Weddingbee

A book that talks about the emotions of engagement that I found pretty helpful (so far, I haven’t finished it) is The Conscious Bride: Women Unveil Their True Feelings About Getting Hitched by Sheryl Paul. I find myself comforted by the validation that I’m not the only one who feels this way.

I’ve also taken a marriage class that uses the Myers-Briggs personality inventory with my fiancee which is really helpful in understanding how we approach things. Knowing what our personality differences (and similarities) are help us to communicate about them.

The Conscious Brides Marriage Planner is a great book to plan your wedding and do DIY marriage prep. FI and I spent a weekend answering questions from there on index cards and discussing our answers. We checked the book out from the library. The website the author organized is another great resource: consciousweddings.com or .org?

Neither of us are Catholic and we were accepted to do a Engaged Encounter marriage prep retreat weekend as a “non-denominational” couple. We did that in Feb (11 months before our wedding) and it was sweet and beneficial.

I put the questions we discussed at the top of my knot bio for people that don’t have access to marriage prep and don’t know where to go.

I agree with you 100% that people do not always put enough focus into this part of building a marriage during the engagement. Marriage prep was something FI knew I felt strongly about before we became engaged. It doesn’t mean you have “problems”, it is simply a good space to better understand each others intentions on a variety of subjects.

I’m currently reading a book called “What No One Tells the Bride” that I’m finding really interesting. It deals with issues such as the anxiety that many newly-engaged women feel as they ponder married life. It’s been an easy read an dhas really validated a lot of the feelings I’ve had since becoming engaged. It’s a strange period. I never thought I could feel so happy, excited, scared and anxious all at once. But, this book helps me understand that these feelings are things most brides-to-be go through!

Since my husband-apparent and I both have a failed marriage under our belts, we’re being very vigilant to resolve issues before they become problems. We’ve decided that we’re going to see a couples’ counselor for a reality check to make sure we’re on the right track. (We think we are, but it doesn’t hurt to check your work and seek advice.) Two books that I’ve read that I’ve found helpful are: “What to Do Before I Do: the modern couple’s guide to marriage, money, and prenups” by Nihara Choudhri and “The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate” by Gary Chapman. Chapman’s book is technically a Christian book, (and we’re not) but the core concepts transcend religion, and the Christian references are not pervasive.

I have to second “The Conscious Bride” and “What Noone Tells the Bride”. Both are really good, but I’ll definitely check out the other ones everyone recommended. Great thread idea!!!