Take Back Your Wedding
A unique look at the inside drama of wedding planning through the real world lens of a bride and her marriage and family therapist father. See why engaged couples, parents, wedding coordinators and marriage educators rave about the book! Learn more
Guests
Everything comes back to wedding guests. Whether you want a lot, a few, whether to invite kids, your big day is going to involve many decisions and sometimes much drama.
Premarital Counseling + Wedding Discounts
We have many options for couples seeking to strengthen their marriages. From individual counselors, to books and an innovative, online class, you have a lot of choices. Learn MoreThe First Dance
Managing the Relationship Stress of Wedding Planning 
Checklists
- My Wedding Plan : Starter Guide to Wedding Planning
- What should you consider before setting your wedding date?
- Relationship Savvy Wedding Checklist A MUST READ
- Wedding Checklist Landmines
- Stress and Teamwork with Fiance
- Wedding Priority Worksheet (PDF download)
- Essential Questions to Ask All Wedding Vendors
- First Dance Song Ideas
- What Do You Want Out Of Your Honeymoon? (Interactive couple guide)
Hot Topics
- Who Pays for the Wedding?
- Defending A Wedding in Bad Economic Times
- When is it OK to splurge?
- Can you AFFORD a small wedding?
- Budget or Guest List First? Pitfalls to avoid!
- Top Guest List Mistakes
- Wedding Etiquette: Why it May Do More Harm than Good
- Bridal Message Boards: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
- Do you change your name?
- Interactive Books
- Online Premarital Test
- Premarital Counselors
- Online Classes
Marriage Prep
Therapy in a Box
The Premarital Workbook is an interactive tool for couples to use together to strengthen your relationship prior to marriage. Learning all the core elements in a healthy, strong, emotionally safe relationship is as easy as this downloadable e-book.Buy Now (opens a new window)
or learn more here.
The Ultimate Premarital Quiz
It's not really a "quiz", but a robust, research-based, online premarital inventory, customized to your life situation. You'll see the areas you are strong and get a personalized 17+ page report. Sign up now.
Premarital Counseling
We have many options for couples seeking to strengthen their marriages. From individual counselors, to books and an innovative, online computer based class, you have a lot of choices.Featured In
Welcome to The First Dance where wedding planning
and marriage preparation join together!
The engagement ring symbolizes the end of your private dating relationship. We call those first moments of the proposal the "hour of bliss" because it's the beginning of the often exhausting, sometimes wonderful, always complicated world of marriage and in-laws. Weddings are exhausting because marriage can be exhausting. As co-founder Elizabeth found, wedding planning can teach you a lot about married life. Even learning more about the history of weddings can be useful to give perspective on what is happening today.
We won a Modern Bride Magazine Trendsetter award in 2007 for tackling this complicated topic and the celebrity studded audience, while getting our award, nodded in agreement that weddings are very complex family events. Join us on Twitter, our blog, or bookmark our site throughout your wedding planning. You may even want to send your parents to this site.
Nobody escapes wedding planning stress. Not even those who chose to elope! So welcome to The First Dance: Managing the People Stress of Wedding Planning.
About The Father-Daughter Team
This photo was taken at Elizabeth's wedding. While planning her wedding and reading bridal message boards, she went to her father a lot to get his opinion as a marriage and family therapist. They both fell in love with the complexity of wedding planning and eventually wrote a book, Take Back Your Wedding, and developed a class and DVD. The complex of wedding planning in today's complex families means this website will be ever-expanding.
Exciting new developments are the Wedding Vendor Discount Program which are helping couples save money while working on their marriage. Check it out!
Follow us on Twitter!