What is premarital counseling?

Sometimes the months following a proposal are so focused on the planning of the wedding celebration that many couples do little to prepare themselves for the actual commitment of marriage itself.  Times are certainly changing where nondenominational and independent ceremonies occur more often than traditional church services, meaning no one is requiring any particular counseling or coaching of a couple. 

There are many benefits to premarital counseling like lower divorce rates, improved conflict resolution skills and overall higher quality and satisfaction in your marriage. I get it though - no one necessarily goes running to therapy and couples counseling can perhaps have a negative stigma. Hopefully pre-marital counseling sounds a bit happier, because it is. You have already made this joyous commitment and are choosing to further devote yourself, making yourself available to your partner to address apprehensions and get support in discussing difficult topics. What premarital counseling does is make these topics roadbumps instead of landmines. 

Research shows that couples who attend premarital counseling were better off than 80% of couples who decided against it (Carlson et al., 2012).