Wedding season is almost on us.  So many couples today spend large sums of money and huge amounts of time on planning the wedding, but give very little thought to what happens after the wedding day.  The ceremony is really just the beginning of something that can be truly wonderful, with the right preparation.

My husband and I went through, what was at that point called, “Pre-Marital Counseling” before we were even officially engaged. I credit this to my sweetie’s wisdom and to the seriousness with which he came to our relationship.  By “seriousness”  I don’t mean that he was very serious or solemn – he’s a blast and always has been, very fun and funny – but that he took dating very seriously, as something a lot more important than just a social activity.

Our Pre-Marital Counseling was and has been and I’m sure will continue to be hugely valuable in our marriage. The things we learned about each other and especially about communication have helped us to be a happier, more satisfied couple.

Because of our great Pre-Marital Counseling experience, we HIGHLY recommend that every couple participate in some type of pre-marriage training.  When we go through this process with a couple, we often try to have both my husband and I participate – couple to couple.  We’re not counselors, and what we are doing isn’t counseling (if there’s a need for real counseling, then we refer them to professionals who can help them with their issues appropriately).

Rather, our hope is to introduce the couple to various ‘tools’ that will help them to better communicate and deal with inevitable conflict, as well as a place to discuss important issues that they may not have considered or talked about before.  We call it “Pre-Marital Mentoring”.  We usually take 6-12 weeks to go through a book with a couple, a small investment of time when you think about it, but worth every minute. We know we can’t always be in the same room with them when difficulties arise, and they need to have resources to turn to when we’re not there to help. So our goal is to come alongside the young couple to help them add tools to their marriage toolbox.

I’ve discovered another such tool that I’m excited to be able to share with young couples. StartMarriageRight.com

About StartMarriageRight.com

Website includes:
* Interesting articles/blog
* Fun and insightful videos
* Links to practical resources from marriage counseling experts
* and more!

Your wedding day is just the beginning.  You can have a lifelong marriage!

My Review

StartMarriageRight.com is a free website resource for dating, engaged, and newlywed couples.  It really is a one-stop-shop for articles and Q&A on all of the important topics (Sex, Money, Relationships, Faith and other Issues) that my husband and I like to discuss with couples during pre-marital mentoring sessions.

The website is tidy and easy to navigate.  You can find articles / information by topic in the drop-down menus along the top linkbar of the site, by clicking a keyword from the tag cloud in the sidebar, or by using the search option at the bottom of the site.

Some of the Articles are tip-of-the-iceberg kind of articles that open up a topic for discussion {e.g., Close-Call Friendship}, while others are a bit more in-depth {e.g., Switching Gears from Immaturity to Maturity in Marriage}. One of the articles on sex, Living the Mystery, rather than tackling the immense issue directly, instead is an excellent compilation of resources, with links to outside sources that provide fairly comprehensive information on the topic of sex with a Biblical understanding. Some of the articles lend a light-hearted look at the important issue being discussed {e.g., Your Family Past Holds the Key to Your Finances}.

The Q&A Section provides an opportunity for readers to submit questions.  An audio response is posted for selected questions. The questions are answered by Dr. Gary Chapman, Author of the #1 NY Times bestselling The 5 Love Languages® series and the director of Marriage and Family Life Consultants, Inc. The questions are questions that anybody might ask, and the answers are great! Because the responses are recorded, you have to be sure you’re somewhere that you can listen to them, or be sure to have headphones.  But they are well worth listening to!

The Resources section is a great listing of Books and Links for couples who are dating, engaged and newlywed.  There are fantastic books in that list, many of which we recommend to the couples we do Pre-Marital Mentoring with, including: “For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women” by Shaunti Feldahn and Jeff Feldahn; “For Women Only: What You Need to Know about the Inner Lives of Men” by Shaunti Feldahn; “Love and Respect: The Love She Most Desires, The Respect He Desperately Needs” by Emerson Eggerich; “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman; “Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul” by John Eldredge; and “Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul” by John and Stasi Eldredge.  In addition, there’s a section where you can Discover Your Love Language, which in our opinion is a key part of being able to communicate well with your future spouse.

There’s so much prep that can (and should) happen before the marriage begins, and StartMarriageRight.com is a fantastic resource that can help with that. The more tools in a couple’s toolbox, the better prepared they (potentially) can be. StartMarriageRight.com is one of the tools that we’ll be recommending to our engaged and newlywed couples, one they can go back to again and again, for those times when they need information.

For more information on StartMarriageRight.com, visit their sites below:

Website: http://www.startmarriageright.com/
Blog: http://www.startmarriageright.com/category/blog/
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/StartMarriageRight
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/startmarriage

The info for this website was passed along to me to consider for review. No compensation was given for this review, and all opinions are my own.