Church requirements

Mark and I are getting married at Faith Lutheran Church in Oakville, MO.  My church has a long list of things you need to do in order to get married there.  First if one of you isn't a member of the church you have to attend the starting point class, which basically just informs you of the practicies and beliefs of the church.  It's 4 hours long our head pastor leads it and you get a free meal.  I was not looking forward to this class but it actually was much more interesting than I thought it would be.

The next requirement was to attend a marriage conference, it was a 2 day long event at the church where we watched a video and then had discussion time afterwards on what was introduced in the video. It was all based on the book of the bible "The Song of Solomon" I was shocked by how much there really is to learn about love from the song of solomon book.  I would recommend this study to anyone.  It really teaches you a lot about conflict resolution, intamacy between you and your spouse, how to communicate, and even courtship.  There were many things in this study I wish I would have known when I was younger and dating. If you ever get the chance to attend this conference I highly highly recommend it!

The last thing we have to do is meet with our mentor couple 4-5 times.  This is a couple who has been married for a while and want to help young couples in the church have a long, healthy, lasting relationship.  We will meet them at their house and make dinner together, relax and just talk.  The main marriage care director assigns you with a mentor couple based on your needs and their background.  We met our mentor couple at the conference and they are wonderful, fun, and I think we are going to get along really well!

We also have to attend at least 75% of services in the year leading up to your wedding.  Basically I am very pleased with the way church is handeling this and trying to make sure the marriages they perform there last.  I wasn't looking forward to any of this before but now I wouldn't give it up. I would recommend any of this to anyone looking to get married.

If any of you have questions about any of this let me know!