premarital preparation course

MarieGillespie

I have been reading about the marriage license requirements on the Orange County clerk of courts website and it states that:

"Couples who reside in the State need to provide a certificate of completion of a premarital preparation course. If couples do not provide the certificate, the effective date of their license will be delayed three days."

So... does that mean it's not mandatory? Because it says that the license will just be delayed, but not denied. Has anyone been recently married without having taken the course?
Thanks!

AileeneG

 It's strongly encouraged, but not mandatory. If you take the course, you do get a discount on the cost of your marriage license, and the license is effective immidiately. Otheriwse, you pay the whole fee and have to wait 3 days after you get the license to actually get married.

Theresa626

No, it is not mandatory.  It means that if you don't take the course, you need to wait three days after getting your marriage license before you may be legally wed.  If you have taken a prep course, you can get your marriage license and then go get married that same day.  You also get a discount of 30 or 50 bucks on your marriage license if you have taken a marriage prep course.  

MarieGillespie

Thank you! I will think on it. Also, most premarital courses of at churches or are religious in some nature. I know it's only once course, but we feel very uncomfortable about doing it that way since neither of us are at all religious. I'm not sure how the course works, but we don't want to go in there and have the minister speak to us about religious commitment etc when we have nothing to do with that... I think there's also regular counselors that do the course but I'm not sure... wher did you all get your done?

Pattash

I think the court can provide you a list of courses you can take in the area.

sarah42nd

There are alot of courses that are not religous based. But like PP said the court shoudl have a list. Look it up on the website or google

But we are getting ours done thru our church -12 weeks -one day a week. But hey it will save us 50 bucks. lol

emattchen

We did our premarital prep course through an online provider since neither of us is religious.  We downloaded a 6 hour course with audio and a workbook for both of us to complete and discuss.  The course went through communication, conflict resolution, connection, and commitment.  They are an approved provider for Florida and it was fairly inexpensive, plus we get a discount on our marriage license. 

AileeneG

You can get them done through a certified counselor. I'm not sure if it has to be specifically a family and marriage counselor, but they should be able to tell you that if you call.

ajoyfulnole

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_premarital-preparation-course?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:66Discussion:40dacf2e-2339-4af8-9680-45afe93bf484Post:d46255ea-3c98-4564-bbf0-1fa9f281142f">Re: premarital preparation course</a>:
[QUOTE]We did our premarital prep course through an online provider since neither of us is religious.  We downloaded a 6 hour course with audio and a workbook for both of us to complete and discuss.  The course went through communication, conflict resolution, connection, and commitment.  They are an approved provider for Florida and it was fairly inexpensive, plus we get a discount on our marriage license. 
Posted by emattchen[/QUOTE]

I had no idea you could do those online!  Would you mind posting a link or the name of the course?  Thanks!

emattchen

The website for the online course is www.premaritalonline.com

ajoyfulnole

That's awesome!!  Thanks so much!

MarieGillespie

Thanks for the tips! We just did our online last night at
http://www.relationshipjourney.com/premaritalpreparationprogram.html
You just have to spend at least 4 hours doing the activities together and then there's a  short quiz. Got the certificate today $30!

amberich16

We just took our course.  It was so informative!!  It was free because we saved $32.50 off our license and it only cost $25.  Here's the site  www.drmartinezcounselingservices.com.  click on premarital course

3.5 weeks to our big day!!!!!