A Quick Update

I have been pretty quiet on the blog in the last few months. I have so many ideas of what I want to write about and so many makes to share with you, especially after my productive stay-cation, or should I say sew-cation, I took in February. However, life has really been getting in a way lately. Part of me thinks that no one would even really notice, yet I think that update for my readers is in order. So prepare yourself for a long blog post. I'll throw a few random photos and a couple photos of fabric in to make it more fun and break the text. Deal? One of the biggest changes that happened over here is that Shaun and I have drastically moved the timeline of our wedding. We got engaged in December 2016 and we took the first few months to enjoy the holidays and the high that comes with being newly engaged. Originally we planned to have a destination wedding in November 2018, maaaay be February 2018 if we jumped on it right away. We have been to quite a few Mexico destination weddings and we loved every single one of them. Besides I hear that they are easier to plan! So we were sold on the idea. Unfortunately, we have recently realized it was not going to workout as a few of very key people would not be able to make it. So it was decided that the wedding will be in Calgary! I am not even bothered by this change, the most important thing to me is that I marry Shaun, and it doesn't matter where it happens. Even if we do it in our backyard! I also want a pretty dress, but the groom is kind of on top of my list. Once we figured out the location of the wedding, it hit us (ahem, me) that this thing is not going to plan itself. As well as, we really didn't want to live through planning it for another year. At that point we (ahem, me again) hit the ground running.... I didn't know even where to start! But somehow 3 weeks, 1 amazing spread sheet (are you even surprised?), a lot of appointments and phone calls later, we have most of this wedding organized! We managed to secure the location we love, a caterer, a great photographer, a very nice commissioner, order the invitation and get the whole thing pretty much planned out. There is still a lot of work, but at least I don't feel like every free minute of my life is taken by the stress of either planning or not knowing what happens next. Oh, and special thank you and shout out to Heather for mentioning Lougheed House when we went for a coffee a few months ago. That's where we will get married in September 2017! It is a historic building and a museum here in Calgary, and it is simply a gorgeous location. I can not wait to get married there! Now all of this brings me to the question of the dress. As someone who sews I get asked all the time whether I will be making my dress. I toyed around with idea of making my dress for a while, but I didn't even know what style I wanted. I decided to go dress shopping early, just to narrow down the final style. I envisioned something light and airy, nothing too puffy since it was supposed to be a beach wedding. Even though I loved those simple airy dresses, but they didn't feel like me. I was gravitating to something a tad more dramatic and fun. After trying on a lot of dresses in early January and looking at them inside out in the fitting room, I decided against it. They were so intricately made! It is actually quite interesting to see a wedding dress from inside. The amount of work that went into it was clearly immense. I think I could have definitely done it if I really wanted it, but I decided not to. Back to my wedding dress. I want only positive feeling associated with my dress. And I know a project this big will most certainly have its share of frustrations and mistakes. I also know myself and making my own very involved dress would stress me out. Planning a wedding is enough and I really don't want to add more to it. I want to enjoy this year of being engaged! I want to continue making things I want to make on a whim. I also want to keep working on decorating our partially renovated house. Adding a wedding dress project would most definitely take away from all of it. Besides, I actually found a dress I want on that very trip in January! It was everything I was looking for without even realizing it. As soon as I put it on I knew it was either the one, or very close to it. After sleeping on it (I really wish I could say "in it"), and taking my mom to see it, it was clearly apparent that it was the dress for me. We bought it the same day. I remember thinking that my wedding would not be happening for another year and a half, why would I rush and buy the dress now? I can always come back for it... Yet, I had a feeling that I needed to buy the dress. Boy, was I ever conflicted and I was second guessing my feelings trying to make sure I am not having a bridezilla moment and throwing a tantrum! In hindsight, it probably was my version of bridezilla moment as I was asking everyone if they thought "I should wait, " or "it was okay to buy dress this early" or if "I am pushing this dress thing too much", and "are you sure?...". Eventually my mom lovingly but sternly, and in a slightly annoyed way, told me that "It's fine, just buy the damn dress!!!" I am SO glad I went with my gut feeling of buying the dress back then! The dress will just be ready in time for September wedding and its one less headache for me. Even though I am not making my own dress, I will be making dresses for my bridesmaids. I really want all three of my ladies to have well made dresses that fit them. It is also very important to me that they are able to wear the dresses again after the wedding. I am thinking of using Marbella Dress by Itch to Stitch as my pattern for bridesmaids dresses, and going with the half sirkle skirt variation. It is such a beautiful simple A-line dress and it has pockets! The pattern also comes in 4 different cup sizes, which will make things a lot easier for me. If you are following me on instagram, you would also know that I've done quite a bit of pattern testing in the last couple months. In between that, wedding planning and life, I really have dropped off the face of the earth. I am hoping that I will be able to get back into the swing of things soon here. I have so many finished projects to share! As well as many ideas, one of which is I simply can't decide which shirt dress to make for the #sewtogetherforsummer challenge. Thankfully, the contest is not closing till June so I still have time to get my stuff together here. Thank you so much for reading till the end! On that note, I am going to wrap this up and go work on my brother's winter coat for a bit. He has been getting really upset that it is the end of March and he doesn't have it yet. He can be so impatient... Until next time, Anya