The First Dance For Those Working with Engaged Couples
Home | Wedding Budgets | Checklists | Dilemmas | Etiquette | Wedding Guests | Parents | Wedding Stress | Work w/ Engaged Couples
Store | Premarital Counseling | Readings | Wedding Discounts | Wedding Party | Ceremony | Reception | About Us | Contact Us | Advertise

Welcome Officiants, Vendors, Clergy, Therapists, Premarital Educators, Wedding Coordinators

 

No one gets a closer look at how couples and families manage the emotional aspects of weddings than you do. Many of you have told us you could write a best seller about the stress and intrigue that culminate at the wedding rehearsal or wedding day. You can sense the family pressures on the bride and groom, the in-law strains, and the impossible expectations for a perfect wedding.

 

If you do marriage preparation, it’s natural to avoid discussing wedding planning, but we have concluded that it is fruitless and unwise to ignore the gigantic elephant in the premarital counseling room—the wedding planning process. As educators and therapists, we know that the first principle of adult learning is to take people where they are, and for most engaged couples, this means wedding planning. If we embrace wedding planning as a learning opportunity, new possibilities open up to help couples learn life-long lessons about their own teamwork under stress, their relationships with parents and siblings and in-laws, and about the dynamics of extended families. We also have convinient link to the Prepare-Enrich Couple Checkup that couples can take directly from our website. Link to the test here.

 

If you work in the wedding industry, you're often called to read the feelings, needs, preferences, and internal struggles of couples and parents, and support them to make the best decision for their own situation. You know when to give clear advice based on years of experience, and when to hold your counsel while the couple or family seek more information or forge their own compromise. You know when the bride and her mother are working in harmony or in conflict, and know how to stay out of triangles when one is trying to get them to take sides against the other. We also have convinient link to the internationally used and respected Prepare-Enrich Couple Checkup that couples can take directly from our website. Link to the test here.

 

The First Dance takes engaged couples where they are living and breathing—namely, in the crucible of planning the most complex logistical and interpersonal event of their lives--and helps them learn how to make decisions based on their values and to relate to their families under stress. It also helps parents understand what is happening to their family and develop effective ways to walk the tightrope of guiding but not directing their adult children. Couples who have taken the program (a 2 hour class) or read our book report less stress in the months leading up to their wedding, more ability to handle the pressures as they come, and more wisdom to carry over to their marriage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




When Money or Time is a Factor, Get Marriage Preparation Easily Online or at Home!
Click here for details on the wedding discounts! ** means the products below are eligible.
View Cart

 

Take Back Your Wedding**


Take Back Your Wedding combines wisdom from the world of family therapy with a realistic picture of how couples and families behave under the stress of planning a wedding. Weddings bring out the best and worst in all of us because they combine romance, money, loyalties, jealousies, new in-law relations, and endless practical decisions, all played out in front of your whole community of family and friends! No one get through this without times of frustration, confusion, and sometimes anger. This book is an essential guide to handing the stress, avoiding the common pitfalls, having a great wedding, and launching a successful marriage. Chapter 1:  Take Back Your Wedding (read now!)

Add to Cart Paperback Version $12.99

Add to Cart E-Book download version $12.99  

View Cart  

Buy on Take Back Your Wedding on Amazon here

.Learn more

The Ultimate Premarital Test $29.95

 

By measuring 20 different aspects of your relationship, the Couple Checkup is designed to get you thinking and talking together about your relationship, and taking steps to grow as individuals and a couple.

What's great about the Premarital Test: Research-based, this inventory has been used for over 25 years by over 2.5 MILLION coupl. Personalized results are given in a report within MINUTES of taking the test. Take it when you're ready, whether that's 6am or midnite! No coordinating schedules. You can say you've put energy into your relationship, not just the wedding. Surprised by some of the results? Take the report to a premarital counselor to talk further!

 

This is research based and used by millions of couples. Review areas of strength in your relationship and areas that you may wish to work on to make your marriage stronger.

Greatest Is Love - $12 **

 

A pastor, counseling couples over a long career has found a unique way to create an experience, rather than "just talking." Designed with everyone in mind - those who are highly talkative, to those who require more time to think things through. The Greatest Is Love guides couples of all ages on a conversation journey that includes ten of the topics, including:
Before We Say I Do
Our Parents
Our Love Life
Leisure and Work
Faith
Children
Money
Doing My Part
Issues
Our Wedding Day.
The process offers couples a non-threatening, relaxing way to talk. Add to Cart

Money Attitudes Card Game - $25 **

 

This award-winning card game is used by the Army among many other groups! Without needing a financial planner or knowing math, this simple to use game will get you and your partner (or parents!) on a new level of understanding.

 

No matter what your money views, there is no "right or wrong." A few big "a-ha" moments may greatly help your wedding and married life. Add to Cart

Learn more

Therapy In A Box - $20 **

Buy Now (opens a new window)

 

Can't afford a therapist, feel like you have a pretty good relationship, but want to go through what many therapists offer in private sessions?

 

This e-book for couples is interactive with exercises, worksheets and the space for couples journaling makes it a great keepsake for you and your fiance – to remind you of what you worked on in preparation for your marriage.

Online Group Therapy - $250 **

 

Perhaps your life is crazy, or you can't convince your fiance to see an individual therapist. Whether you are religious, secular, as long as you have a computer and telephone, this class can improve your relationship, EVEN IF YOUR FIANCE DOESN'T PARTICIPATE!

In a four part series with a 1.5 hour class, you can join others in a high energy, interactive web-based, phone-based group class.