The First Dance offers Marriage Preparation Online or at Home. Get wedding discounts for qualifying purchases!
Wedding Discounts for Marriage Preparation
You take driving lessons, cooking classes, get coaching on sports, but somehow the most complex, life long relationships are assumed to magically work.
We are teaming up with wedding vendors to offer you wedding discounts for qualifying marriage prep purchases (books and classes.) SEE THE WEDDING VENDORS AND DISCOUNTS HERE
We're Going to Be One Happy Family...or else!
A very unique book written by a nationally respected marriage and family therapist, along side his GenX daughter.
A mother loved our book so much, she bought over a dozen copies to give to everyone in the family! They used the guidance from beginning to end to reduce conflict and avoid the "emotional landmines" that are sure to arise in wedding planning. read more
Wedding Help
- The Hour of Engagement Bliss
- Wedding Vendor Complaints They'll Never Share!
- Saavy Questions to Ask All Wedding Vendors
- Eloping: Avoiding Family Drama or Stirring it Up?
- Can You Afford a Small Wedding?
- What Wedding Planning Taught Me About Marriage
- What Are You Bringing To Your Marriage: Wedding Registry Guide
- Stress and Teamwork
- Wedding Priority Worksheet (PDF download)
- What Do You Want Out Of Your Honeymoon? (Interactive couple guide)
- After the Honeymoon
Common premarriage questions
- How much does premarriage counseling cost?
- We're quite happy, what would we gain from premarital counseling?
- What's the difference between premarital counseling and "regular" couples counseling?
- My fiance doesn't want to go - what can I do?
- We aren't in the same state! What can do?
- My parents are divorced. Does that have any impact on our chances of divorcing?
- What are the differences between counselors, clergy, educators?
What's the difference between premarital counseling and "regular" couples counseling?
This is a good question without a simple answer.
If you think of preventative work, this could include car diagnostics, going to your doctor for regular physicals, and even work done a round the house to keep things from falling apart.
The same thing applies to relationships. Just as other professionals know the most common things to break down and the easiest "fixes", marriages are the same! Without someone having to knowing your personal relationship history, there are ways to do some preventative work now, while engaged. Premarital counseling, or "marriage preparation", or "premarriage counseling" or "marriage education" can all be used to describe this preventative work.
At a national level there is no standard for what to cover. There are usually core topics - money, communication, conflict resolution, family of origin, sexuality. Unless using a national program, every professional, religious organization, or individual mentor is able to come up with their own way of dealing with these topics. Some have very formal books, manuals, classes, inventories, and excersizes ALL couples go through. Others are more informal, going through each topic to see what might be a hot button issue.
If you know you have a problem, your car is already not turning on, your body has some serious symptoms, then you go directly to TREATMENT. This is where couples counseling comes into play. The immediate problems need to be addressed! There are engaged couples who have some really serious relationship problems and need help now. They would probably go straight into regular counseling, with a licensed mental health provider.
About 10% of couples going through premarriage preparation realize they should not get married. While breaking up is sad, it's actually a success if you can avoid legally binding yourselves and joining your family clans by realizing early that you should not be together.
