Mandatory marriage counseling

I've heard of that for Catholic Church ceremonies l.

Yep. I think it's a good thing. Basically, our officiant was like, wow you guys have your stuff together. That's awesome. It was no biggie for us. A lot of couples on here say that it's brought them together. Just out of curiosity, what's not your thing about it?

Counseling isn't your thing? How can potentially improving your communication and relationship not be your thing?

If you are getting married in a church I think all will require some form of meeting or counseling

It makes sense for a religious ceremony but any ceremony at all because it is the time to focus on things that you may not have thought about that could ruin your marriage if they aren't talked about ahead of time

We weren't required, but decided to do it on our own. We've learned a whole lot about each other so far and I really think it will strengthen our marriage.

Most churches require it. I got married by a pastor but not in a church so he didn't make us do the whole counseling stuff, we just met with him one time. Normally you have to go to a series of counseling sessions. It's not bad. I'm actually glad we did it, and I also thought it wouldn't be our "thing"

It's insurance for your future marriage. Just because you don't have problems right now doesn't mean you won't be able to use the skills you learn in counseling at some point.

The stigma has got to go, seriously.

My fiance and I are both Catholic so we were encouraged to do marriage prep through our church, which was kinda like marriage counseling

It'll be mandatory for us since we're getting married in a church. However I feel more comfortable with that then if I were asked to go to a marriage counselor. I understand that it's uncomfortable and definitely not everyone's preference to go sit down with a stranger. I don't think it hurts to try though and just do one session to see how you feel.

Most religious officiants will require at least a meeting with them. This is their job (and part of their higher calling) so they'd at least like to know that the people they are uniting have a decent relationship. Seems like it can only strengthen your relationship.

We're supposed to do a retreat, but a family member runs the organization so we requested to meet with pastor instead. It's fairly common for church weddings.

It can't hurt...and if it does, you might want to rethink your marriage.

It was required for us. We had a Catholic ceremony (not a full mass though, that would have been to much plus half of H's family is Jewish), and we had to complete a pre-marital counseling program before we got married.

I totally get where you're coming from. My sister and her husband had to go through premarital counseling to marry in the Catholic Church. They really loved it, and learned a lot about each other and their different visions for the future.

I don't really know if premarital counseling is necessary for me and FH because we really do discuss a lot of big future decisions like finances and family dynamics. We've been looking at different topics online that are good to talk about before you get married. If you're not into formal counseling, that might be something to try. At the very least, you'll get to know each others' views on the topics and maybe work out how to communicate about tough subjects.

It's not our thing because we do not have communication issue and there aren't any stigmas attached. Counseling will not guarantee a long-term marriage and passing it up doesn't mean we are destined to fail. We make all of our decisions together and always put each other first. Communication isn't a problem AT ALL not sure how someone can guide us on us!!!

I don't require it, nor am I qualified to do it, but I think it's a great idea for most couples.

I think it's a good thing. We're learning so much from it. It actually brought us closer.

@lily how is it insurance? How can a few days of counseling teach me lifetime skills? We don't need anyone to point out our faults. Don't need anyone to give us pointers on communication. Don't need anyone to help us identify out strengths and weaknesses.

We have to but we would have either way. Currently doing it and would highly recommend.