Mr. & Mrs. Ackland

I thought you might like to finally see some pictures....Sam is AMAZING!!! He edited all the pictures and the pictures he isn't in, he took!

It really was the most MEMORABLE day of my life....between crazy cake guy messing up the order, thunderstorms so bad Sea Jay had to pull over on the way to the wedding, having to create a plan B in the restaurant, inappropriate jogger at the wedding, and other miscellaneous drama it was for sure a day no one that was there will forget.

I will have to say that my most favorite moment was a quiet few minutes before the wedding that Sea Jay and Stacie set up for me and Sam to have all by ourselves. It was the most incredible to feeling to walk onto this quiet little deck with the wind blowing and the sea raging and see my husband. I took in every moment and made the memory stick in my head forever.

Then we looked at each other and smiled and entered back into the chaos and drama that was our wedding. We had to end up creating a Plan B to get married in the restaurant but Raya assured me that I could still get married on the beach because she had prayed for it to stop raining....well Raya was right (with the help of my little Jacob in CA who was also praying that it would be sunny for me) we were able to get married on the beach. After about 2 hours of hard crazy rain it just stopped. Stacie ran outside and put some flowers on the beach, Sea Jay herded everyone down stairs and we spent the next moments in utter bliss enjoying the most fun thing we had ever done. The wedding was PERFECT. There was so few people there that we had all spent the last 3 days being together experiencing EVERYTHING together, so there was so much intimacy and feeling known throughout our wedding. Banning married us and did an incredible job at making everyone laugh and making the wedding feel like and expression of us. My most favorite part of the wedding was seeing my husband at the end of the aisle...there was no greater feeling.

Then the fun began! Pictures were SO fun to do on the beach. The kids were having a blast, Lakey had his frog that had become his best friend, I fell in love all over again with Sam when I watched him take the camera and take our wedding pictures. It was moments filled with laughter, as Sam was always making us laugh and memories that are for a lifetime.

We headed up to the restaurant and enjoyed such a fun night. My Dad said something special to everyone, Sam's mom said something so wonderful just for us and we just laughed and enjoyed being together. The kids took frosting cupcake and wrote all over our car and added quite a bit of toilet paper...I think that came from the restaurant.....

It was a dream fulfilled...








Ray Ray loves her Sam...I kind of think she thought she was marrying him that day :)














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My husband had just done something inappropriately appropriate to make us laugh...it worked. Tricks of the trade



He loves her too...can you tell?

This was Lakey's bwest fweind all weekend. We, of course, let him come to the wedding....

Sam's Best Men...they kind of liked me too I think







Here you go Aunt Denise...can you see the ring now?

We went with cupcakes...which was a big stretch for Jacksonville...but we LOVED it! Sea Jay and Stacie and our mom's did a great job decorating the cake table!




Our Parents Who LOVE us SO MUCH!!! We both LOVE LOVE LOVE our in laws!!!

4 Days...

I got my official name take for work the other day...it says Dana Ackland....

It made me smile HUGE! I can't believe how incredible it felt to see that and then have someone say Dana Ackland out loud. Crazy that after almost 33 years I will go to the beach, but this beach trip I will leave a COMPLETELY different person. Sam makes me a better person. In 4 days I will marry my best friend.

I have to say though that through the crazy story that we seem to have written there have been some surprising moments along the way. It has been so fun to share our story, the ups and the downs. One of the ups this week has been realizing how great old friends are. My best friends decided to be creative with making me feel special. Sam and I have loved the choices we have made and love our little life we are building in Jacksonville and I LOVE that I don't have to say good bye to him for a year....Yay for America letting people stay once they are married no matter what that visa says :) But the choices we made meant we are far away from our family and friends. It has made me not only adjust my dreams which at times was hard but more than that I received this incredible gift...when you let go of what you thought you wanted you often times end up getting more than you ever dreamed....

A couple of my friends organized people to send me gifts in the mail all week...so in the midst of week that seemed semi normal...go to work, come home, clean the house, do wedding things, and get ready for the weekend, I ended up feeling like I had girlfriends around all week. I never in a million years dreamed my wedding shower would be through the mail, but how cool is that? I bet there aren't very many brides that can say every day after work she got at least one piece of lingerie in the mail...and after all is said and done I will say it one more time....I will marry my best friend on the beach in 4 days....I knew I ALWAYS loved the beach but now it will be the place we will never forget.

To make a long story short....here is our little story in three pictures...

Back in NZ when I was pretending I had no interest in Sam at all...I am pretty sure this day I told him I was going to America, going to break his heart, and there would NEVER be anything between us, other than a sweet little fling in NZ....we see how that turned out...


The night we got engaged at our favorite beach...that ended up being the beach we live right next to...Who knew? Florida, Engaged, Married....I am so glad my man moved us to Florida...it was the best decision we ever made!


Last week at the beach....about one week left until we are married in this picture and I couldn't be more happy...Our story is different and at times our story has been nothing either of us ever expected, but it is the story that is who we are and we couldn't be happier!!


Thanks for supporting us and loving us and encouraging us...I am not sure how much I will be able to blog, but I PROMISE there will be pictures up from that day...

The next time you see me I will be Mrs. Dana Ackland....the happiest women in the world.