Engaged Encounter Weekend

My fiancé and I opted to do the full weekend (retreat at a hotel) rather than four consecutive Saturdays at a local parish in DC. Overall, we both thought it was a good experience even though we are non-practicing Catholics who come from non-religious households. The weekend worked as follows: the presenters (two married couples) would discuss a given topic and share stories from their experiences, the couples would then be split up into two groups (by gender) to write responses to a set of questions, and would meet in private afterwards to read responses and talk with their fiancé. Our favorite segments occurred on the first night and the following morning. We took a short personality assessment to understand ourselves better as individuals and then discussed how those traits meshed with each other to form a team. Other topics we enjoyed included examining our family of origin and values we bring with us, communication styles, healthy ways to manage conflict, financial fidelity, identifying our individual shortcomings and how they could negatively impact the health of our marriage, and the big one - forgiveness. During Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning a few of the sessions got a little more religious which we didn't identify with; however, people were open-minded with us and we found some information to be useful. The weekend facilitators were very open, honest and at many times vulnerable. You never know what curveballs life will throw at you (some are exciting while others are unbelievably devastating) and I am happy to have completed this course and have our notes and messages to each other to look back on. Keep and open-mind, be honest and enjoy the ride!