Marriage preparation is an often overlooked step in the process of marriage—but preparing for marriage is just as important as saying those final “I do’s.” Let’s take a look at some essential pre-marriage tips that you should definitely apply to your own upcoming marriage.
Know each other
This may seem like a common sense tip, but there are actually many couples who take the big leap into marriage without really taking the time to know each other. There isn’t a perfect “time limit” that will tell you when to marry someone, but you should make sure you’ve given yourselves enough time to actually develop a relationship before you commit to marriage.
Talk about your expectations
This is something that many couples do only after the vows have been said, which is an unfortunate mistake. Before you get married, you and your partner should have honest and clear discussions about what you expect in marriage—and what you expect in the future.
Do you both want to have children? How many children do you see in the future? Do you plan on staying in your local area, or will you move? What happens if one of you gets a job offer in a different city, state or even country? Will you buy a house, apartment or other residence together? Will you get a joint bank account or keep your money separate? How will you divide up bills and personal expenses?
In other words: what do you expect from the marriage, and what do you expect from the future? The more you discuss this with your partner, the better both of you will understand how to make your marriage work. It wouldn’t do either of you any good to avoid talking about these potentially delicate subjects if they cause strife years down the line.
Talk about the seemingly unimportant details
Naturally, you will want to talk about your big expectations for marriage and the future—whether you want to have children, where you will live, and so on. But there are a lot of little details that soon-to-be married couples forget to discuss, and while they may seem minor, they can actually have a noticeable impact on a marriage if they aren’t clearly discussed beforehand.
For example: When it comes to holidays, which family will you spend it with? Will you try to divide your time between two different family parties? Will you rotate holidays? Or will you separate on holidays and spend time with your families, but not each other?
Small details like this may seem more than a bit silly talk about before marriage, but when all of these small details are put together they create a much bigger picture that can have a bigger impact on your relationship and marriage.
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