My girlfriend and I recently got engaged and her mom wants us to do premarital counseling. We’re obviously happy – we’re getting married! – so is premarital counseling something we need to do? What would we talk about?
Congratulations on your engagement! I’m so glad to hear that you and your fiancé are happy and enjoying this time. Her mom has a good point though–preparing for marriage and preparing for a wedding are two different things! From Oprah to the Huffington Post, there are lots of recommendations about the important topics to cover in premarital counseling.
Premarital counseling in Bethesda MD is a great opportunity to spend some focused time talking about your relationship. Discussions prompted by questions like, “what are the things we do to express love and appreciation?” and “how do we want to merge our finances?” and “when we disagree about something, could we handle it differently?” help you think about important premarital counseling topics like intimacy, money, and conflict resolution. There are other important topics too: dynamics in the families you grew up in, the balance of time spent together and apart, how your personalities compliment each other, and goals for yourselves as individuals and as a couple. Preparing for marriage should be fun, helpful, and ultimately enable you to explore and strengthen your partnership.
If you know a couple who is recently engaged and preparing for marriage, we hope you forward this post. Premarital counseling in Bethesda MD helps couples learn about their relationship strengths and prepare for a healthy married future.