Engagement is such an exciting season with so much newness on the horizon. Many times couples miss out on the joy that is being engaged when all of the responsibilities begin to pile on. From wedding planning to figuring out the holidays with a new family it can leave many couples in tense situations.

As wedding planners ourselves, one of our favorite parts about our job is the fact that our couples get to focus on their love and growing that during engagement as opposed to focusing on all the little details of their wedding day. While many girls have been dreaming about their wedding day since they were young, it doesn’t take away the fact that wedding planning can be really stressful. It isn’t just about picking your colors and hiring vendors. A lot of emotional energy can be expended when finances and family dynamics take a seat at the table. It is important now more than ever to prepare well for your future marriage. If you decide not to hire a wedding planner you will have some extra hurdles to jump over but we would LOVE to take that load off of your plate. When you hire In the Details to plan your wedding for you it will open up time to deep dive into marriage preparations. Continue reading to see how we recommend you prepare for your marriage.

The first step to preparing for marriage is having a clear understanding of what marriage is. Marriage is something that was created by God to be a tangible representation of his love for us. While couples who are not believers in God still get married, it is important to note the origin of marriage is from God himself. That is why it is so sacred to Christians. The groom represents God in the way he loves his bride. The bride represents the church in the way that she submits herself to her own husband. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out this sermon from Crossroads Bible Church and read through these biblical scriptures below to learn more:

Now that we know what marriage is and where it comes from it is time for you to spend some time with your fiancé talking about what marriage means to you. You have both promised to make this commitment to the other but everyone comes into marriage with different ideas of what that looks like. We all have expectations whether we are able to acknowledge them or not. Starting this discussion now should allow for a smoother transition post-wedding. If you don’t know where to begin you can use the questions below to get your conversation started:

Something you can do on your own to prepare for your marriage is to self reflect. Growing up my mom always told me “the way you treat your family is the way you will treat your future husband” and she was absolutely right. The good habits, the bad habits, and everything in between will carry over into your marriage. Some couples will not experience hardship, fighting or arguing before marriage and there is nothing wrong with that. However, that will not last forever. It is important to look inward and ask the hard questions. I find journaling really helpful to process these types of things. I would encourage you to journal about the questions below and then discuss them with your fiancé when you are finished.

With engagement being such a busy season many couples forget to continue to date their fiancé. The most successful marriages that I have gotten to witness ALL testify that you need to keep dating your spouse. See the list below for some fun and affordable engagement season date nights because this is meant to be fun:

• Taste cake! You need to do it anyways and you can make it fun 🙂 Check out this cake tasting scorecard to make things interesting!
• Go shopping for items to put on your registry. Use the registry guns if they still have them – they will be gone before we know it but they are so fun! Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel are great places to start.
• Go out for a drink and go over questions to continue to get to know your fiancé better.
• Pack up a picnic for dinner and get outside! Try not to talk about the wedding.
• Schedule your hair and makeup trial for a special day like your birthday and go out somewhere fancy afterwards for dinner.
• Go out for your tasting and then plan to grab a small bite to eat afterwards. I would recommend asking your caterer if your tasting is going to be a full meal or just small bites so you can prepare accordingly.

Marriage is a beautiful thing and we are blessed to be able to have relationships like these. To know someone at their deepest level and to BE KNOWN at your best and your worst and still be loved is something we all long for. My prayer for you after reading this is that you would be excited about preparing for your marriage and that you would be able to enter into a marriage that will flourish until death.