How early is too early to start making my wedding dress?

[dancedupapillon]

This is my very first post on the wedding board!!  My now-fiancé popped the question on Saturday, without having planned to, and we chose the ring on Monday, so everything is still really fresh and new.  Now, because the engagement was unplanned, the sir needs a little while to adjust before we can finalise a date, but we've tentatively decided on summer 2012.  It seems so far away!

So that takes us to my question:  I've always wanted to make my own dress, so a longer engagement seems pretty ideal for this.  Should I start "research and development" now?  I know I don't want anything too complicated, so I could very well do it on  a shorter timeline...  What do you think?

Here are goofy sketches I made in class yesterday instead of listening about classroom management techniques.  Please excuse the christmas tree, I forgot my knitting and needed to doodle:

[najaorama]

Never too early. I made 3 before I was satisfied.

[kjlutz]

It's never too early to start thinking about patterns, fabric, and those sorts of things as it can take a while to find things you are happy with.  You can also consider trying on commercial dresses to see what you like and what you don't before you start.
It's also a good idea to try a mock up early (in cheaper fabric) to make sure you are really happy with it.   

All in all it's not bad to start early as time as a way of slipping past while planning a wedding, but don't make your final one too soon if you are worried your shape might change.

All the best in your planning and preparations.

[Haylie]

Your sketch looks pretty!  I agree with everyone else - you can at least start looking at fabric!

[jane feebles]

I agree, go for it now, but don't rush to hard. I've had a long lead up as well, so I've gone through spurts where I've worked on it, then packed it away so I'm not tired of the project and style by the time the wedding comes up. And of course I won't start making it until about 3 months ahead in case I gain/lose weight and have to alter it- nightmare!
I love the back on your doodle, elegant

[sarahmichelle]

I've also just got engaged and am planning our wedding for summer 2012 too. I ordered the pattern for my dress today, which my mum is making. She wants plenty of time to do a practice run where she can work out the kinks and get it perfect before doing the real thing. Not to mention hunting down the fabrics and sewing on the endless buttons on the back.
So if you're starting too early then I am too!

[dancedupapillon]

Oh good, thanks!  We have a tentative date for April 2012, so I'm feeling a little better about starting early.  I'm going to go try some dresses on in a couple of weeks (as research) and I got a bunch of books about dress making out from the library.