Premarital Course

This premarital course is a non-denominational course that will provide you with the information and tools you need to create a healthy foundation on which to begin your marriage. At your own pace and from your own home, you and your partner can address the key topics that will help you create a fulfilling and lasting marriage.

Is it possible to divorce-proof your marriage before it even begins?

 

While no one can offer you a 100% guarantee, the engagement is a vulnerable time when you and your partner have an opportunity either to lay a healthy foundation or create a fault line that could grow and erupt years down the road. When each of you address your own transition from single to wife or husband and learn how to best support your partner’s transition, you’ll be legions ahead of most couples who only focus on the “hot topics” taught in most premarital courses.

Emma, Scotland

When Sheryl announced she was releasing a Premarital Course, I jumped at the chance to register, despite already being six months married. I suffered terrible anxiety during my engagement but Sheryl’s Relationship Anxiety Course pulled me through that anxiety and enabled me to take the leap into marriage with my wonderful husband. I just cannot get enough of Sheryl’s work!

“The best thing about the course for our marriage has been the exercises that focus on what it takes to make a marriage work. The course also helped reassure us both that our reality of marriage is normal and that it doesn’t have to be filled with intense, romantic love all day, every day and that it’s ok to have conflict!

“I would recommend this course to all couples, whether committed, engaged or even married. I’m sure that my husband and I will both refer to the materials at various times throughout our future together.

Sophie, New Zealand

We have always known that marriages take work but the material in the Premarital Course has been a catalyst for discussions about how we see our marriage working. This has been such a good thing for our communication as a couple. We are both on the same page and are heading towards our wedding with our eyes wide open. Thank you, Sheryl, for your fantastic work. I highly recommend this for all couples who wish to dispel the myths and stereotypes of what an engagement and marriage ‘should’ be like.

How is this course different from other premarital courses?

 

While most courses focus on typical premarital issues like learning communication skills and discussing core values, money, and sex, they fail to address one of the key topics that could make or break a marriage years down the road: addressing expectations. When couples find themselves in counseling years into the marriage, they often report that the two breaking points – or times when resentments started to build – were getting married and becoming parents.  So while this course also addresses the traditional topics, including a fantastic video interview with a premarital expert on conflict resolution, I take it several steps further to offer you the tools you need to fortify your marriage.

When You Sign Up For The Program, You Will Receive:

The course includes three lessons, complete with videos, MP3s, and articles, plus a bonus lesson:

Lesson One: The Conscious Bride where you’ll learn about your transition into marriage and managing your engagement/marriage anxiety. (If you’re struggling with engagement anxiety please consider the Break Free From Relationship Anxiety Course.)

Lesson Two: The Conscious Groom where you’ll learn how to address your doubts and fears about marriage – what we call “cold feet” in this culture – consider alternatives to the common bachelor party, and understand how to support your partner if she’s experiencing engagement anxiety.

Lesson Three: The Conscious Couple where you’ll receive a premarital counseling course “in a bottle” so together you can explore what marriage means today, discuss core values, expectations, money, sex and attraction, discover your love languages, and learn effective tools for conflict resolution.

Plus a bonus lesson for the mother and father of the bride and groom to help them attend to the uncomfortable feelings triggered by their child’s transition into marriage. A transition for a child is a transition for parents as well!

27 Comments

  1. Hi Sheryl, My fiancé and I are working through our individual portions of the Premarital eCourse. It has been an incredible experience so far, and I am so grateful to have found your site. If we complete the course together and feel like we are able to get through all of the topics together with no major issues (which I expect), would it be beneficial to schedule sessions with a premarital counselor for additional marriage preparation?
    He doesn’t think we “need” counseling. I don’t really think we “need” it either, but I have read that it is effective in preventing divorce by 30%…I just want to be as prepared as possible! I guess my question is, should we use this course as a supplement to counseling, or will it be just as helpful on its own? Thanks again. Your work has been such a blessing.

    Reply
    • I’m a big fan of additional support and couples’ counseling, but the course is meant to work on its own for those who aren’t comfortable with premarital counseling.

      Reply
  2. JW – YES!!! DO IT!!

    Prevention is better than damage control.

    Reply
  3. I am interested in the answer to JW’s question. My fiance feels uncomfortable about pre-martial counseling, but I think he would do this.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  4. Is this course appropriate for an older couple (50 & 68) entering into a second (hers) and third (his) marriage?

    Reply
    • I would say that about 80% of it would be applicable and helpful to you both.

      Reply
  5. Hi Sheryl,

    Is this a course that connects you with other couples, or just materials that I download and work through with my fiance?

    Thanks,
    Megan

    Reply
    • Materials to download and work through with your fiancé.

      Reply
  6. I purchased this course but never received an email to get into the course.

    Thanks

    Reply
  7. Hello!

    I plan to take this course with my new fiance. We will be getting married next september so we will have about a year long engagement. When would you reccomend starting the ecourse? Closer to our wedding or now?

    Thanks!
    Colleen

    Reply
    • Hi Colleen,

      I recommend starting this course about 6-8 months before your wedding.

      Reply
  8. Hi I was introduced to T by a friend, and we met about 3 times and we founds the attraction towards each other was only 50% somehow we kept the relation going. After about 3 months we left to india on a spiritual tour with a group of friends and somehow we got closer and decided to get engaged somewhere in January and scheduled our wedding in April 2016.

    Suddenly the doubt kicked in and I started asking Question if all this plannings are right and if i’m making the right move to settle down with her. we are in our 40’s and never married before. She is kinda firm in her decision to marry me and its me who is in doubt and delima now.

    please advice me and which programme of yours should i start first

    Gunalan ( Malaysia)

    Reply
  9. Hey Sheryl!
    I’m new here, but all of my crazy googling has led me here. I have been seeing a counsellor for about 2 years for general anxiety and depression, though I also have OCD and ADHD. IVe been with my boyfriend for just under a year. We fell in love quickly and had such a great bond, physically and emotional. We have the same beliefs about most things, simliar opinions, etc. He’s everything I would look for overall in a guy. If I could change anything it would be something as simple as hes hard to get along with sometimes. My biggest struggle for the last 5 months is the fact that all of the negative thoughts I have been having have convinced me in a way, to actually feel as if there’s no connection. I have a lot of days where I truly believe I don’t like him as much as I should and don’t feel the way I “should”.. I often just don’t feel right. How do I distinguish the thoughts as being OCD related vs just how I feel? Hope you can get back to me.. xo Emma

    Reply
  10. Hi Sheryl,
    Your work has helped me tremendously, and I was able to share with a friend who was totally lost about her own relationship anxiety, so – Thank you!

    My fiancé and I are getting married in just under 3 months. He’s totally disinterested in any sort of “therapy” and would be offended even by the suggestion of trying to do a course together. Is it valuable if I take the course without him?
    Thanks
    A

    Reply
    • This course is meant to be worked through as a couple. Would he be willing to watch a video or two even if he’s not willing to do the whole course?

      Reply
  11. Hi Sheryl,

    I have been reading through The Conscious Bride’s Wedding Planner and am finding it very helpful! However, it refers a few times to the website for additional materials (i.e., examples of letters to loved ones) that I can’t seem to find. Could you direct me to these?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Unfortunately many of those materials are no longer available on my site, (the book was published 14 years ago and my work/site has changed enormously since then) but if you join one of my courses you will find them there.

      Reply
  12. Hi Sheryl,

    This course looks awesome and a friend referred me to your work, but unfortunately it looks like it’s only geared towards hetero couples. Do you have any resources for same sex couples interested in premarital counseling or a course like this?

    Thanks,
    Jennifer

    Reply
    • Great question. Can you tell me what you’re hoping to gain from a premarital course and I can guide you further?

      Reply
  13. Is this course suitable if you’re already living together in a home you have bought together?

    Reply
  14. Hey Sheryl,
    I’ve done the Break Free course and my partner is wanting to do this course before we get married. Does much of the material over lap? Or is it mostly different?
    Thanks!

    Reply
      • Fantastic. Thank you!!

        Reply

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