Marriage Anxiety? Prep and Plan

With the plethora of wedding shows presenting a somewhat seamless path toward weddings — with wedding planners and others to ‘save the day’, it’s no wonder that couples experience intense anxiety in the lead up to their weddings (even if engagement periods are long and weddings are anticipated). It’s also perhaps not surprising with all that planning, anxiety and anticipation, that the first year of married life, is anti-climactic and where couples might experience a major emotional drop. This article speaks to that difficult first year in so many marriages, despite the fact that many live together first. As a psychotherapist, I suggest couples spend as much time focusing on their relationship and the issues that will arise as they do on their wedding day. What conversations still need to be had? How do you manage communication and conflict? How is your relationship to money and spending? Toward how you spend time together? Marriage prep can be an effective way to address these issues and more. If you think it costs too much, I strongly suggest couples consider how much they are spending on a one day affair, and how much it costs to dissolve a marriage after the wedding day.