2 months married and Honeymoon part one

Can you believe we've been married for 2 months and 2 days? Me either! I can't believe it's gone by so fast - I thought the year planning our wedding went by fast - now it's been crazy ever since. We have almost our entire apartment unpacked, we only have a few boxes left and a pile of picture frames to place. I've never had a chance to post anything about our honeymoon - so here's some highlights from our week long trip to Orlando..Enjoy!

We left the Tuesday after our wedding. We wanted to wait a few days so that we weren't exhausted from the wedding. We left at 7:20 in the morning to Dallas then from Dallas to Orlando.
This is a picture of us before we went through security in Wichita. This was Josh's first flight and I hadn't flown since Whitney & James' wedding a few years ago.

We landed in Orlando about 1 ish, rented our car, and went on our adventure of finding our hotel. It was only about 20 minutes from the airport. Thankfully! We stayed at the Hilton in Downtown Disney. This hotel was nice, it was the first on the shuttle buses for the Disney parks - which was amazing because you always had a seat. The afternoon we were there we took a nap first thing :) And then we went to Downtown Disney. It was a neat area, a marketplace, and full of too many kids. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood - which was rather yummy!

Trying on some wedding ears, we didn't justify spending $17 on each to wear once, so we just took the picture there :)

Our first full day of our honeymoon we went to Seaworld ---- AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it, minus the strollers, foreigners, and bratty kids. The best parts - the Sealion & Otter show, and the Killer Whale show, "Believe". The animals are so incredible, I fell in love with them all.

The dolphin tank was so neat - there were about 15 dolphins in it and you were able to go up to the top and actually feed and touch them. I didn't stick my hand in, afraid of getting yelled at but we stood right there and watched them swim around like crazy.

Our 2nd full day of our honeymoon we went to Universal Studios and Universal Islands of Adventure. Here we met Scobby Doo & Bart Simpson. We were 4 people late of meeting the entire Simpsons family. Our favorite ride that day was the Simpsons - it was a virtual roller coaster and by far the best. We rode the Men in Black ride - it was fun, we got to shoot at aliens like in the movie. We went on the Jaws and Twister rides. We tried going on the Disaster ride but as soon as we were going to go in an alarm was going off and they had everyone evacuate the area. We had lunch at the Nascar bar and grill.

Our next part was the Islands of Adventure. The detail here was so amazing. We started backwards to try to avoid somewhat of a crowd - whatever, there's crowds EVERYWHERE! The Dr. Suess area was so detailed it was amazing! We mainly just walked through everything here. We went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - but it was SO PACKED! The line for the ride was 120 minutes - as soon as we walked through there it started to POUR!

We went on the Spiderman ride - which was great! It gave us time to hopefully wait out the rain - but guess what?!?! It didn't stop. We gave in to the $8 ponchos so we could get out of there without ruining our phones and cameras.
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Well - I've probably bored you to death - I'll do my next one on Disney - 4 parks in 4 days - tiring!

..Favorite elements of our wedding..

Can you believe I've been married now for 40 days?!?!?! Well, me either - it's crazy how time flies. I know everyone says it does - but the last few years have flown, and this summer has gone by SO FAST! So much has changed this summer - it's been such a wonderful summer - the best of my life.

I said that this blog would be about the details of our wedding - so I better stick to it and write it so I remember it for later in life...

Where to start....I've already covered the dress...so we'll go with the SHOES



I knew I wanted green shoes after coming across a blog (now a website) greenweddingshoes.com (bridal friends, check it out - there are so many wonderful ideas). So I went to a local business and had them custom dyed - lime green. Once the bridesmaids dresses arrived - well, long story short about them (fyi - order your dresses from an actual store and not online, no matter how much money you'll save, you won't in the end) - I wanted hot pink (fuchsia) shoes for the girls. I originally was going to go with black dresses and lime green shoes, but I wanted more color involved in our wedding - so therefore I went with the lime green dresses with the cream trim.



The shoes were one of my favorite elements and details of our wedding.

For the church - We had white Gerber daisy pew balls, floral arrangements at the end of the aisle that I designed; hot pink petals that Miss Kasiah dropped; handmade pillows that Josh's grandma sewed and I embellished with a button - the boys were so proud of them and took their job very serious...This is one of my favorite images from the wedding - right before I walked down the aisle, Josh smiling at Kohl, so sweet.



We kept the church pretty simple because we spent so much time on the reception. Two days before, we hung lanterns (I'll have to add the picture later, I still haven't downloaded them) and had flower arrangements with tea lights on every table.

So here's what started this whole black, white, and lime green wedding....

I found this image on theknot.com trying to find something to kick start our wedding. Needless to say I didn't know that about every wedding I've been to has had this theme, or something similar this year. That part was sorta a bummer...but we did it differently and I am bias and loved mine the best. My mother sewed all of our tables runners - about 42 6 foot tables worth - I bought about 4 boldts of fabric and we found the actual table cloths dirt cheap at Wal-Mart after Christmas last year. I loved loved loved how it looked. It was something never done before in Wellington and I wish I could go back and sit there and look at it for hours. (I'll have to add images of the tables later as well)

Next up - THE CAKES AND COOKIES - YUMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!! Just thinking about this makes me crave them....



Our cake came from Artistic Cakes in Wichita; after trying about 7 different cake companies at a bridal show, this one was my favorite. Our main cake was a four tier white cake with buttercream frosting. I gave our baker a picture of the design and he pulled it off beautifully!



I made our cake topper - I order the letters online and then searched 4 different stores for the right crystals to glue on their. If you want to buy these letters already pre-jeweled, you're looking at spending $100+ for colored jewels. Granted, it took me about 2 days to glue on every glue, but it was worth it. I love it and can't wait to get a shadow box and display everything.

And we have the groom's cake - otherwise known as the cake Josh didn't even get a bite of...


It was a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Once again, our baker did an amazing job recreating the drawing that I gave him. I'd had this picture of a guitar longer than I'd known Josh so I drew that out with the Kyle Bennett Band upside down horse shoe that was on their first album. It came out great and unique :) I loved the picture (everything was amazing minus the whole chocolate factor).

Sugar cookies, sugar cookies, sugar cookies - oh ya, we had some SUGAR COOKIES!!!!!!!

YUM!!!!!!!!! My other mother, Karen, made over 250 sugar cookies for our gift. Every since I had my first frozen sugar cookie from her I've been in LOVE with them. I even tried to follow her recipe last Christmas and they came out horrible! She has the magical touch of amazing when it comes to sugar cookies. Instead of wedding favors, we used the sugar cookies as gifts and also in memory of the ones that have passed before us that couldn't be with us that day. Karen's son, Curtis, was a dear friend of mine and he passed away in high school. Her & Mr. P have been family to me ever since. We still can't thank them enough for all of the wonderful sugar cookies that they gave us :)

Well, I think that's it for this post - now it's after midnight and I'm craving wedding cake and sugar cookies (Thankfully we'll get some this weekend when we head home)

We're Married!!!!

Hey! I told you I was terrible at this --- I've been thinking about updating my blog the last few days -- but well...wedding images have been more important.

First things first - on June 26, 2010 - I married my best friend :) We had a lovely wedding - I couldn't ask for better friends & family. Only a few minor misunderstandings occurred but other than that everything went well. Actually - it was perfect.

We were married at 5 o'clock in the evening at the Methodist Church. It was nice & hot - but what do you expect for a late June wedding. I'm just thankful it wasn't storming.

Our ceremony was beautiful - and I didn't cry...which I'm so thankful for because I cried at everything else from showers to introductions at our rehearsal. I'll go through a run down of the day (more so for my use but it's what I can remember)....

My alarm went off at 8:45 a.m. - mom went to pick up Amy from the Slate Creek Lodge and I laid in bed and cried for awhile (hopefully trying to get it out of my system. Then by 10:15 it was off to Ultimate Images for hair. Jessica & Sarah did an amazing job with everyone's hair and the time frame. When Jessica was working on putting all 82 bobby pins in my hair & I believe a can of hair spray - I had my 2nd breakdown of the day. No reason what so ever - nothing that was said or how it was going, just started to cry.




Then after hair - we rushed home to gather up everything needed for the rest of the day. My parents' house was nuts with bridesmaids running around, nephews & brothers watching soccer, and poor Willie (my dog) who didn't know what was going on. We made it to the church finally about 1:30 (only 30 min behind schedule at this point). We hung out while my boss shot my dress & elements and then it was time to get into THE DRESS (Mona Lisa by Maggie Sottero). Here's a close up of my dress:



By about 2:15 was our big reveal - Josh was very patiently waiting outside in the heat - I wasn't really nervous just anxious and excited. He hadn't seen my dress & it killed me for 7 months not to tell him. I told him it was HUGE but it wasn't too bad. He looked so handsome. It was great :) My favorite image of our reveal:



From there we proceeded with family photos and formal wedding pictures. We ended about 4:15 - in time to take my dress off so I could go to the bathroom (I couldn't fit through the doors ...the bathrooms are made for preschoolers obviously) and to cool off before the big moment. While sitting in the parlor, Ricky, brought me my gift from Josh - a pair of super cute Ariat boots - and I sent back with him Josh's - a mets hat and a bottle of cologne.

And then it was 5 o'clock somewhere - well, here. It was time to walk down the aisle. It was crazy how one year of planning was going into the next 25 minutes. Our parents & grandmothers were seated with the traditional Canon in D - followed by our amazing attendants to Aaron Watson's "Unbelievably Beautiful" and then my grand entrance. I of course walked down the aisle with my father to the Bridal Chorus. I had thought about using a song from Texas but I knew I'd regret it later in life. Our reverend, Brent Clayton, was amazing - he kept everything very short and sweet. We lite our unity candle to "I'll Be Here For You" sang by Randy Rogers at Steamboat on the Undone cd. We had said our vows & exchanged rings....and the big announcement - Mr. & Mrs. Joshua William Olsen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We walked out to "Later On" by the KYLE BENNETT BAND - who was sitting in the audience. That had to be one of the coolest things was to have those guys there playing our wedding reception...anyways back to the timeline :)



We exited the church through petals into Ted Davis' Rolls Royce 1948 limo - we drove around a few blocks and went back to the church to the pink house for some fun pictures and then out to the slate creek lodge for some more.



We made our grand entrance to the reception at 7 o'clock - with dinner, cake & toasts and then the dancing! Our first dance was performed acoustically by Kyle Bennett, "Into Her Arms". I've seen these guys play 20 times or so in the last 3 years and never had once heard it live. The band didn't really know it because they don't play it - so it was extra special having him sing this to us. I danced with my dad to "Isn't She Lovely". We did our bouquet & garter tosses - which Josh forgot his mining light he told BK. And then everyone kept asking for the band - that's why we forgot our dollar dance - so they started to play and we all had a ball. I know I danced every dance - my favorites (besides with Josh) were with my nephews, Cason, Cole, & Kohl. They all about made me cry. They were so great all day - perfect ring bearers. At one point, I told Robyn, I would even sit in front of them and watch them - so she goes do it - so Josh & I sat smack dab in front of Kyle & watched them. It was great. We had a ball - every time Kyle spoke about us and our wedding, I about cried, okay so maybe I did once sue me. They were all so great - we really can't thank them enough.



After they were done performing, our family & friends tore down everything and we proceeded into the bar. After closing, Cade, Jess, BK, Jacyln, James, Cassandra, James, JR, Josh & I went to Penny's Diner - in our dress & tux :) Long story short - but I had a dream everyone went there without me so we had to go. Picture: Our amazing longhorns friends that came to share the day with us.



Our wedding was amazing and I wouldn't change much. Every detail was remembered it's just how a few things turned out. But anyways, we're married and spent 8 days in Florida at Disney. It was great and we didn't want to come back to the real world - but at least now I can laugh at all of the wedding shows on tv. Most of the pictures were taken by my bosses John & Cindy (www.jcimaging.com) and edited by me :) - I'll post another blog about details - so much is overlooked that is so expensive but in the end it's worth it.

Time

Time flies when you're having fun. I was always told that when I was little and the older I get the faster it goes - whether I'm having fun or not. It's almost been a year ago since Josh & I became engaged - and it's officially been a year since I became a Kansas State University alum and I really have no idea where the time has gone. My world has been consumed with wedding details as everything is falling in and out of place and my stress level is constantly high. For the most part everything has gone right but there's always things that go a rye. Here's me a year ago after graduating from Kansas State University...



I've had 2 wonderful showers back home - lots of gifts and well wishes for our upcoming wedding. It's been fun and weird being the center of attention through all of this. I've been around a lot of weddings - helping with lots and lots of showers - but didn't really think of being on the other side of it all. It's been a fun and I'm very grateful for all of my wonderful friends & family. Here's a picture of Amy, Jennifer, & I at my last shower on May 8, 2010 in Wichita, KS at Rita Decker's.



Most of the major details are done. We will be getting the rest of our invites out no later than Thursday. So if you haven't received your's - it's either in the mail or will be coming soon. We've had some come back and we've resent them already. My faith in the US Postal Service is not very high - my perfection has been in the hands of strangers and their care isn't the greatest when it comes to wedding invitations. Here's our save the date just in case :)

April Showers bring May Bridal Showers

Hello all! I have no idea if anyone is reading this but I figured I'd better start a blog for personal note - and see what happens...


Weddings...weddings...weddings...Our life is consumed with weddings. Last weekend, our great friends, Cade & Jess, started their life together (officially) with a beautiful ceremony & reception. Josh & I are so thankful we were apart of it. It still brings tears to my eyes just writing this. We were right there for every moment - capturing it all. I've known them for about 2.5 years - Josh has known them longer as he worked with Jess at Longhorns since he started forever ago. We were there at their actual engagement - which she included the pictures I shot in their slide show - that was very touching. Long story of their engagement - but a very Jess & Cade moment - any who ---- It was great being there for everything. I'll post pictures sometime next week on facebook after they've seen them all.

So tomorrow is my first bridal shower back in Wellington. I don't think it's set in today that tomorrow is the major start of wedding festivities to come. I'm sure tonight I'll be in a panic and nervous like always - but it'll be fun. I will get to see a lot of great friends and family and I'm excited to share this event with so many people that have affected who I am and who I've become. Next week is my other shower in Wichita - time will fly I know! I'm trying to soak everything in, but at the same time it's a whirlwind of emotion. I've cried more over this wedding than I think I have in my whole life. I'm not going to lie - it's full of happiness and disappointments. If you know me - you know I'm hard headed and stubborn, just like my father. My brothers are the same way - we just don't like to admit it. It's very sad heartening when I hear family members aren't going to be able to make it, some I understand, and others I'm disappointed. But I'm one who wants everyone here at least one last time - we're all growing and having our own families and life is crazy. I can remember back to my brothers wedding when everyone was here - but that was when I was 9 and we've grown as a family by 10.5 people and lost one. I just cherish my family so much - I want them all to know that. I understand life, but sometimes I just want to ignore it. As a bride, I have a stubborn part - I can give and take on details, but it's hard to give and take on family.

I know this is a lot of rambling, but it's becoming therapy getting this out there - for probably no one to read - but it's out there. So many details go into a wedding. I've designed about 40 or so wedding albums in the last 3 years at work - I've seen everything under the sun - from colors that work, to dresses that don't. Details that are captured, and I'm sure many are over looked. It's so many things that make up one day it's crazy. I know it will be here and gone before I'm ready to - I know things will be forgotten and I'm sure people will be left off of the guest list unintended - but it's hard to draw the line. Our reception will only hold 260 people (max) - and I know about half of the people won't show - I told my mom a long time ago we're going to have to rent a tent for the parking lot. There's just no place large enough that is any where close to reasonable in this area. Wichita became way out of budget and Manhattan was WAY out there. It amazes me how much people charge for the simplest things. I've got a lot of things accomplished - not much is left our on to - do list. I'm getting my dress altered tomorrow - well, the first of 3 fittings. I hope by the day I will love the dress - but who knows. I've had so many doubts and tears over this dress. I'm just ready for our honeymoon (still to be determined). I'm to the point of I don't care I just want to go away with Josh with white sand and blue water. He told me he'd go up to Colbert Hills and steal some sand and we'd get some food coloring for the water. Funny guy he is.

Well I'm sure I could go on and on and on some more but I'm going to stop now as I need to get ready to go get a cavity filled - yay - not. And then to pick up a box of contacts that I'm dreading because one of my most favorite-st people in the whole wide world doesn't work there anymore. But she's happy so that's what matters the most :) Love you mom #2!

Amy

Surprise was a success!

Yesterday was a surprise for my bosses - John & Cindy. And here's what has happened in the last month to make it all work...

While John & Cindy were on vacation, Cindy's mom called me at the office to ask if I could help her with a surprise. The pastor at their church sings in a quartet group and she wanted them to come down and sing to them for their anniversary. So I thought up this plan - to have a wedding day consult knowing they're usually both there for those...so I moved a team to the next day and had it all set. I called a bride and filled her in with her "consult". So everything was all set....until 2 weeks ago. John booked another team in the spot of the one I had moved...not knowing the softball coach, I contacted the ad at the high school and filled him in on the whole story. He printed off my email and shared it with the softball coach. So while I was trying to create a loop hole - John went in a cleaning frenzy on Luke's desk - well, I left Luke a note about the surprise that I thought he threw away....NOPE....Instant panic! So I messaged Luke and filled him in on the stress. I tore up the message and threw it under all of the trash - hoping and praying John hadn't found out. While on my lunch break, I called Cindy's mom to tell her how much of a pain John is for trying to book everything under the sun while I was trying to have them there at 3:30 on Wednesday. She just laughed and apologized for the stress that was going on. This last Monday I went in to work because I knew I wasn't going to be there on Tuesday. I contacted the ad and then the softball coach. Not knowing the softball coach had talked to John last Friday. John didn't erase the time because he'd moved it to the 19th. This created so much confusion on Wednesday morning - I had to keep my mouth shut. I was about to explode and just say "You both have to be here at 3:30 - no if's, and's or but's" but I didn't want to give it away. Well about 3:15 arrived and the quartet came in and sang about 4 songs for John and Cindy. They were in tears and I filled them in on this surprise. With wedding planning and everything else - this was added stress, but I'm so glad it went over well. I had Luke take some shots of this moment - so I stole one for here :)

Wedding Updates and tangents

So I've never been a huge fan of blogging until recently... so we'll see how well I keep this up with the next months to come.

Most of you know me - and know that I'm getting married June 26, 2010 - which is just shy of 74 days away. No I'm not keeping a personal countdown on a planner - but our wedding website, www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AmyTroutman&JoshOlsen - keeps it updated for me. Which I check frequently to see if anyone has signed our guest book - if you haven't please check it out.

Today I FINALLY got my dress in - they were only 13 days late. I'm a planned person - I'm limited on time away and that was a major stress getting to my dress in time to take it back for alterations. Thankfully not many will have to be made - just a hem and bustle. I'm not "in love" with my dress. Nor will I think I will ever be "in love" with a dress. After watching countless episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" I watched one where a girl couldn't fall "in love" with a dress - the dress lady said "There are about 5% of girls that can't fall "in love" with their dress." - Well I always have to be difficult. :)

Most of our plans are under way - napkins are ordered, cake topper is finished and on my old dresser in my old room at my parents'. Center pieces are completed and stowed away in my Grandma's basement - table runners are almost done - and the checklist goes on a mile....

For our family & friends attending our wedding - we ask that you PLEASE take a few minutes and visit this website: www.myspace.com/KyleBennettBand or www.kylebennettband.com - These are dear friends of ours that are playing our reception. We know many of you won't know their songs, but if you listen a few times - that'll help you get familiar with them. We're so excited to have them be apart of our day - they've been such a great part of our lives and we can't be happier that they're playing our reception. They're not your typical "wedding band" - they're Texas country artists - so please check them out.

That's all I have for this evening - off to bed for a long day of work if all goes planned correctly..I will fill you in on some more stress and surprises tomorrow.