As for counseling, we never had any and been married for four years and had a Civil War wedding at a park with a preacher that was on hand for the ceremony on a moments notice...our original preacher never showed up until later in the day....his horse trailer popped two tires at once so he didnt call or anything...we were glad we got married and never had an apology from the original preacher that was late!
Some preachers or the "man of the cloth" do require counseling before they could marry you....we had to go thru the list and had two that would perform the ceremony IF we go for counseling. Well it was a little late and some of the wedding guests were there while we were waiting for our original preacher.
Luckily my matron of honor(who she portrays Mrs Lincoln...see her pic...
http://www.abeandthebabe.com/program.html and hairdresser knew of one guy that worked at the sutlery that was an preacher and she went over to his tent and ask if he could perform the ceremony. Sure enough, he did and it was a blessing of both of them! I almost had a breakdown that what are we going to do or how to fake the wedding with all those guests and get married on a Monday after the event under the judge at the court house! Hubby was so nervous and his best man didnt even show up either, not a call or letter either! (he later got called to be shipped to Iraq). So at the last minute he ask our commander to do the honors. Mr. Lincoln gave us a narration of a married couple and it was so lovely! They were such our dearest friends you could ever ask for! We are forever in their debt for their help in a bad timing of our wedding day!
Staying married is hard work...it isnt a bed of roses that some people say! Its a lot of give and take between the two of us and the kids thats in the picture is harder and it takes time and effort to keep ourselves sane and up and downs as well. Its ok to agree on the issues you do not agree on. We even had family counseling and works well and got us back on track once hubby got a new job.....support your hubby even he "fell" off the band wagon when he lost his job and sunk in deep depression that he lashed out and it was one of the hardest times we had to face by far in our marriage and many times, it looked too easy to get out of the marriage by stupid stuff that isnt worth fighting for. If you must argue or get the last word in, fight with care, love and with no sarastic or demeaning words...just constructively. Worked for us and counseling has worked so far in our efforts. Sometimes we need to take a deep breath and laugh about it once we take a look at what the heck we were arguing about????!!!!!
Congrats on your impending marriage and wish you all the luck!
