Wedding Prep vs Marriage Prep

Wedding Preparation versus Marriage Preparation

            This can sometimes get confused when you are engaged…..or maybe it was just me.  I remember when my wife and I were engaged I felt like our relationship was so amazing so maybe I just thought of wedding preparation as marriage preparation.  But it’s not the same.  Marriage preparation is preparing for the marriage.  Preparing for your whole life as husband and wife.  Real Simple has made a list for preparation for a wedding.  It has 70 checks on it that start from 16 months before your wedding and go up to the day of the wedding.  Go to http://www.realsimple.com/weddings/weddings-planning/wedding-planning-checklist to see the full list.  Needless to say it can get very complicated.  It can be months of preparation.  Marriage preparation can be very long also but it is different.  You both need to work together to determine how you communicate together.  I think a great way to do this is to start doing a family counsel while you are still engaged.  This can help you and your spouse get in the habit of doing this before you get married. It would also be a great idea to speak to a bishop or counselor who can provide useful advice.  Even a successful married couple that you know could give great advice also.  Here is a resource that can help with more questions:  https://institute.lds.org/bc/content/institute/materials/english/student-manuals/religion-234-235-eternal-marriage-student-manualeng.pdf

Modern Dating

5/23/2015

Dating Does Not Mean Hanging Out!

            Something that I have heard a ton lately in conference has been about the difference between dating and hanging out.  I have always distinguished this in my mind but I am not always the most up to date person either.  Nowadays people get together and hang out.  They just hang out, which could mean anything.  But a date is when a person asks another person out and then they go do this.  It is a formal thing.  Honestly as I have been looking at things to write this post I have really thought about how this applies to singles but it really applies to married people as well.  My wife always says that I never plan dates anymore.  In my mind we go on a date every week but it’s usually going out to dinner and getting a movie or going and seeing a movie.  I think what she really means is that she wants me to take her on a date.  Just going to dinner and watching a movie sounds an awful lot like hanging out.  I mean before I was married I had a few friends that were girls and when we hung out we would go get food or watch a movie or both.  So you have to ask the other person…It’s a formal thing.  If you don’t make it formal then you have no way of knowing if it’s a date or hanging out.  I think people have gotten lazy and/or scared and so they try to make due with just kind of making their way in.  You have to make it formal that is what makes it a date.  If you still don’t understand take a look at some of these videos of apostles and their wives talking about how they met and how they dated!