about it all the time, is very excited about being married, and we're already in the planning stage of the wedding. ETA: Throwaway because he knows my main.
We are not interested in the gender roles at all (have joked about him wearing the wedding dress and me wearing the tux repeatedly) and this whole wedding thing has been kind of annoying for both of us in that regard, with a lot of family trying to pressure us on how things should be done. We both broke away from our conservative families at a young age, and have very different worldviews and values from them. I should also mention that we are not party people, and hate being the center of attention, and would rather spend the money on a greenhouse, or land conservation or something. Neither of us are looking forward to the "party" part of it, but we feel that it's time, and our parents would be livid if we didn't have a thing. We were planning to do a courthouse signing with strangers as witnesses, but people have freaked out and been very hurt, threatening to disown us, etc if we don't hold an event. For those that understand, we maintain VLC communications with our parents normally, and they tend to do things like demanding grandchildren to our faces or just showing up without warning and expecting things on the reg, and for that reason, boundary enforcement is a pretty important part of this. But people have come out of the woodwork to demand an event, and even our close friends have just assumed we're having one and asked for the dates. So we're still trying to figure out what all of that is going to look like, even though it all feels very old fashioned to us. Any thoughts on this would also be helpful. But anyway, back to the topic of rings.
I would really like to propose to him when he proposes to me. It would make him very happy, and it feels right. I have no doubt that he would love it. The problem is, that I've been having a hard time finding a ring that would work well. I think that his tastes differ from a lot of the mens rings out there right now. I've found a couple of shops that carry things he might like (Johan and Staghead on Etsy, in case you have ideas) but would it be more meaningful (or reasonable, since he is the one wearing it if he chooses to?) to have his input? We chose my ring together in a small shop abroad when we were traveling, because we both liked it (even though I don't usually weaown jewelry) and I have no doubt that's the one he will use since he semisecretly bought it later. I'm just kind of unsure all around, and since I don't have strong social networks, I could really use your advice.
Questions:
I know being counter proposed-to would be fine by my partner, but is it considered to be in poor taste, or in any way culturally inappropriate or insensitive?
If I go forward with it, should I buy an engagement ring I think he'd like (since we're designing our own wedding rings) so that it could be a surprise, or should I involve him? Also, how the heck do I get his size? While he's asleep? I'm laughing at my own terrible ideas here.
Should we have a wedding to appease our families and friends, vs maybe just a reception near where many of them live, or just an announcement? Is not having a formal wedding, or not inviting your parents, completely ill advised?
TL;DR: I plan to propose to my partner when he proposes to me (I know he'd like this but I want to know if it's considered bad form/in poor taste, etc?) and I'd like to know whether that's a good idea, and whether we should have a wedding if we're not really party people? I'm not exactly immersed in wedding culture, and those I have been to have been rooted in different cultures besides mine, so any input is very much appreciated. Thanks again for taking the time to read this.
Note: I originally posted this to /relationships, they deleted it and told me to post it in /weddings, even though I'm asking whether to even have one and that sub is clearly going to select for pro-wedding folk. Just another reminder not to waste your time with /relationships.

Just wanted to give a shoutout to weddit and everyone who helped me plan my wedding this year! I’ve been active on his subreddit over the last year and I loved getting ideas and reading other wedding stories.
Here’s a lengthy break down of my wedding for those of you interested in going a less traditional route for your big day.
** Main points: ** We had between 90-100 guests that attended. This was in the Midwest also — prices are often cheaper than some of the bigger city weddings I’ve seen on here. Mine was under $10k.
Non-Traditional: It’s not my personality to honor most tradition. I wanted to avoid a lot of things (father daughter dances, white dress, gartebouquet tosses, etc.) for a number of reasons as well. Feel free to ask if you want to know how I handled something!
I did a lot of DIY — centerpieces, my arch, etc. with help from family.
Etsy came in handy for everything I didn’t want to do.
Venue: I picked a restaurant/brewery in a small town where the majority of the guests would be traveling from (my side of the family). The brewery had an outdoor patio, view of a river and entire basement area that could be rented out for venues. I picked it because of catering option, budget, and the look overall since I didn’t want to decorate to cover up an ugly venue lol.
Food: Taco Bar! I hate typical wedding food to begin with, and I wanted vegetarian/vegan friendly options. It was a hit! While we didn’t have a formal cocktail hour, we did have a couple of cheese, fruit and wrap trays before the dinner for people to munch on, especially if they weren’t as fond of tacos as I am. :) This was catered by the venue.
Desserts: My family made everything. It was crazy and a bit stressful, but it was so good! We had little flavored candies in the shape of dog paws and bones, oreos, and cupcakes! I don’t have a big sweet tooth so my mom made us a small cake to cut. We had lemon, peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for guests. My cake topper was actually two kissing poodles that were actually salt and pepper shakers! For those of you unsure of your cake toppers, salt and pepper shakers definitely worked and we’re adorable.
Etsy: a bunch of my wedding items were from various shops on Etsy. I’ll list out the big things and my recommendations.
Decor: I used balloons around the venue, dessert table, etc. I picked up “LOVE” balloon letters at Hobby Lobby, but the rest of them came from the Sweet Escapes by Debbie Etsy shop. I recommend her if you want balloons!
Aisle markers: I bought cute colored poms from PartyPoms.
Rings: we bought our bands from the same seller, Staghead Designs. They did a great job and I was able to order a pretty rose gold, crushed opal band. They take time of course, so I suggest ordering a few months in advance and telling the seller your date/confirming that they can fit you in.
Favors: the flavored candies that were part of the dessert table were also my favors! I ordered bags from a shop called mavora. They were “doggie bags” with our names and the date. Our dog couldn’t be at the ceremony, so we did our best to incorporate her throughout :)
Other random things: I created a photo book of our engagement pictures with white space/blank pages to sign in lieu of a real guestbook.
We had a photobooth and that was also a huge hit. Ordered a cardboard cutout of my dog’s face as a prop. Everyone was allowed to keep their printouts and I had some too. It was great!
I had a no photos ceremony. I wore a gray dress covered in flowers rather than white. No bridal party. My father did not walk me down the aisle. Our ceremony was about 10 min long.
I chose 80’s music to walk down to, and while people were sitting, string quartet instrumentals of more 80’s Rock lol.
Overall I received an overwhelmingly positive response from guests for doing what I wanted and having a very “true to bride and groom” wedding. There are tons of details I’m leaving out because this is already long enough — but feel free to ask me any questions or details and I’ll happily answer!

Hi all! Currently shopping for FH wedding band. I’m loving the rings from Staghead Designs [staghead designs ](www.stagheaddesigns.com)
Anyone have any experience with their rings? I’m hesitant to buy without hearing reviews!