Sources we trust
We hope you care more about your marriage than your wedding. At least, we do! That’s why we’re putting this list together.
You can’t be in our line of work without being somewhat familiar with John and Julie Gottman. They are the leading researchers and experts on marriage. Their work from The Love Lab and The Gottman Institute have shaped our marriage, our practice, and our convictions in ways that no other has come close. If you’re interested in a good place to start, we recommend starting with one of these two books.
Assessments are helpful, not authoritative.
There are many assessments out there that can give you some insight on your relationship. The best ones require a certified facilitator to walk through your results. (We cary certifications in Prepare and Enrich as well as SYMBIS). Any good facilitator would remind you that your relationship is not a statistic, though understanding the statistics are helpful. Whatever approach to marriage-prep you take, our recommendation is to learn as much as is helpful, and recognize that the rest of it may be helpful a few years from now or never. Our biggest recommendation is to have a third-party (preferably somebody with some kind of training and specific process) guiding you through that kind of preparation. After all, the statistics look really good in terms of long-term marital satisfaction for those who participate in at least 6 hours of pre-marriage preparation. Again, even that research is helpful but not authoritative.
