Flower Moxie Review – Kevin and Alex

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Written by Jessica Reeves. Photos by MacRamos Photography.

Meet Kevin & Alex

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Who did you have help from?

Much to my chagrin (I kid, I kid) my husband suggested we have a friend or two help out during the week of the wedding. He has seen me disappear into projects before so he knew that I would need a big push to ask for any help. Two nights before the wedding, one of his groomsmaids came over and we each worked side by side on the aisle arrangements for our ceremony. We named them “Clown and Gory,” after the Crowning Glory Floral Spray we were using. Earlier that day, I had already arranged all 15 of our centerpieces.

The night before the wedding, I arranged our five groomsmaids’ bouquets and the two posies for our mothers. Since we were not allowed at our venue until 10am the day of the wedding, I spent the morning putting together seven boutonnieres and we loaded up the cars to transport everything to the venue. Once we were there, we had help from our entire wedding party to get things set up. I took charge of constructing our arbor installation, with help from Alex and some of our wedding party, while Alex’s mom and our day-of coordinator (shout out to Kayla!!!) were overseeing everything in the reception area. Even my brother got in on the action by carting lots of things around for us in his SUV! Of course I like to think I could have done everything on my own but we TRULY could not have done it without our army of friends and family by our sides.

Was it a destination wedding?

Hmmm, well, if Alex’s family from Illinois consider New England a “destination,” then I guess YES!

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Where did you get married and why did you choose this location?

We were married at Hyland Orchard in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, about an hour from our home in Providence, Rhode Island. This was actually the first venue we looked at and we immediately fell in love. The grounds are stunning, with the ceremony spot overlooking the apple orchard below. The entire property is surrounded by magnificent trees that we knew would be the perfect mix of fall colors in early-October. At the base of the orchard sits a beautiful wood pavilion for the reception, where they would light the biggest post-dinner bonfire you have ever seen. Additionally, the venue is billed as a DIY venue so it truly couldn’t have been a more perfect find!

What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

My favorite part of our wedding day (aside from eating cake) was without a doubt the ceremony and the moments leading up to it. Alex’s favorite part of our venue was the 300 yard path along the tree line that led from the base of the orchard up to the “ceremony on the hill.” 15 minutes prior to our ceremony starting, we walked that path with our entire wedding party and got to arrive at the top of the hill to see all of our guests there waiting for the ceremony. To see all of those people sitting in SUCH a gorgeous location, waiting to witness the celebration of our love is truly a moment I will never, ever forget.

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Photos by: MacRamos Photography

In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently?

I can pretty confidently say that I don’t think I would have done anything differently. We were engaged for over two years before our wedding so we had a lot of time to think and plan. We did our best to really set ourselves up for success and I am now considering a total career change into full-service wedding planning! Okay, so that is kind of a joke… but also kind of not. 😉

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Tips for future DIY’ers?

Be a total perfectionist and agonize over every single detail and watch hours upon hours of videos, reels, tips and tricks so that you overload your brain with information??? I’m kidding. Don’t do that. It’s not healthy. DO spend your time doing some research, though! Practice and do trial-runs of things. Buy some cheap flowers if you can and just try your hand at arranging. Find and keep what you like and get rid of what you don’t like. STAY ORGANIZED. Make checklists, spreadsheets, whatever you can to make sure you’re not forgetting anything. An assortment of rainbow colored masking tape can be your best friend. Assign a specific color for all different things (ceremony décor, reception décor, floral accessories, etc.) and LABEL. This will make it so easy to know where everything should go when you get there and start to set up!

Recycle and reuse! Cut holes in your flower shipment boxes to help transport your centerpieces and bigger arrangements. Bring more than you think you need. You never know when you may need that hammer or ball of twine! Assign friends to be in charge of food and drink. Have them yell “WATER” at you when you need to hydrate and make sure they pick up food and tell you to eat it even though you’re getting married in 3 hours and think you may vomit if you take one more bite of that sandwich but you don’t want to waste it so it comes back with you to your getting-ready suite and you set it on the counter of the bathroom and then it somehow ends up in the sink during all the chaos of getting ready. Not that that happened to me or anything……

Were there any funny or strange mishaps you can share?

THE RUSCUS! As we were getting everything into the cars to go from our hotel to the venue the morning of the wedding, our bucket of bulk Italian Ruscus somehow got left behind. Once we were at the venue and everything was looking good down at the pavilion where the reception was being set up, I went to work on the floral arbor. The most important thing I needed was the ruscus because that was the main base greenery of our installation and it was nowhere to be found.

After scream-crying “I can’t do this without the ruuuuscuuuuussssss!!!” we were on a mission to find it. We searched every car that was there, every corner, every place we could think of. Since I couldn’t wait any longer to start working, I improvised and started doing a base layer of smilax. Minutes later, my husband got a text from one of our guests who had stumbled upon a bucket of ruscus on the sidewalk outside our hotel and thought “Hmmm, this may belong to the people whose wedding I am attending today.” The day was saved, the ruscus made it to the venue and the arbor looked absolutely STUNNING with the ruscus finally in its rightful place!

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

How did you add personalized touches to your day?

We had a few really sweet personal touches as part of our day. On the inside of my suit coat, I had a gold pin made that had photos of each of my grandparents and my parents on their wedding days. I also wore a small gold bracelet that had belonged to my grandfather who passed on my 12th birthday. My dad’s mother was the only grandparent of mine who Alex was fortunate enough to meet and he knew her for almost six years before she passed. After her passing, we were able to take a few keepsakes, and one that Alex loved was a silver bracelet that had belonged to her.

Not only did he choose to wear it the day of the wedding, but his groomsmaids also had a beautiful diamond set in the bracelet as a gift to him, and they revealed it to him moments before we left the hotel for the ceremony. It was a complete surprise to him as I had told him I took it to the jeweler to get it polished before the wedding, when in reality, his best friends were doing something even more special with it! Another personal highlight was having my dad’s band perform at our reception AND singing a song with them as a surprise to Alex – my first time ever singing with my dad and his band!!

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Which part of your wedding are you most proud of?

I don’t think there is a single part I am *not* proud of, but of the DIY elements, the floral arbor was by far my biggest accomplishment. I had never done anything like it before and was intimidated by the scale of the whole project but I am so proud of how it turned out. It was even better than I had imagined it was going to be and it was the perfect frame for us set against the most beautiful backdrop on the most wonderful day of our lives!

Anything else you’d like to add?

If you’re getting married and looking for a one-stop-shop for all your wedding needs, please contact me at —- okay, okay, enough with the jokes, Kevin! I am so happy to have found Flower Moxie. I learned so much through the DIY challenges and felt so ready to tackle our big day. Thank you all for the love and support you showed through our process and are continuing to show us. It is so special to feel so truly loved and encouraged!!!

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Photos by: MacRamos Photography

Shop Flower Moxie’s cake topper picks

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Photos by: MacRamos Photography

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Photos by: MacRamos Photography

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About the Author

Jessica has a BFA in Art Education/Printmaking and her MFA in Studio Art with a focus in Non-Toxic printmaking. She brings 10 years of floral experience to her roles at Flower Moxie, having worked in Boston, NYC, and Newport, RI. We still don’t know if she’s a real person or a hologram but work keeps getting done.