I am so excited to introuduce you all to the second lovely lady in my new series {Life After the Dress}. I started this series last month with Natalie Hutton (click here to read her story), and in it I will be interviewing ladies of all ages and asking them about their lives, after their big day. It is my hope that you feel inspired, and leave my blog feeling hopeful and happy, with renewed energy for your relationship, or excitement for what the future may hold for you.

For a lot of woman, it is too easy to get caught up in the fluff and glitter of the actual wedding day, and very little time and thought is spent on preparing for what comes after. Marriage is such a wonderful journey, and once the cake has been cut and the guest have left, it's just you and your new husband, and the rest of your lives.

I hope you enjoy reading Chelsea's story, I so looking forward to meeting this bundle of energy (her travel blog is just such a rich source of information, and she has wonderful advice for traveling with your hubby, and tips on keeping in your budget too!). You can pop on over to her blog here.

Enjoy!

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)

Hi everyone! I’m Chelsea and I blog over at Lost in Travels. A blog to spark your wanderlust, encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and explore, all while staying on budget! My husband and I were married three years ago when I was 22 and he was 27 (I’ll let you do the math ; ) Scared by the thought of ‘settling down’ after we got married, we packed our lives into two suitcases and headed half way around the world to South Korea to teach English. We’ve been here almost three years now and haven’t looked back!

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?

I had to think about this one since it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movies! I would have to say Ariel based on her sense of adventure and curiosity of the unknown!

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?

My husband and I have a little bit of a different story. Long story short, I saw him through friends in common on Facebook and added him on a whim. After two months of talking, he got up the nerve to fly to Chicago from Tulsa where he was living and visit me for the first time. So the first time we actually met was in the domestic terminal of the O’hare airport! If you want more of the ooey gooey details you can read the whole story here.

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?

I wish I could say that my wedding day went smooth but as with any big event, there are always bumps in the road. But with all that being said, nothing horrible happened and I still remember the day for the most important part, saying goodbye to dating and hello to life living with a boy!

My biggest advice to brides is to not sweat the small stuff. At the end of the day, it won’t matter anyway. I remember my mom rushing into the bridal suite hours before the wedding, stressed that the rental company had delivered one less tablecloth than we needed. Expecting me to be equally stressed by this I simply told her that we would have one less table then. I had gotten to the point that I didn’t care about the small details anymore, what did that matter when all I really wanted was to have fun that night and get to the honeymoon!

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?

Yes and no. Which I think every married woman can relate to. I was never one of those people with rose colored glasses on who thought that marriage was going to be love notes and snuggles in bed every day (even though I wish!) Marriage is challenging in new ways everyday. It stretches a person, makes them realize how much work a successful relationship really takes. Sacrifices must be made, feelings must be cared for and communication is key. I say all this but at the same time, it’s the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had. When we look back at our relationship when we were first married, we thought is was so great. But we had no idea how much better it would get with time. But it takes all of that hard work and all of those trials to go through to get us to where we are today. Especially living abroad together we have learned to heavily rely on each other, to be each other’s biggest support system. Something I think would be possible if we never left the states but not in the magnitude that it is now.

Q6: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?

I need to RELAX! I’ll be honest, I married a daredevil. The more dangerous the activity, the more my husband wants to do it. When we were first married I was so uptight! Always telling him to be careful, telling him not to do certain things because they were dangerous. After a year of this I learned that he’s a big boy and he loves me and therefore would never do anything that he knew was beyond his limits (duh). Too bad I didn’t learn that sooner!

Q7: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would they be?

Adventurous, spontaneous, comfortable

Q8: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or something you’ve learnt the hard way?

Always be in pursuit of your love. After being married, it can become all too easy to get too comfortable in marriage and as a result stop trying. I encourage everyone to continue to date his or her spouse throughout your marriage.