You've Chosen Each Other.
Now Let's Build the Marriage.
A 12-session premarital counseling program for couples who are ready to invest in what comes after the wedding.
Schedule a consultationThe Conversation Most Couples Avoid
There's a real reason a lot of couples skip premarital counseling. They worry it will surface something that calls the wedding off. The invitations are out. The deposits are paid. The families are flying in. Nobody wants to hear bad news now.
Let's be honest for a second. On the bright side, what would actually be worse: pausing or rethinking a wedding, or going through a divorce five or ten years in? Our fears usually have something to tell us, and that's a topic for another day. But for most couples, the fear is bigger than the reality. What surfaces in this work is almost never a hard stop. What surfaces is usually some version of the same thing: we love each other, and there are parts of each other we still want to know better.
That's exactly what this is. A structured way to keep knowing each other more deeply before you say I do. Not a test you can fail. Not a verdict on your relationship. A space designed to take you further into the partnership you've already chosen.
You've chosen each other. The decision is made. You're not here to find out whether you should get married. You're here because you want to do it well. That's exactly the right reason to be here.
Why This Matters
Couples spend extraordinary amounts of money and months of planning on a single day. The dress, the venue, the seating chart, the playlist. Every detail is rehearsed.
Now consider how much time goes into preparing for the marriage itself. The decades that follow the reception. The conversations about money, in-laws, careers, sex, parenting, time apart, time together, and what you each assumed your partner already knew.
For most couples, the answer is almost none. And when preparation does happen, it often comes through a faith-based program that may or may not fit who you are.
This program is not religious. It is not judgmental. It is not designed to make anyone feel guilty about what they have or have not figured out yet. It is structured, evidence-based clinical work, designed to give you tools you carry into the marriage and use for the rest of your life.
What the Research Says
The data on premarital counseling is unusually consistent for this kind of intervention.
A meta-analysis published in Family Relations (Carroll and Doherty, 2003) found that the average couple who completed a premarital prevention program was better off afterward than 79 percent of couples who did not. The effect size was 0.80, which in clinical research is considered large.
A large random survey study (Stanley, Amato, Johnson, and Markman, 2006) found that couples who participated in premarital education had higher marital satisfaction, higher commitment, lower conflict, and a 31 percent lower likelihood of divorce.
Long-term follow-up studies have shown that the gains hold. Couples who do the work early tend to keep the skills, keep the language, and keep the habits of communication that make hard moments survivable.
This is one of the few interventions in the field with that kind of evidence behind it. It works because it happens before the patterns set in, before resentment builds, before couples are already in crisis trying to repair damage.
79%
of couples who completed the program were better off than those who did not
0.80
effect size, considered large in clinical research
31%
lower likelihood of divorce for couples who completed premarital education
Culture Is in the Details
If you and your partner come from different countries, different cultures, or different backgrounds, this program is built for you too.
People talk about culture in marriage in vague, abstract ways. Beautiful. Diverse. A blend of two worlds. What they rarely talk about is what culture actually means in the day-to-day reality of living together.
Culture is how loud your household is at breakfast. Whether shoes come off at the door. Who answers when your mother calls. How money is discussed, or whether it's discussed at all. What "on time" means. What hospitality looks like when family visits. Whether disagreements happen out loud or get communicated through silence. What food means. What rest means. What success means. Whether you tell your in-laws everything, some things, or nothing.
Couples who fall in love often do so across these differences without realizing how much they were taking for granted from their own background. Then they move in together, or move countries together, and dozens of small daily things start to feel unfamiliar. The adjustment of living together as a couple, in a new place, with new habits, asks something of both partners that nobody warned them about.
This is where premarital counseling earns its keep. We talk about culture specifically. Yours and your partner's. What each of you assumed was universal but is actually just how things were done where you grew up. What you want to bring forward. What you want to set down. How you'll build a third culture together that belongs to your marriage.
This program welcomes couples from any background, any pairing, and any country. Building a shared life across borders, languages, faith traditions, and family expectations. Sessions are conducted in English or Indonesian via secure telehealth, available across time zones.
What This Program Is
A 12-session premarital counseling program drawing on years of clinical training in couples therapy, family systems, and evidence-based modalities. Early in the program, each of you completes the PREPARE/ENRICH assessment, a research-based tool that gives us a customized look at your specific relationship. The clinical work itself draws on the broader range of approaches I use in my practice.
Sessions are 60 minutes each, conducted via secure telehealth. The early sessions establish the foundation through joint and individual intake work and the assessment. From there, the program is tailored to the priorities you choose together, with structured, hands-on work on the topics that matter most to your relationship.
You decide what matters. I bring the structure, the assessment, and the clinical tools.
Sessions
12 sessions · 60 minutes each
Format
Secure telehealth · any time zone
Assessment
PREPARE/ENRICH included
Language
English or Indonesian
Planting a Seed
Here's the other thing this program does, in the background.
You're building a relationship with a clinician who knows you both. Who has met you when things are good. Who has heard your stories, watched how you talk to each other, and seen what your relationship actually looks like.
Most couples wait until they're in crisis to call a therapist. By then, they're walking into a stranger's office at the worst moment of their relationship. They have to explain everything from scratch while in pain.
You won't have to do that. If something feels off in year three or year seven, you'll already know where to come back to and what it's like to sit in this room. You won't have to wait until things get bad. You'll have a place to come back to early, when problems are still small.
That's part of what you're paying for. Not just the wedding-season skills. The long view.
Who This Is For
What You Leave With
Investment
$2,400
12 sessions · $200 per session
Below my standard couples rate. Any sessions beyond the package are billed at my standard hourly rate.
Premarital counseling is generally not covered by insurance. This is true regardless of which clinician you see. Premarital work is preventive, not treatment for a diagnosed condition, so insurance plans don't reimburse it. The couples who do this work are paying out of pocket because they've decided their marriage is worth the investment.
There is also something worth naming directly: paying privately means complete confidentiality. No diagnosis on record. Nothing submitted to an insurer. Nothing that follows either of you professionally or medically. For couples in government, diplomatic, or high-profile careers, or anyone who simply values discretion in their healthcare, this matters. You get the full benefit of clinical work with none of the paper trail.
For context, the average American wedding costs around $35,000. This program is a fraction of that, invested in the part that actually lasts.
Ready to Begin?
Schedule a brief consultation call to ask questions and confirm fit before booking the program.
Schedule a consultation