Alyssa said...

10/5 stars. There are not enough good things I can say about Rev Ray and his lovely wife, Karen Moore. 

We originally contacted Rev Ray when we were looking for an officiant. From the first email exchange, Rev Ray worked with us on pricing for our ceremony needs (we had previously eloped, and are a military couple - and Rev Ray gave us a fantastic price). 

We met with Rev Ray for a cinnamon roll and coffee, which is where we met Karen Moore, his wife. At this first meeting we found out about the day-of (and more) planning services offered, which they gave us a great price on as well. Karen is a seasoned planner with a lot of highly elegant touches. 

Not only are Rev Ray and Karen accommodating and professional, we looked forward to each meeting and wanted to meet more and more just to get to see them! Every email was enthusiastic and when it came down to the planning and execution, not a detail was missed. Everything was covered and followed through on from start to finish.

Karen does floral design and from the beginning, I planned on doing my own floral (I got vases, designed the centerpieces and was going to work with a wholesale florist that is open to the public). When Karen got involved, and thank goodness she did, she helped with how much floral to order, out of the list of floral I liked what would hold up the best in the heat of May, and pricing through her wholesaler. This took a huge weight off of me! We ended up with the most beautiful bouquets ever and with just enough floral for exactly what we needed. The price was very reasonable, including her hourly rate for floral - which we got to help with!

My vision was very specific and was taken with the upmost importance with Ray, Karen and her assistant. FTDF took care of all final vendor arrangements, including confirming arrival, set up and breakdown, as well as final payments and did this all with the glooming chance of rain. Each vendor was kept in the loop and kept calm with rain contingency plans in place. 

On the day of, it was all hands on deck with 35mph winds taking everything we had planned and requiring last-minute changes. Karen, her assistant and Ray were so on top of EVERYTHING and worked their butts off to make sure that the correct changes were made. I did not see them stop moving from the time they got on-site until everything was in place and perfect.

Rev Ray took our ceremony vision and added his seasoned touches to make it absolutely perfect beyond words. We felt the love, were able to take in the moment and Rev Ray's added excitement was the icing on the cake (we have pictures to prove it!). Our rehearsal was run smoothly the day before to ensure these details were on point. 

Throughout the night, Rev Ray and Karen were always one step ahead, making sure that we got the time to eat, get all pictures done, and even helped us deal with vendors' mistakes in stride. There was not a moment I did not see their hard work all night long, and for me (as an event planner myself) seeing them arm in arm taking time to enjoy the scenery while they worked hard was even more enjoyable. 

I hope to keep in touch with Rev Ray and Karen, and I speak for myself and my husband when I say that the officiating and planning was second to none; and the authenticity and passion the Moore's exhibit was the best blessing we could have experienced for our special day. I would recommend From This Day Forward services to everyone and anyone!!!

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