Weddingbee boards

Any encore brides doing pre-marital counseling? I didn't do the whole counseling thing for my first, and just wondering if it would be useful this time around.

I am especially interested in non-religious services or something online. We are not having a religious ceremony and do not want religious counseling.

Any insight would be helpful or just curious to see what you guys are doing!

My husband and I did do pre-marriage counseling.  We have a large church and the counseling was done in a big group setting, not one on one.  It wasn't overly religious we discussed how to treat the person you love, how to respect your partner, how to deal with money issues.  We also met with a portion of the group who were also encore couples and talked about blending a family and the issues that may arise when kids are involved.  I enjoyed it, but my DH said he didn’t get much out of it.

At the end of the two days we received a certificate that we brought with us when we got our marriage license.  It reduced the cost of the license by $70.00.

i wouldnt mind it, but we are both in different continents serving overseas, so it isnt really possible.

however, we are reading books and articles that touch on many subjects that will come up in our marriage. .. .

I think it's a great idea but the challenge is finding something that is useful.  We looked into doing some pre-marital counseling but most of it was through churches and geared towards young couples getting married for the first time or couples with problems.

There is a book called 1001 things to Ask before you get Married (or something like that).  You could get that and just ask each other the questions and see where it goes!

The other option is to each do a few sessions of separate counseling.  My FI and I ended up doing this and it was really helpful.  We each talked to our separate people about our hopes/fears/concerns about getting married.  Then we would come home and talk to each other about it.  I have no idea if it will make our marriage stronger in the long run but it felt good to have some input on it.

-Mona

p.s. if you end up finding something cool online I'd LOVE to know about it!