Tomorrows Bride Magazine

San Francisco, California

Seattle, Washington

Chicago, Illinois

Miami, Florida

2005 Edition

My name is Stephanie Manchester and I am one of the editors for Tomorrows Bride Magazine in San Francisco, California. I recently attended a wedding in Fremont for my best friend Michelle. As one of the editors of this National Bridal magazine, I have attended numerous wedding celebrations over the last several years. I have seen many “nice” ceremonies, many “okay” ceremonies, and more than my fair share of “dull or bad” ceremonies. I have only witnessed a very few outstanding ceremonies, until Michelle’s wedding. I was honored to be Michelle’s Matron of Honor. The Officiant for Michelle’s wedding was Rev. Merl Moore from Boise Idaho.  Rev. Moore’s ceremony was the most unique and special ceremony that I have ever witnessed. He had a way of incorporating the Bride and Groom’s parents that left a lot of people in the audience in tears. Rev. Moore’s expertise at the rehearsal as well as the ceremony itself is one that I’ve only seen matched one other time. When I asked if I could interview him for Tomorrows Bride, he was more than cooperative and happy to do so. The following is a portion of that interview. If you do not have your Officiant for your wedding yet, I strongly recommend Rev. Moore and invite you to give him a call. Even though he is in Idaho, he states that he will go anywhere to help a young couple make the most important day of there life one of the most spectacular days of their lives

Rev. Merl Moore is an ordained minister who has chosen to be in the wedding industry as his calling. He has performed thousands of weddings throughout the Treasure Valley in Idaho and has traveled to other states to join couples in wedded bliss. In the wedding industry, he uses the word “Officiant” instead of “Minister or Pastor.” The Officiant is whoever signs the marriage license, whether it is a minister, a judge, a ships captain, an elected official, or as Rev. Merl says, a Jedi knight. The words minister or pastor a lot of times scares people is the reason he uses the word Officiant. The only reason we are telling you this is because Rev. Merl has been asked what the difference is between a minister and an Officiant. The answer: nothing at all.

When Rev. Merl came into the wedding industry years ago, he came into the industry as a wedding planner. He can actually plan someone’s entire event from the time they announce their engagement, all the way through to when they get back from their honeymoon. The type of wedding planner he is is designed for big cities – Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, or any other big city where a bride and groom do not have the time to plan their own wedding. If that was the case, where you just had too busy of a life style to take care of most of the details, you would walk into Rev. Merl’s office and say, “this is the type of wedding I want, here’s my credit card, make it work.” The reason we tell you this is so you know you are in good hands with Rev. Merl. However, he asks that you don’t ask him to do that because he doesn’t have the time anymore. The reason he does not have the time to go to those lengths is because he is the most sought after wedding Officiant in the Treasure Valley for a few different reasons. (#1) Because of his experience - Rev. Merl performs hundreds of weddings each year. (#2) His dedication to the bride and groom – no other Officiant goes to lengths that Rev. Merl does to make their special day beautiful. (#3) His sense of humor – he’s been called a lot of fun. (#4) He’s one of the founding members of the Idaho Wedding and Events Professionals – IWEP is a group of pre-qualified specialists dedicated to providing top quality goods and services to brides and party planners alike. (#5) Most people consider him to be an expert at weddings because he is a nationally published author. He has written a book on how to plan the perfect wedding titled, “Congratulations On Your Upcoming Wedding” which can be found at Barnes&Noble.com. Whether or not he is an expert, the choice is yours as to his expertise. Either way, it won’t change the dedication he has for you.

Rev. Merl has a few slogans, but his main slogan is: “I will do all that I can to make your day as beautiful as you will allow me to and as stress-free as possible.” Breaking that slogan in half; as for making your day beautiful – you want your day to be beautiful and so does Rev. Merl. You want your day to be beautiful because it’s your wedding day, you are marrying the person of your dreams, and because most brides have been planning their wedding since they were 5 or 6 years old. Rev. Merl’s reason on the other hand is a little bit selfish – he doesn’t like to look bad. If your wedding is beautiful, you’ll tell 2 or 3 people and that’s okay, but if your wedding is anything other than beautiful, you’ll tell 50 gazillion people and Rev. Merl doesn’t want that. The other half of that slogan; making your day as stress-free as possible – a bride is never more beautiful than what she is on her wedding day, which is a truly amazing feat because of how stressed she’ll be the hours and the days before her wedding. Rev. Merl can take a lot of that stress away. Not only is Rev. Merl an Officiant and wedding planner, he is also a coordinator and a certified bridal consultant. At the wedding ceremony, if no one knows what they are supposed to be doing, the whole thing comes off looking awkward. At the rehearsal, Rev. Merl lets everyone know exactly what they have to do, when they have to do it, where they have to do it, and why they have to do it. Using Donald Trump’s wedding as an example – Trump’s wedding was beautiful for two reasons, (#1) because he has unlimited funds and unlimited resources. (#2) Most importantly, the whole wedding was choreographed. Everyone knew exactly what to do, when to do it, how to do it and why to do it. That’s what Rev. Merl does. So to sum it all up into one big nutshell, the way Rev. Merl puts together a wedding is a no brainer. All the bride has to do is show up and be beautiful. All the groom has to do is show up and not lock his knees, everything else falls into place.

Rev. Merl is one of the founding members of the Idaho Wedding and Events Professionals, a charter member of the Idaho Special Events Professionals, and a member of the United States Corp of Chaplains, present rank is Major and also the commanding officer of the Idaho Brigade of Chaplains. He is also the Officiant half of Idaho’s Wedding Team which consists of himself and Johnny D from Successful Celebrations. Johnny D is the founding member of the Idaho Wedding and Events Professionals. Rev. Merl can be reached at: 208-327-3554 or 208-602-3832.

Congratulations On Your Upcoming Wedding.