FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
I offer discounts for couples who desire both premarital education coaching and wedding officiant services.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I'm an ordained minister and seminary degreed with a M.A. in Religion (M.A.R) including coursework in pastoral counseling. I'm a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. I've been a PREPARE and PREP® Inc. certified facilitator since 2000. PREPARE stands for PREmarital Personal And Relationship Evaluation. PREPARE is a customized couple assessment completed online that identifies a couple's unique strengths and potential growth areas of their relationship. PREP® stands for Preventative Relationship Enhancement Program. PREP® is based on sound, basic research on marital and family health, and is a rigorously tested model for teaching couples how to communicate, manage conflicts without damaging closeness, protect friendship, enhance commitment, and clarify expectations. I use PREPARE and PREP® to help premarital couples better understand their relationship dynamics, and to improve their relationship satisfaction.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
By the nature of my former vocation as a Pastor, one of the services expected of me was to prepare couples for marriage and officiate weddings. I've served premarital and married couples since the 1980s. I officiated my first wedding in 1986. Early in my pastoral ministry, married couples often requested assistance in helping them manage and work through their issues. I became aware that most married couples had received little to no premarital education which could have better prepared them for married life, or they lacked the skills and attitudes associated with marital stability and success. I made it a part of my life mission to help premarital couples embrace those attitudes and learn those skills, and provide them spiritual guidance and practical coaching in preparing for married life.