Premarital counseling is an important step in preparing for marriage. Unfortunately, it is one that many people opt not to seek out, due to time, money or feeling like it’s unnecessary (hint, every couple could use it!). However, there are many online premarital courses that don’t cost a lot, don’t take much time, and can help set you up for success in your marriage!
1. Best Overall: The Art & Science of Love Online
The Art & Science of Love is a couples workshop created by Drs. John and Julie Gottman that is based on over 40 years of research with thousands of couples’ involvement. The workshop has been taught as a live couples weekend workshop for years but is now available online in the comfort of your own home. This workshop will give you new insights and research-based skills that can help you stay on the right track in your marriage.
Through his research, Dr. John Gottman was able to determine what the ‘Masters of Relationships’ are doing to keep their marriages strong. The tools in this course are based on what these couples are doing to maintain a healthy, happy marriage and will set your relationship up for success.
The Art & Science of Love workshop is structured with 10 different modules, each including videos and exercises to be performed as a couple. This is a self-paced online training, so you can complete the modules on your own time. Once you purchase the workshop, you will have an unlimited amount of time to complete it. Your purchase includes over 20 videos, over 12 exercises, and several valuable handouts that you can access immediately.
The workshop teaches:
- How to build friendship in your relationship and express feelings of respect and affection.
- How to manage conflict and communicate effectively.
- How to recognize the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and what to do if they are attacking your marriage
- Ways to identify your relationship’s specific strengths and how to build on them together
- About the effects of physiological flooding and how it may affect conflict resolution
- How to use the Fondness and Admiration System to renew, respect, and care for one another
- How to create an Emotional Bank Account that you can draw upon in times of stress
- How to develop your problem-solving skills, including the six skills for effective conflict resolutions
This course includes:
- 8 hours of video from a recent live workshop conducted by Drs. John and Julie Gottman
- 119-page printable PDF manual with the content, assessments, interventions, and references discussed in training videos
- Four Horsemen and Their Antidotes handout
- Aftermath of a Fight: How to Repair After a Fight or a Regrettable Incident handout
- Gottman Repair Checklist handout
- Gottman Card Decks download instructions
Cost of The Art & Science of Love Online
The cost of this course is $199 with an option to add on an Art & Science of Love boxed set for $79.00. The boxed set includes additional materials that you and your partner can use to continue to learn more about each other and deepen your relationship.
2. At Your Own Pace: Happily Ever After
Happily Ever After is an online premarital course that will get you and your partners talking about 6 core areas of a relationship, including money, self-discovery, conflict & repair, sex & intimacy, family of origin, and communication. It was developed by a married couple, Casey and Meygan, who know the hardships of marriage and have navigated through them together.
With this course, you and your partner will start by taking an assessment that will help identify strengths and differences in your relationship. After the assessment, you and your partner will watch a series of 20-30 minute videos that introduce a topic and demonstrate the use of healthy relationship tools. You will then use the worksheets provided to create a plan on how to use the new tool.
Additionally, you will receive some bonus material, including:
- 4 Qualities to Look for in a Partner
- Honeymoon Tips
- How to Handle Anxiety
- Parenting and Family Planning
- Managing Money
This course can help get you started on the right track, doesn’t cost much and you can go at your own pace since you have lifetime access!
Cost of Happily Ever After
Happily Ever After is a one time fee course that you will then have access to for life. The fee for the course is $97 and includes the assessment, videos, PDF worksheets, and action plans.
3. Best Free Option: Prologue: Start Marriage Here
Prologue is a FREE online course that includes five different chapters for you and your partner to explore at your own pace. The chapters include Family, Love, Values, Relationship, and Communication. Each chapter comes with an Introduction that includes articles, a questionnaire that you will both take to assess your similarities and differences, and discussion questions to get you talking.
Each chapter also includes a short video from Gary Chapman, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series, The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts If you and your partner want to go deeper with the discussion questions, you can also sign up for The Counselor’s Guide
To get started, all you have to do is sign up and you will be sent all the information needed. You and your partner can work from anywhere as long as you have access to the internet. You can even work from different parts of the country (or the world for that matter) if needed! Additionally, you have access to track one another’s progress so that you both stay on course together. If you’re looking for some help in preparing for marriage but are on a budget and need flexibility, this may be the online premarital course for you.
4. Best Plan With Live Counselor Access: Growing Self
Growing Self has three different options for premarital counseling so that you can tailor to meet your specific needs and budget. They offer a structured 6-hour class called Lifetime of Love, an online program of 3-5 sessions called I Do!, or private counseling. Whatever option you choose, Growing Self can help you “get in alignment, learn essential relationship skills, prevent future problems, and create a long term plan to keep your love strong.”
If you opt for the structured Lifetime of Love Class, you will spend 6 hours working on the following topics:
- The Secrets of Strong Couples
- Healthy Communication 101
- Manage Inevitable Conflict Productively
- Keep Romance Alive
- Create Agreement with the Big Five (Money, Household Responsibilities, Religion, Kids and Sex)
- Hopes & Dreams
If you decide to take part in the I Do! program, you will begin with an assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities in your relationship. You will then have private sessions with a counselor to address issues and learn effective tools to keep your relationship strong. These sessions will cover communication, teamwork, finances, hopes and dreams, lifestyle, and sex and love.
If you want premarital counseling that is less structured, you can choose the private premarital counseling option.
Growing Self offers 3 plans at different price points:
- Lifetime of Love Premarital & Relationship Class: This class includes 6 hours of online instruction and teaches 6 relationship skills. The class costs $265 per couple.
- I Do! Premarital Counseling Program: This program includes a comprehensive assessment and 3-5 private sessions with an expert premarital counselor. The cost is $105-$125/session depending upon the experience level of the counselor. Growing Self offers a sliding scale fee if needed based on income.
- Private Premarital Counseling: The private premarital counseling option offers flexible, open-ended counseling without a time limit or specific structure so you can address any issues that feel important to you and your partner. The cost is $105-$125/session depending upon the experience level of the counselor. Growing Self offers a sliding scale fee if needed based on income.
5. Best Quick Option: Marriage.com
marriage.com offers a pre-marriage course that is designed for couples that are engaged and want to be better prepared for marriage. Although it is meant to be taken by couples, an individual can take it and benefit as well if your partner is unable or unwilling to take it. It can help you transition smoothly into a happy marriage by bringing more clarity into what makes a marriage healthy. It offers various chapters that couples review to help “build better communication, manage the expectations they can have from each other, and transition into this phase to make their relationship stronger with a long-term outlook.”
The pre-marriage course includes a total of five chapters that cover the following topics:
- What Makes A Marriage Healthy?
- Managing Expectations
- Setting Shared Goals
- Great Communication
- Moving from ‘Me’ to ‘We’
This course takes about 4 hours on average to complete but can be done on your own time. As soon as you register, you will receive a link that will give you access to the materials for you to move through at your own leisure.
Plan Options for Marriage.com
Marriage.com offers three plans at different price points:
- The Gold Plan at $49: It includes all 5 Chapters listed above and some helpful resources. It takes a total of 2 hours to complete and you will be given access to the material for a total of 3 months.
- The Platinum Plan at $99: With this plan, you will be given everything in the Silver Plan plus:
- Mini Course: 15 Steps to a Happier Marriage
- Bonus eBook: Marriage Guide (38 Pages)
- Activity Worksheet: 21 Questions to Get Ready for Marriage
- Communication Starters Kit
- 30-Day Marriage Calendar
- Recommended Books
- Motivational Videos
- The course duration for this plan is 3 hours and it gives you access to the materials for 6 months.
6. Best Option for LGBTQ+ Couples: Let’s Hack the Love Code Together
Let’s Hack the Love Code Together is a course created by Dr. Liliana Wolf specifically for LGBT couples. Her course is an LGBT-affirmative implementation program where you will learn:
- How to avoid entering the destructive cycle that most married couples tend to engage in
- How to curb impulsive reactions that end up causing pain and distance
- How to de-escalate conflict
- How to repair rifts
- How to build emotional safety
- How a deep emotional connection creates the framework for great sex, and how great sex, in turn, facilitates a deeper emotional connection.
Let’s Hack the Love Code Together contains 13 modules that include the following topics:
- The Science of Love
- The Threat of Disconnection
- Understanding Your Reactive Style: Your Triggers
- What It Takes to Remain Connected:Three Elements to Relationship Satisfaction
- How to Maintain Emotional Safety
- How to Go Beyond the Basic Skills to Resolve Conflicts
- Your Values, Your Essence
- Money and Love? Do They Mix?
- The Science of Sex
- Conflict Management
- To Live Happily Forever After
- See If You Are Ready For A Baby or Not
- My Family, Your Family, Our Family
Plan Options for Let’s Hack the Love Code
Let’s Hack the Love Code costs just $49.97 and includes access to all the modules above for a LIFETIME. Once you enter your card information, the materials will be sent to your email address. You can review the modules and engage in the assignments at your own pace.
For Further Reading
- Lasting App – A self-guided couples counseling tool to use alongside marriage & couples counseling
- Best Books for a Healthy Marriage
- Best Books About Self Improvement
- Podcasts all about couples counseling and relationships
