Since pre-marital counseling with a trained counselor involves considerable expense, we offer a self-administered counselling process in preparation for your marriage commitment. It offers you the opportunity of exploring issues in confidence for the sake of more peaceful household relations now and into the future
Self-Administered Premarital Counseling
Premarital Counseling Searches Out Disagreements and Blind Spots
These self-directed premarital counseling materials flow out of more than thirty years of experience in preparing couples for marriage. They target helping couples to locate areas of disagreement or blind spots in their relationship. The following resources were designed to bring these differences to the surface to help couples work them through and give them insights that would enable them to wisely process each area of their relationship. This approach has proved very helpful, so much so that most of the marriages counselled with these resources have stayed strong through the years. It is hoped that these unique counselling materials will enhance your relationship and build a firm foundation for your future together. May these prove a useful and interesting adventure — the adventure of investing in the relationship that will be central to your happiness for the rest of your life. If you have any questions, your officiant would be pleased to include discussion related to these materials or other concerns you have during your pre-ceremony sessions.
The more truthful your responses and sharing the better this self-directed pre-marital counselling process works. Do not be concerned if it seems to enflame your differences. You have not aggravated anything, rather you have merely brought to the surface issues that will arise later if not resolved now. Your objective should be to work through those differences constructively. Being unable to do so red flags aspects of your relationship. If you are unable to reach accord concerning important issues, you will need more skilled counselling and support to process the issues that divide you. If you fail to do so, the problems you side-step now will rear their heads later in the pressure cooker of marriage — a much more difficult time to manage them. The more you are able to work toward unity before your wedding the greater your prospect of success in marriage.
Premarital Counseling Encourages Couples to Contribute Positively to Each Other
Marriage works as two different people learn to live together and walk together through life in such a way that they enjoy the experience and contribute positively to each other’s lives. To do this, they must agree with each other. To stimulate this, write answers to all of these questions and issues on separate pieces of paper and separately from each other. In this way, each of you will express your own perspective. After you have done this, take time, on several occasions, to compare your individual perspectives and to slowly work through the issues involved. Where you disagree, discuss your differences to come to an accord. Some issues may lead to others. Feel free to follow wherever your discussion leads. If your love is real, it is resilient enough to process differences. The more differences you can resolve before you marry the better. The fewer surprises after you marry the better. If there are issues you are unable to resolve, seek the counsel of someone you trust, preferably someone with a strong marriage.
Counseling Topics
What is love really?
Checklist of love
Love and marriage roles
Compatibility assessor
How to love your wife
How to love your husband
Living Wedding Vows
When Things Go Wrong