Pre Marriage Course

This week finally saw us tick one of the last few boxes that are required to get married in the eye of the law and the lord: The Pre-Marriage Course.

Now, since November of last year, this is compulsory agian in the Republic of Ireland and even though we are not getting married in the Republic, we could make use of the ample offers around the country for our wedding, too.

Basically, the pre-marriage course is designed to help couples to understand what they are "getting themselves into" so to say. Most of them are held by religious organisations, and to be frank, my expectations towards their content and delivery were very low. I expected campaigns against contraception, the deadly sin that is divorce and a contract to be signed that the family is going to go to church every Sunday from now on.

Save to say, I was positively surprised. We attended our course in Terenure College, which was only 10 minutes by car from our place here. It was delivered by a group of speakers in four sessions, led by Fr. Patrick Rogers from together.ie. At only 120 Euro per couple and layed out as a full Saturday session, rather than having to spread the time over two days, this was perfectly fitting into our schedule.

Topics included very practical advice on conflict resolution, communications, legal requirements, ceremonial suggestions, options for music and, in a far less catholic way than I had feared, methods of family planning. The session completed with a group question and answer session with a very down to earth young couple giving an insight into their married live for the last 15 years.

All speakers, and the good father in particular, were entertaining and open, and never preaching. They provided insights from very practical advice like "ladies mind the nails if you are putting on his condom" to Fr. Rogers quoting the Song of Salomon (probably the bible's most pornographic text) as an example of an entertaining but probably inappropriate reading for the wedding ceremony.

The only one moment I had to cringe, was during the second session, when we went, rather aprubtly, from the options how to share work around the house evenly between partners to the layout of a vagina. It literally went something like "... other couples have a different approach, because they are both working *click* this is a picture of the female genitalia...". No comment...

On the whole, I never though I would say it, but I actually enjoyed the day and found it great to be able to hear other couples talk about their experiences. Also, the setting of Terenure college was pretty nice and the layout of the day, with ample breaks, free sandwiches, tea and coffee, made it a nice Saturday.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the course to anyone looking for a pre-marriage course. Details are available at the website together.ie.