Will be following your progress. Enjoy the journey. There will be blood, sweat, tears, curse words along the way, but when you suit up and troop for the first time, it will be worth it all.
Give yourself enough room at each end of the elastic to fold it over at least 2 times, use 3 folds for really stressed areas. Put the snap through the folded elastic. Will hold much better. You could also fold it over and sew before putting snaps through. I like to use a soldering iron to put holes through the elastic, it melts the hole and makes it more rugged as well.