Wedding Planning Stressing You Out? Better Hire a Wedding Therapist

By SheSpeaksTeam Jun 14, 2013

Couples in a rut often find success when they turn to marriage counseling, but with all the stresses of planning a wedding some couples are finding therapy before the big day to be very helpful. In many cases, wedding planning can test a couple’s love like nothing else and making it to the aisle intact seems to be an impossibility…this is where a wedding therapist steps in.

CBS News reports about the growing trend of employing wedding therapists to perform “premarital counseling”. Psychotherapist Annie Block Pearl, who conducts premarital counseling, explains how big of a change marriage can be and how the importance of the union is often overlooked when couples get more involved in color schemes and menu options. Pearl says “I realized that people, when they get married, they get involved with the gown, with the planning, with the flowers and how everything is going to look, and don't think as much as the incredible transformation they are going through in their lives.”

The most discussed area of conflict Pearl experiences in premarital couples counseling is about children. Though many couples go into marriage with an understanding of whether they want kids or not they have failed to talk about how many children they would like or what religion they will follow.

Finances is another concern of couples not yet married. While they stretch budgets for planning a wedding, questions of joint bank accounts and how they will plan a household budget may arise. Wedding therapist Jocelyn Charnas likes to think of the work she does as a way to prevent conflicts down the road. She explains “Think of it as preventative medicine. We go to the dentist not only when we have a tooth ache, but twice a year to get our teeth cleaned. Think of it as preventative psychology.”

Do you think it’s a good idea for couples to see wedding therapists before the big day?

Have you had success taking part in couple’s counseling?