[AngieDoogles]

My hubby and I went to pre-marital counseling because it saved us quite a bit of money on our marriage license. We've been married for three years now. We didn't find it helpful at all, but the "counselor" wasn't that great. It was really boring and all of the questions we were asked, we had already discussed in great detail with each other in private. What helped us more than the counseling was the fact that we knew each other very well. We went through "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman together and discussed what made us feel most loved and what would be the best way to show our love to each other. Of course, we had also discussed all of the "big" questions that are imperative to know before marriage. I think those early conversations have really guided our marriage a lot during the the past three years. Because of the understanding we had with each other about what we wanted from our marriage and what to do to make each other feel loved and how we would handle disagreements, I feel that we have a very happy and healthy marriage that continues to get better and better.

That's just my experience with it. I'm sure pre-marital counseling is very beneficial to some, or even most, couples, but it's important to have the right counselor. That probably would've made a huge difference in our experience.