Here Comes the Crafty Bride

I've been approaching wedding planning like film shoot planning, it's not that different, really. When you plan a film shoot, you start by writing and perfecting a script, then you find a few crew members who feel passionate about the project, then you need to find funding. Once you have funding you can go about location scouting, organising art department, arrange unit, transport, hiring a full cast and crew i.e. camera and sound departments, and so on.

A wedding is similar in the sense that you need funding before location scouting (venues for ceremony and reception), hiring a cast and crew (bridal party, celebrant etc.) camera and sound crew (band, photographers, videographers), organising art department (decorations), arrange unit (catering), transport - basically it's kinda similar.

Being an Art Director on film shoots, naturally the 'Art Department' aspect of my wedding, to me, is the most important. Everything must look AMAZING. Aesthetic comes before anything else. I've started a 'Wedding Aesthetic Inspiration' Pinterest page, and am really having to rein myself in on the millions of ideas I have for making things look cool.

It's the funding part I'm struggling with at this point. Basically we've got zip so I have to implore my family for help. I have never asked for money for anything before ever, and I certainly don't like having to do so. I'm hoping that they will feel generous as this is the most important day of my life to date.  I, as many girls, have spent most of my life dreaming about my perfect, fantasy wedding day. It's always been what I dream about when I'm in a bad mood and need cheering up. Obviously I want it to live up to expectations, because eventually, it won't be a dream anymore, but a memory.

I mentioned to my Dad the other day how much it would likely cost, and I think he nearly died on the spot. Weddings are not cheap these days! And again in doing film, I've learnt how to stretch money. So I guess we'll see there - but until I can get some 'funding' for this 'project', I'm really frustrated and stuck. I can't book a date at the church without a large downpayment, which means I can't start booking anything else at all. I risk losing a good date.  All I can do at this stage is plan, design, and buy small things that I can afford by myself.

For example, I'm starting by making a ring box and ring pillow, as well as those decorative rings to go around wine glasses. Once the supplies I've ordered arrive, I can get my craft on and hope for the best. I've bought a beautiful brooch to pin to my non-existant wedding dress. I've decided to make all the favours, invitations, table decorations, pew decorations, name cards, and possibly my bouquet and the bridesmaids' bouquets. If I have a flower girl, I'll make her basket. I am way, way too excited about making all these things. Every time I finish something, I'll put a picture up. I really want to make more of a Vlog for the wedding planning process.

People get terrified and stressed about planning weddings, I'm not worried, at least not at this stage, except for getting enough money together to pay for everything. But I want to make a Vlog because I'm basically doing everything myself. Which is fine. I can totally do that. Sure. Again, it can't be as hard as planning a film shoot. But it should be be an interesting process to watch.

To finish up, here's the first picture my fiancé and I ever took together, rather classily taken with a phone in a bathroom mirror at a party while pretty drunk. It's still my favourite. So yeah, keep watching. x

Oh Look It's 2014 - Achieving Goals

Seeing as it's been 5 years since I last used this blog, I thought it was about time I launched it into action again, or something. Really I've done too much throughout those five years to give any sort of update, so seeing as it's a new year, I might as well start with a few new year things.

Almost everyone sets goals for the year they would like to achieve, and I am no different. What's different for me this year, compared to previous years, is that I started mine by reading some very, very good, somewhat life-changing articles. First I read this one from Cracked, and because I put the Pro in Procrastinate, I read this, followed by this. In my opinion, EVERYONE SHOULD READ THESE. Unless your life is already flawlessly awesome, and good for you if it is, you probably have something great to gain by reading these three articles in the above mentioned order.

I immediately stuck a note behind my computer, where I can't ignore it, which reads, "Stay out of the Dark Playground". You'll understand why once you read the articles. In putting that unavoidable note there, I've actually managed to achieve a lot more stuff.

I've learnt the importance of being specific with goals, and not vague. A vague goal would be, "learn French this year", whereas a goal you will actually do, will look like "Buy a Teach Yourself French book, then begin studying on March 18th at 4:00pm." This, followed by reserving time every day to working towards to goal of speaking French. If you're lacking motivation, imagine how disappointed in yourself you'll feel in December if you haven't progressed any further.

So! Applying this good advice to my life, I've compiled a list of goals I would like to achieve. Maybe they are a bit ambitious? But blah blah put your mind to things, where there's a will there's a way, and all that.

To start with, I have the same goal and many people do: 1) lose weight. I realised, with horror, that I've been unhappy with my weight for a whole decade. I'm not overweight, I have a healthy BMI, but I am pudgier than I would like to be. Weight sits on me in an unflattering way. I get frustrated when none of my outfits seem to look good. So to achieve this, I am adopting a low-carb controlled calorie diet. Usually, I get some exercise, and eat healthy food, but I think I eat too much. I've joined LiveStrong.com which turns out to be a useful way to count calories. I've learnt that to achieve my goal, I have to stick with a maximum of a piddly 1200 calories a day. Which means a lot of being hungry, but as my fiancé points out, being hungry is part of the process.

I also want to eat food that I like, because I like eating, and get pretty miserable if I have to go without. So, for the last few weeks I have started my day with bacon and eggs cooked in olive oil, sometimes with mushrooms. I'll have a smaller supper of avocado on wholegrain ryvita, or yoghurt with fruit and nuts - all things that I like eating. I've abandoned energy drinks in favour of iced coffee (which I'm trying to convince myself to like) and am drinking a lot more water. I'm also going to the gym and aiming to burn 300-400 cals every visit. I've also just started doing a few minutes of Zumba in the morning.

Since NYE, I've lost 3kg. That's 6.6 pounds eating bacon every day.

My chief motivation for wanting to lose weight, is so I can look my best on my wedding day! YES I AM GETTING MARRIED OMG I can't believe it either. And to the best, cleverest, loveliest, handsomest man I've ever met. So goal number 2) get married.

I am pretty much planning the whole wedding by myself, which is fine, people fret about wedding planning, but those people probably have never planned a film shoot. Which is almost certainly harder. I'm intending to keep an up to date vlog of progress on wedding planning, because naturally, I'll have to put on the Goth wedding to outdo all the other Goth weddings ever.

I started a few projects last year for other people, and I learnt a valuable lesson: do not overcommit yourself. Trying to do too much at once for others will end up letting them down, instead of helping them. As a result, I have nothing finished. It's also meant I've put my personal projects on he back shelf to gather dust. So 3) finish what I started. I want to finish the projects I started for others, so I can stop feeling so terrible about having taken so long.

Since all the work and stress burnt me out so much, I have goal 4) go on holiday. Since I've become engaged, this can probably now take the form of an extended honeymoon. I love travel SO MUCH and it's been SO LONG, I need to get out of New Zealand. I have no idea how to pay for this. So therefore, goal 5) get a full-time job, ideally relevant to my interests or qualifications. There is a lot of competition for jobs where I live, especially in film, TV, writing, or media of any kind. And looking like a weird person makes it even harder. I've been applying for many jobs lately, I'm becoming slightly desperate since I'm struggling for money, but if one shoots lots of arrows, one is bound to hit a target.

I would also like to 6) finish my novel. I wrote a large, convoluted book several years ago, it took five years but I finished it. No one will ever get to read it though, I mostly wrote it to prove to myself that Icould write a large, convoluted book. Ages ago I started a smaller, simpler one. It was going to be a novella, but it's becoming too long, hence it's a novel now. Anyone who's read an excerpt from this work in progress seems to like it, and I think the characters aee some of the best I've ever created, so I really want to finish it.

Being in two bands, one for nearly 2 years, I think it's about time we7) record an album. Victorian Goth Rock is definitely a thing I would like to share with the world!

Projects aside, I also need to work on improving myself in general, which will affect everything else in my life. I REALLY need to 8) diminish self-doubt and gain confidence, because as I said in one of my videos, self-doubt can really hold you back. I've spent my life thinking that everything I do is terrible, which is a good and bad thing in the sense that I will keep working to improve things - but I never like them, think they're no good, and therefore show them to no one. Which is probably stupid.

So now that this blog entry is incredibly long, I think I'll leave it there. Now, go read those articles, do it! Off you trot! And good luck to you for achieving any goals you may have for yourself this year.

x