Why premarital counseling is essential : top 5 reasons

You’ve just become enga­ged and heard about the concept of mar­riage pre­pa­ra­tion. If this isn’t clear to you, go to our article on pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling to learn all about this concept. And yet, you feel that you’re alrea­dy com­mu­ni­ca­ting well and that you’re a solid couple : so why fol­low a pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling course ?
At Unio, we believe that depres­sing divorce sta­tis­tics are not inevi­table : love can be lear­ned. Life toge­ther is built up over time, of course, but like any beau­ti­ful jour­ney, it has to be pre­pa­red for, and that requires a back­ground that pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling can offer you. 
Mar­riage is not just a cere­mo­ny or a for­ma­li­ty. It’s a sacred com­mit­ment that requires serious pre­pa­ra­tion. By ful­ly unders­tan­ding the impor­tance of pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling, you can approach this new stage with eve­ry chance on your side to ensure that it lasts in joy and fulfillment. 
In this article, we’ll explore in depth why pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling is cru­cial to the suc­cess of a las­ting union. 
Pourquoi faire une préparation au mariage

Table of contents 

1 – Why prepare for your marriage : to take a timely break from the preparations for your big day, and put your love back at the heart of the process. 

Enga­ge­ment time is often syno­ny­mous with a hec­tic pace. On top of your alrea­dy hec­tic day-to-day sche­dule (work, going out, run­ning the hou­se­hold…) comes the hea­vy work­load of pre­pa­ring for the big day : fin­ding the recep­tion venue of your dreams, choo­sing THE wed­ding dress, tes­ting out dif­ferent cate­rers… the list goes on !

These pre­pa­ra­tions and the orga­ni­za­tion of the wed­ding are exci­ting, but unfor­tu­na­te­ly they take an inor­di­nate amount of time. Above all, they often make couples for­get what’s essen­tial, the heart of the pro­cess : why it’s all hap­pe­ning. Beyond the orga­ni­za­tion of a beau­ti­ful par­ty, it is above all for your couple that you wish to take this beau­ti­ful step that is mar­riage toge­ther. Pre­pa­ring for a mar­riage is much more than orga­ni­zing the wed­ding day, it’s pre­pa­ring for the thou­sands that follow. 

Why prepare for marriage ?

That’s the first bene­fit of pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling : it allows you to press pause in the middle of this cra­zy period.
Time for just the two of youThis is your chance to reaf­firm your love for each other and to share thoughts that you may not be used to sha­ring on a dai­ly basis. 

We’re sure you’ll get a real kick out of these one-to-ones. It’s time to lift your head from the hand­le­bars and refo­cus on your rela­tion­ship ! The consents you exchange in a few months will be all the more beau­ti­ful for it.

Pourquoi faire une préparation au mariage

2 – Premarital counseling for in-depth communication on key topics

Tackling all fundamental themes in pairs 

Pre-mar­riage prep is THE time to reflect toge­ther on the dee­per aspects of your rela­tion­ship, asking your­selves the essen­tial ques­tions.

It offers you a calm, caring envi­ron­ment in which to dis­cuss issues that all couples can relate to, but which for most of them unfor­tu­na­te­ly fall by the way­side in the hustle and bustle of eve­ry­day life.

Indi­vi­dual his­to­ries, sexua­li­ty, conflict mana­ge­ment, sha­red dreams, sexua­li­ty, the desire to start a fami­ly… The topics cove­red in mar­riage pre­pa­ra­tion are varied and leave no grey area before saying « I do ». Take the time to read our dedi­ca­ted page to find out about to find out more about the topics cove­red in the Unio pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling pro­gram.

Subjects that are not always easy to talk about as a couple

Some sub­jects will be light and easy for your couple to talk about, others more com­pli­ca­ted. These are the ones that are real­ly worth tack­ling in the context of pre­mar­riage prep : it enables you totackle themes that are not always obvious, in a bene­volent and pea­ce­ful set­ting.
You’ll see, it’s much easier than tack­ling them for the first time when the dif­fi­cul­ties are alrea­dy there, with the asso­cia­ted emo­tio­nal burden ! 

💡 All these dis­cus­sions will streng­then your connec­tion and take your rela­tion­ship to the next level. In our opi­nion, they are essen­tial to dis­cuss before the wedding.

Improving your communication skills, an asset for the future !

In addi­tion to the spe­ci­fic topics cove­red, you’ll be able to improve your ove­rall com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills : an asset for the decades to come toge­ther (we hope you’ll have many of them). 
One of the most fun­da­men­tal rea­sons for pre­pa­ring for mar­riage is to improve com­mu­ni­ca­tion bet­ween the bride and groom. 
You’ve pro­ba­bly heard it all before : com­mu­ni­ca­tion is the cor­ners­tone of any suc­cess­ful rela­tion­ship, and mar­riage is no excep­tion.
As part of your pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling course, you’ll learn to express your­self open­ly, lis­ten atten­ti­ve­ly and resolve conflicts constructively. 

💡 Com­mu­ni­ca­tion in your rela­tion­ship is vital to over­co­ming the chal­lenges that will inevi­ta­bly arise in the course of your mar­ried life. Life toge­ther isn’t easy !

Pourquoi faire une préparation au mariage

3 – Preparing for marriage to give meaning to your commitment and be clear about your mutual expectations 

For us, mar­riage is much more than just a contract to sign, or a won­der­ful par­ty ! Do you agree with this ?
Mar­riage is a com­mit­ment, an extre­me­ly impor­tant stage in the life of eve­ry enga­ged couple, to which we need to give a new lease of life. 

Prepare and give meaning to your commitment by answering several questions :

  • ➡️ Why are you real­ly consi­de­ring mar­riage (rather than pacs, com­mon-law unions…)? Is this sim­ply the next logi­cal step, or does it take on an extra dimen­sion ? Pos­si­bly a spi­ri­tual dimen­sion ? Be sure to read our article on » Why get mar­ried : good and bad reasons « to help you ans­wer these questions.
  • ➡️ What expec­ta­tions do each of you have of mar­riage and the rela­tion­ship ? Each part­ner brings his or her own expec­ta­tions and aspi­ra­tions to the mar­riage. These expec­ta­tions can vary accor­ding to edu­ca­tion, culture, past expe­rience and per­so­nal values. Pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling course offers couples the oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss their mutual expec­ta­tions in depth.
  • ➡️ What do you want to create from this key date ? In terms of values, life pro­ject, cou­ple’s mis­sion ?
Reflec­ting on these ques­tions, which most enga­ged couples leave aside in favor of plan­ning a beau­ti­ful event, will give much more depth to the « yes » you say to each other on the big day. 
It will also relieve you of any doubts you may have about this diz­zying com­mit­ment. Fear and doubt are nor­mal, and dis­cus­sing them open­ly will most like­ly alle­viate them and help you arrive at the wed­ding day even more serene. 

4 – Acquire all the relational tools you need to avoid the risk of divorce

Loving is a beau­ti­ful fee­ling. But in our view, it is also and above all a verb of action : to love is to lis­ten, to unders­tand, to com­mu­ni­cate, to make small ges­tures on a dai­ly basis, to re-esta­blish the link when it has been broken… 
Some of these skills are more or less innate in some of us. But not all of them ! As with eve­ry­thing else in life, the­re’s a lot to learn when it comes to human rela­tion­ships, and you cer­tain­ly didn’t learn it at school ! 
That’s why pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling helps you acquire tools such as :
  • 👉🏼 In com­mu­ni­ca­tion : active lis­te­ning, non-violent com­mu­ni­ca­tion, love languages…
  • 👉🏼 Conflict mana­ge­ment : the lan­guage of apo­lo­gy, lear­ning to argue without vio­lence, forgiveness…
Pourquoi faire une préparation au mariage

Mar­riage is a blend of two unique indi­vi­duals with their own per­so­na­li­ties, strengths and weaknesses. 

Pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling pro­grams will help you learn how to manage these dif­fe­rences and resolve conflicts construc­ti­ve­ly, res­pect­ful­ly and positively. 
This approach is an invest­ment in the cou­ple’s future. It creates a solid foun­da­tion for a las­ting, ful­filling rela­tion­ship. By inves­ting time and effort in pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling pre­pa­ra­tion, you increase your chances of long-term success. 

FYI : far from tel­ling you how to be a « good couple« mar­ried people who have under­gone ade­quate pre­pa­ra­tion tend to have lower divorce rates than those who haven’t. Hear, hear !

5 – Why premarital counseling will help you create your wedding ceremony 

Even if it’s not the main pur­pose of pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling courses, it will help you create a cere­mo­ny, reli­gious or secu­lar, 100% in your image. 
Indeed, having thought long and hard toge­ther about deep ques­tions such as your sha­red values, your his­to­ry, your grea­test dream… will allow you to see more clear­ly what you want to convey during your union cere­mo­ny, be it through songs, rituals…
A real asset a few months before the deadline !

Conclusion

In short, pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling is much more than a for­ma­li­ty. It’s essen­tial for buil­ding a solid, ful­filling mar­riage.
It gives spouses the tools they need to com­mu­ni­cate effec­ti­ve­ly, manage dif­fe­rences, cla­ri­fy mutual expec­ta­tions and over­come challenges. 
So, before you say « I do » at the altar or in the town hall, take the time to pre­pare your­self, to unders­tand the impor­tance of this step, and to build a solid and pro­mi­sing mari­tal future. Your wed­ding, whe­ther Chris­tian or civil, deserves this atten­tion, and your hap­pi­ness depends on it ! 

While the day after your wed­ding you’ll have only won­der­ful memo­ries of a divine cele­bra­tion, this concrete pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling course will have streng­the­ned the bonds of your couple fore­ver. We are convin­ced that nothing streng­thens a couple more than in-depth dis­cus­sion of the issues that mat­ter.That’s why pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling is the best idea of all !

What do you think about pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling ? We’ll let you tell us in the com­ments just below this article 😉 !

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➡️ Who we are
We are Lysiane and Romain new­ly­weds and co-foun­ders of Unio pre­ma­ri­tal counseling. 
A few years ago, we were exact­ly where you are now. We deci­ded to get mar­ried and set about pre­pa­ring for our big day with great excitement. 
It was great, but some­thing was clear­ly mis­sing. We wan­ted to give real mea­ning to our com­mit­ment and pre­pare our­selves properly. 
That’s how Unio was born : the 100% secu­lar & online pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling pro­gram. Read more »
➡️ Pre­pa­ring for mar­riage with Unio :
To lay the foun­da­tions for a solid mar­riage without spen­ding hours on it, and without going to church. 
Our pre­ma­ri­tal coun­se­ling program :
  • ✅ 100% secular
  • ✅ 100% online
  • ✅ 100% fun
rendez-vous de préparation au mariage
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Offrez le parcours pour la saint Valentin 💘
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Et c'est jusqu'au 29/02/24 !
cadeau-saint-valentin-unio
Offrez Unio pour la saint Valentin 💘
👉 199€ au lieu de 273€ jusqu'au 29/02/24