I am a Professional Wedding Officiant in Portland, Oregon, who serves clients throughout Oregon, Washington and beyond! As YOUR wedding officiant, I promise to give you my undivided attention, listen to your needs, and work with you to develop and create the ceremony of your dreams. Whether you want your special day to be formal or casual, wild or sedate; if you invite 500 people or an intimate few; or if your wedding takes place in a vineyard or your own back yard, I will give you the divinely individual, beautifully expressed ceremony you and your love have always envisioned. In fact, doing so is truly my “labor of love” (pardon the pun)!
I am committed to creating distinctive, touching and joy-filled ceremonies for you and your guests! Whether you are spiritual, religious, secular, interfaith, nondenominational, multi-cultural or same gender, my passion is to create for you a ceremony that authentically reflects YOUR beliefs and values and is totally harmonious with who you are as a couple. Your ceremony is the heart and soul of your wedding day. So feel free to throw out the traditionally-mandated wedding ceremony that was the norm fifty years ago and break the rules! What do YOU want to say? Which traditions do you want to observe and which ones do you want to eliminate? Whatever your decisions may be, I will make sure that your ceremony sends you off beautifully to Happily-Ever-After with your love and best friend. Memorably and significantly.
Your vows are the most meaningful words that will be said on YOUR day, so it is important to understand that there is no right or wrong way to say them.The two of you are unique individuals, with different backgrounds and traditions, so your vows should be deeply personal and “spoken from the heart.” Before your ceremony, I will work closely with both of you to help you discover all the important, just right and truthful words you want to say to each other that will set you on a lifetime journey of love and adventure together.
Marriage matters. Love matters. Enough Said.
Your decision to be with the one you love and to publicly proclaim your relationship is one of the most important moments in your life, so you deserve to have it exactly and precisely the way YOU want it. From the vows you say to the traditions and personal touches that most resonate with your hearts, it’s all about you, your beloved and your love story. It’s all about your forever after commitment to each other.
Because I feel so strongly about everyone’s right to marry the one they love, I co-founded Wedding Professionals United for Marriage in conjunction with Oregon United for Marriage so that every same sex couple could find vendors who value and support their love. In fact, when the ban was historically overturned in Oregon on May 19, 2014, I was in the first wave of wedding Officiants legally marrying as many couples as I could. Gladly. Joyfully. With great heart – and lots of happy tears!
“Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.” ~ Boethieus, The Consolation of Philosophy, A.D. 524
If you’re an Encore Bride or Groom (second, third, fourth, or…), congratulations! You’ve come a long way, baby. Shine and strut your stuff for all it’s worth! You have a definite style all your own, so YOU decide where you want to be married. Is it on the beach? In the mountains? With an intimate few or your combined families and friends? Wherever the ceremony takes place, do it in your perfect attire, with perfectly-composed words that express the journey you’ve walked, the person you’ve become, and the path that led you to the one you were meant to spend your life with. Finally. At last.
Have you always dreamed of getting married on the top of Mt. Hood in front of the mammoth fireplace at Timberline Lodge? On a paddleboat cruising the magnificent Columbia River Gorge? At sunrise standing barefoot in the sand beside the mighty Pacific Ocean? Perhaps you’ve imagined your perfect moment taking place in the middle of an organic farm followed by a Plate and Pitchfork Farm Dinner. Or maybe standing in the presence of a few friends at a Napa, California winery, in the San Juan Islands or on a restored plantation in Virginia. Wherever you’ve dreamt of being wed, I will be there for you with my pearls on and wearing my cowboy / hip waders / clamming or dressy shoes (or maybe no shoes at all). It’s your day, your choice and my pleasure to celebrate your love – whether it takes place on a river, in a vineyard, on top of a mountain, at the coast or anywhere in between and beyond!
At the end of the day—whatever kind of wedding you choose, wherever you decide to gather with your family and friends, whomever you select as your Officiant—what’s most important is that you stood at the altar with the one you love the most. When the music has ended, the guests have departed, and the last of the food has been put away, what will remain are your memories. You’ll remember the vows you made, the look on your lover’s face when you said “I do,” the love and commitment you promised each other. And then you’ll realize that you are finally beginning the rest of your life with the one who makes your heart sing. Your day will never be repeated, so it deserves to be amazing!
Learn about the process of co-creating your wedding ceremony with me.
I joyfully, emotionally and financially support marriage equality and the right to marry the one you love. Because I feel so strongly about the freedom to marry, two hearts at a time, I am committed to donating to and supporting the Human Rights Campaign, Basic Rights Oregon, ACLU, SPLC and our local QCenter among others.
– Melissa Coe