Before We Say “I Do”
Your Complete, Comprehensive, and Personalized Premarital
Preparation Program in Utah
Are you preparing more for your wedding
than your marriage?
Congratulations!
This is an exciting time in your life and something you’ve probably thought about and worked toward for many years. I’ve met with hundreds of premarital couples over the years so, I know this is very important day for you and your families.
But as important as your wedding day is, after the flowers have wilted, the party is cleaned up, your family and friends have left, and the honeymoon is over…there you are…married. Those intense loving feelings will begin to ebb and flow, and you will have to learn to keep that spark alive.
Through my 20 years of researching, teaching, and working with couples in my private practice, I’ve now taken all that knowledge and experience and created a comprehensive program to help couples prepare for and navigate their first few years of marriage and fulfill their dream of being happily married.
The research is clear and is two-fold. First, adjusting to marriage is difficult for many couples. Second, couples who participate in premarital education and/or counseling do better in that adjustment than those who don’t. Those who complete premarital education are more aware of their expectations, have better communication skills, resolve conflict quicker, more intentional about their marriage, and know how to traverse the difficulties that all newlywed couples face.
If you want a great start to your marriage and go into your wedding day with more confidence, take the time now to invest in yourself, your partner, your marriage, and your future family.
The Before We Say “I Do” Program
I have spent many years planning, testing, and improving this program to create the most comprehensive and detailed program to give couples the best start possible to their marriage.
While my program is flexible, the following is the standard protocol:
Premarital Preparation Protocol
Brief screening call to make sure I and this program will be a good fit for what you are looking for and that it will meet your goals.
- Session 1: Learning about your relationship tailoring the protocol to your unique relationship
- Session 2: The importance of attachment and personal emotional and mental well-being
- Session 3: Individual sessions with each partner to assess and address any specific issues that have arisen.
- Session 4: Communication for connection and why couples struggle in this area
- Session 5: Resolving conflict together and staying connected
- Session 6: Preparing to become sexually intimate and how to sustain that part of your relationship
- Session 7: Becoming a financially fit team together and reach your goals
- Session 8: Creating an intentional marriage and navigating the transition to marriage
Couples will participate in a comprehensive, research-based relationship assessment that will highlight their personal and couple strengths as well as their potential challenges. Couples will be given workbooks that will contain discussion questions, assessments, worksheets, readings, and other useful information that they will complete before each session. Finally, couples will also prepare for each session by watching educational videos created by me that will focus on each topic for that session.
After going through this program with me, you will:
- Have more confidence in having the amazing, connected, and fun marriage you’ve always wanted.
- Establish realistic and healthy expectations of yourself, your partner, and your relationship together.
- Increase your understanding and knowledge of each other, including what strengths you have, and
pinpoint some potential areas of challenge for you. - Expand your knowledge of emotional health, money management, safe and effective communication
and conflict resolution skills, sexual intimacy, and other predictors of marital satisfaction and stability. - Build resilience to the inevitable struggles and disconnections that all couples have in the first few
years of marriage. - Inspire you to have a more intentional and team-based relationship going forward.
Each session is 50-minutes in length and can be done in person in our Provo office or can be completed online. Couples generally attend sessions weekly but can be done every other week as well. My fee for each session is $120 and includes the cost of the workbook and videos. The cost for the SYMBIS relationship assessment ($35) is separate and will paid for by the couple.
