Couples therapy is not just for couples that are married or have been together for a while. Couples therapy is for any couples working to build their relationship with hopes of it being a life-long commitment.
Coming together with another person can be difficult. You have your life experiences, baggage, beliefs, values, etc. and so does your partner. Mixing these things together and trying to find a way to make everything work can be challenging.
To help make this transition easier, there is premarital therapy. Premarital therapy focuses on helping couples prepare for marriage with the goal of creating a stable, satisfying, and life-long relationship. The therapist should be looking for any areas within the relationship that need to be strengthened in order to achieve this goal. Some topics that may come up and that may need to be worked on include communication, values, roles, finances, physical/emotional intimacy, conflict resolution, children/parenting, and family relationships. Differing on these topics is okay but going into marriage before discussing them and thinking through how you will handle these differences can cause conflict later on.
Premarital therapy gives you the opportunity to better understand your partners differences, expectations, and values. This will lead you to be able to support each other and make healthy decisions together.
Nothing can 100% prepare you for what it is going to be like when you get married. A lot changes throughout a relationship. But, premarital therapy can help you learn how to work through things that give the relationship a better change of lasting. Your therapist should help you talk through topics that you have avoided or have not talked about yet. When relationships are new and we are excited about getting married, it is easy to overlook important things that need to be discussed. We get wrapped up in excitement and want to hold onto that feeling. This is completely understandable. In the beginning, differences often attract you to your partner. However, they can be a major source of conflict if you become unsure on how to navigate these differences.
Premarital therapy can be hard work. You have to do work to look at areas of potential conflict and commit to learning and practicing new ways to operate within your relationship. Although it may be tough, you will also gain a lot of insight about yourself and your relationship that you did not have beforehand. Insight allows you to be one step ahead of future problems and better develop strategies that will help you be most successful when they come up.