 You're excited to sit down and begin planning your wedding. You've thought about it, casually, over the years, but now this is the real "to do." If you're a woman, you'll probably spend countless hours and days finalizing every last detail. If you're a man, well, all those details probably aren't as important to you. With all of the planning for the wedding, you are probably thinking that your marriage will be off to a great start! A perfect day, a beautiful honeymoon, and wedded bliss, right? If you have been blessed to be a part of pre-marriage counseling with someone who really cares about the future of you and your intended, then you will receive wisdom and counsel from a trusted source. If you haven't been able to participate in any pre-marriage counseling, you may have a lot of ideas about your marriage and your partner that may clash with reality once you're back home from the honeymoon...or maybe that clash with reality will happen sooner than you want, while you're on your honeymoon together.  I'd been acquainted with my husband for several years before we discussed a lifelong marriage commitment to each other. He spoke with my dad, to ask his blessing on our upcoming marriage, and then he popped The Question. The story of that evening will be worth another blog posting, I'm sure. Some day, I'll write it out for you. It's not as romantic as some of you might have hoped! :) While we wanted our wedding day to be very special for both of us, we were both thinking ahead to the future, to our lifelong commitment to each other. We had already discussed many aspects of marriage, our personalities, our ideas about budgeting and finances, how many children we might want, whether I'd continue to work after marriage or after children, and a lot of other important issues. Even if you have already discussed many of the "Top 10" areas that can cause conflict during marriage, you will both have a lot to learn. I still have a lot to learn after being married for 16 years! Thankfully, we were able to do several things before we married that at least got us going in the right direction. We attended a marriage conference for engaged couples; we participated in an 8-week course on budgeting and finances. We talked a lot about many different things! I'm delighted to share with you a website designed for those couples who want their marriage to start off on the right foot:  StartMarriageRight.com is new to me, but the principles and helpful ideas found on this site are timeless. At StartMarriageRight.com, I read a blog posting called, "The Art of Letting Go", by Stephanie Smith, and I was touched by her insight into our everyday acts of selfishness in our marriage. She has a unique way with words and in sharing her heart with other couples like myself. I think you'll enjoy what she has to say in her articles here on StartMarriageRight.com.  I also found another article that was - lo and behold - written by two of my college professors from my college years so long ago. That was a nice surprise! "Switching Gears from Immaturity to Maturity", written by Drs. Rich Rollins and Marty Trammell was inspiring for me to read as well. Most of us realize that we can be selfish and babyish at times, even as adults. This is a must-read. www.StartMarriageRight.com also has some added features - all FREE:
 If you feel like you need some encouragement for your marriage relationship, or you know someone who is a newlywed or will be marrying soon, www.StartMarriageRight.com is a great resource. Feel free to pass on the information to those you love.  
2 Comments
4/25/2011 02:01:17 am
Julieanne, thank you for this thoughtful review of our new website for starting marriage right! I am so glad you have been in some way encouraged by our articles, and it must have been fun for you to find your professors writing here too! Congrats on 16 years with your husband! My husband and I celebrate one year next month :)
Dr Regina
4/30/2017 12:12:01 pm
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Hi! I'm Julieanne!
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