Are you taking Marital Classes?

CNN in 2010

Fi and I want to take marital classess, but since we're not from Vegas we haven't really found a church that we really like.  A friend of ours works at a Catholic Church and raves about how wonderful everyone is so fi and I want to speak with the priest and see about taking marital classes.  The only thing is I don't know if we can take classes if we're not marrying at their church ( Many churches don't allow you to take classes there if you're not going to be married there.  Did you face this problem when you were looking to take classes?  Were you able to find a church that allowed you to attend their classes?Thanks,Natalie

Kahtie41

Even though it's standard to do marriage counseling when you're getting married at a church, you can do a non-religious route as well.  Since your wedding won't be affiliated with a church, you can look into some counseling centers that do marriage counseling/classes.  It probably wouldn't be religiously based, but if it's important to you, it would come up in your sessions anyway. HTH!

manda311

Do you want to be recognized by the church, or do you just want to take classes?? MY FI and I are in the middle of this right now. We are actually getting our marriage blessed by the Catholic church 2 weeks after our DW, so we had to take these "classes". They are one on one classes, with the deacon and his wife. Last week we took a test called FOCUUS, it was 156 questions about everything under the sun. We go back Sept 9th to discuss eachothers answers. I am kinda nervous about it but I know it will be a good thing to get us talking about stuff we might not normally think to talk about and also to get past other things now that might of came up later if we hadn't taken these classes.

t1nkfan

If you're catholic and planning on marrying so the church will recognize, then you have to take them like pp said.  We went through our local parish to take the classes (one on one sessions with the priest and then a conference for 8 hours on one weekend).  Our local priest was able to document everything and send it to the Bahamas in order to count for the requriements.  I'm sure you can do this for vegas too. If you aren't catholic, I'm not sure that the classes would be beneficial for you - there is a lot about keeping religion in your marriage, natural family planning, raising your kids catholic, and stuff like that.  I would recommend the one day conference tho - that was probably the best thing in the whole pre-cana schedule and relatively generic/non-denominational.

CNN in 2010

Wow!! I'd be nervous to get my test results too :O) Fi and I want to take marital classes to focus more on our relationship and also to focus on the core values of marriage through our faith.  My friend got married a couple of weeks ago and it was a religous ceremony, and it really it me how I haven't thought about my future marriage in the religious aspect.  And I think fi has gotten side tracked too.  It was so beautiful to hear the pastor talk about the meaning of marriage through the eyes of God and how sacred it is.  We need to get back to those values that have been instilled in us )Our ceremony on the beach will incorporate our religious beliefs even though we won't be married by a priest.

CNN in 2010

oops typo: it really hit me...

LadyBird9

FI and I went through the class at our church... but we didn't have to. We just wanted to go through it to see if any major issues came up. None did - yay! lol... That surprises me that churches won't let you take the class if you aren't getting married there. Thats actually how we found and fell in love with our church was through that class! Keep looking and hopefully you will find something!!

CNN in 2010

Thanks Ladybird9.  I don't understand why we have to marry in that church in order to take the classes.  Fi and I both come from religious backgrounds and it means a lot to us to truly understand the commitment we're about to make  to each other as Christians.  I feel that a church should allow you to take the classes regardless as long as you are truly in it for the right intentions. I'm going to keep looking!! Wish me luck :O)

FraggleRock10

We are taking classes at a family development center. They have really helped our relationship grow and we are much happier. We have 2 counselors. One is a therapist the other is a pastor. When we first went we wanted a non-denominational counseling. Since we have grown we have visited and joined the Pastor's church but still meet at the family development center. Good Luck finding what's right for you.