Pre-marriage counseling

[Denisa]

Sorry I didn't know where else to put this but if a mod needs to feel free to move it to another forum where it's supposed to be! Anyway...

My FH and I have to take 4 pre-marriage counseling classes and a "prepare/enrich inventory." If you had to take pre-marriage counseling, what exactly is it all about? My church is Christian Reformed, I'm sure counseling probably differs for each religion, but I am just curious so we know what to expect; we have our first class on Monday the 29th.

[anschuier]

We're getting married in a Catholic ceremony, but our pre-marriage counseling consists of taking a "test" (really a survey) to see how we match up on major issues (kids, values, money, etc.) and then we have 6 classes with a married couple talking about the issues that we raised due to the test. I think a lot of it is just taking an inventory of where you guys are in your relationship, where it's going, what kind of faith life you hope to achieve during marriage, etc... Good luck! Let me know how it goes!

[clorigroh]

My classes are in 2 weeks. I'll let you know then.

[Schladr30]

We got married in a Catholic church and attended a weekend class called Engaged Encounter. It was the most amazing experience we've had as a couple (besides the wedding day of course). You talk about everything and really get to know the person you are about to spend the rest of your life with. You just lay everything out in the open and discuss things from chores to children, etc. We are actually looking into being a "sponsor couple." There is also the Marriage Encounter that we want to do.

[Denisa]

great thanks for the info... originally we were supposed to take 8 classes but my pastor said it will only be more like 4 since we have been together for so long (6 yrs.) he explained a little bit about it but i figured i'd ask here too. :)

[Denisa]

well tonight is our first class...I'm getting kinda nervous because honestly I don't really know what to expect. I mean I have an idea from what everyone's been saying on here but how long it's going to last or what we're actually going to talk about is what makes me nervous.... I mean I don't have anything to hide that's not what it is but if he talks about our sexual life or anything (I will just feel very strange talking about in front of my pastor!) or like if religion is heavily involved.. My FH isn't religious whatsoever..

[ISIDEJOSH]

my and my Fh start are class some time in feb.. but we have the test cause am catholic and he is not so we have the test and then the retreat and then anything inbetween that...

[Denisa]

well last night went better than I expected. we took the inventory test last night, it was 164 questions! :eek: my pastor is going to send out our answeres and he will get them back within a week and then he'll schedule for our first actual meeting. i'm interested to find out how we do :)

[Faerievert]

We had to do the prepare/enrich test too! I'm a day late or I woulda warned you about the length. We really had a lot of fun answering the questions and comparing answers in the car on the way home. Our results were spot-on I'd say. Basically they tell you what areas are your strengths, and where you might struggle. The minister had us guess how we'd do in each catagory before we got the results, and since we'd been together for 4 years by this point, we could tell him exactly what was what. But it did help explain why we struggle so much with a couple issues (mostly involving how to raise children and we've decided not to have any so now it's a non-issue). If you haven't been together for as long as we were, or didn't live together, or just didn't talk about EVERYTHING the way we tend to, the test could be a big revelation. But just remember- no matter how different the two of you may be, it's not a 'failing' test result, it just means you need to be careful.

[junewedding07]

We took our enrich test and now we go back in march to have our first counseling session...im kinda nervous