Who Is...Peter Merry?

Peter Charles Merry, Jr. was born on January 15th, 1969 in Ballard, Washington to Peter Charles Merry, Sr. and Donna Rae Merry.

His early childhood years were spent growing up on Queen Anne Hill just north of downtown Seattle and his interests included talking, climbing trees, exploring gullies, bike riding, playing soccer and picking on his younger brother, Jesse Floyd Merry.

In 1978, the Merry Family moved to the West Seattle so they could assist in the planting of a new church. Around this same time, Peter and Jesse were both transitioned from public schools to their church's private Christian School.

When Peter was 12 years old, he made two life-changing discoveries, music and girls. With money saved from mowing lawns, he bought a pair of yellow AM/FM Radio Headphones. Soon, he was discovering a whole new world of music beginning with the Golden Oldies from the 50's and 60's and then eventually the latest Top 40 Hits on KNBQ. Little did Peter know that his early fascination with new music and the Disc Jockeys he was listening to on the radio would become such an integral part of his passion, his life and his livelihood.

At 17, Peter graduated from the Christian School, a year ahead of schedule and it is widely believed that this achievement may have been partially motivated by the school's "no dating" policy.

At 21, Peter got married and by 23, he and his first wife, were divorced. This turning point brought Peter to Southern California, where he would meet his second wife and discover his career as a Wedding Disc Jockey.

Peter's first paid wedding reception was on July 4th, 1992 in Mission Viejo while working for Freestyle Mobile Music. Then, in July of 1994, Peter decided to start his own Mobile Disc Jockey service, Last Dance Entertainment. His first wedding booking was in August of 1994 and he was paid $175 for three hours of performance time.

On December 17th, 1994, Peter married Lisa at Saddleback Church and he also became a Step-Father to Lisa's 2 sons, Eric and Jason Lovato, who were 12 and 10 years old at the time. Peter's future business partner, James Loram, was a Groomsman and also served as their Wedding DJ.

The next few years were spent trying to build Last Dance into a career that could support his family. During this time, Peter also became involved in teaching classes at Saddleback Church and he developed his skills as a public speaker.

Then in April of 1996, James Loram joined Last Dance Entertainment as Peter's business partner. The work was fun but it was appearing impossible to make a real living until Peter heard about Mark Ferrell.

Mark and his wife, Rebecca, became mentors to Peter and encouraged him to base his pricing on the true value of the services he was providing rather than trying to "compete" with other DJs who were setting their prices at a level that reflected a hobby rather than a career.

In February of 1998, Peter landed a position at KBRT AM 740. For a year and half, Peter filled their morning host position. He was also given the opportunity to host his own Talk Radio program, "Foundations For Faith", which he not only hosted, but also simultaneously engineered.  The show focused on questions about the Bible. The talk show gained listeners and Peter had the privilege of interviewing several well-known authors, but in July of 1999, the show went off the air due to lack of adequate funding.

In July of 1999, Peter wrote and presented a seminar on wedding reception planning for newly engaged couples. Then, in February of 2000, Peter was invited to speak with Mark Ferrell at the Mobile Beat National Mobile Disc Jockey Convention in Las Vegas, NV. Peter's presentation focused on the role that standards and ethics play in creating more "word of mouth" referral business from satisfied former clients.

In October of 2000, Peter was elected to serve as the 2001 Vice President of the Southern California Chapter of the ADJA. In October of 2001, Peter was elected to serve as the 2002 President for the SoCal Chapter of the ADJA. Having already been the nation's largest ADJA Local Chapter for several years, in 2002 their membership grew to over 70 members.

In February of 2002, Peter was asked to speak once again at the Mobile Beat National Mobile Disc Jockey Convention in Las Vegas, NV and his presentation was titled, "Marketing for Wedding Disc Jockeys".

On March 11th, 2002, Peter and his business partner, James, both finished a 7 week course on Stand-Up Comedy. Their class completion included a 6 minute set at the student showcase which was hosted by the Irvine Spectrum Improv.  Peter has since been seen at a few open mic nights.

As a direct result of speaking at the 2002 Mobile Beat Show, Peter was offered the opportunity to turn his seminar, "Marketing for Wedding Disc Jockeys", into a series of articles for Mobile Beat Magazine. His first article, "Effective Wedding Marketing", was published in June of 2002. Peter was also invited to present his seminar again at the Mobile Beat Summer Conference in Chicago, IL, which will took place June 25th-27th. Peter was also asked to kick off the conference by presenting the opening speech titled, "Yesterday's Mobile Disc Jockey...Tomorrow's Entertainment Professional!" These presentations were then delivered for numerous Local DJ Associations and groups throughout the remainder of 2002.

In January of 2003, Peter was elected to the National Board of Directors for the ADJA where he was selected to serve as the National ADJA President for the next 2 years. During his term of service, Peter traveled to over 40 cities across the United States presenting a free seminar titled "Better Consultations Bring Better Bookings" in an effort to attract new members and jump start more Local Chapters. His efforts, along with the support and assistance of the Board of Directors, resulted in the membership nearly doubling in 2 just two years, and he was presented with "The Peter Merry Leadership Award" in honor of his service in February of 2005. This leadership award is now given to someone new each year by the ADJA Board of Directors.

In February of 2004, Peter was invited to co-present a seminar titled "The 1% Solution: Weddings" with his good friend, Randy Bartlett, at the Mobile Beat Show in Las Vegas, NV. They were later invited to present it again at the Mobile Beat Summer Show in Orlando, FL.

On December 17th of 2004, Peter and Lisa celebrated their 10 year Anniversary with a 10 day trip to Maui. Taking a submarine trip and then a helicopter tour of the island, followed by dinner at Mama's Fish House, made for a truly unforgettable day.

In May of 2005, Peter finally got to do something he had been looking forward to since 1977...when he had first seen Star Wars. He spent one week camping out in line to go see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith at the Big Newport Theater in Newport Beach. Being self-employed has it benefits.

In January of 2006, after over 3 years of planning and designing a new image with a new marketing focus, Peter Merry unveiled his exclusive wedding entertainment service, Merry Weddings. 2006 is shaping up to be the best year yet...