Premarital Counseling for Engaged Couples
Build a Stronger Foundation Before You Say “I Do”
In-person premarital counseling in Centennial, Colorado, serving the Denver metro area, and online throughout Colorado, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Idaho.
Where can we work together?
I work with couples in person in Centennial, Colorado, and online throughout Colorado, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Idaho.
Select your state below to learn more about working together.
Helping Engaged Couples Build Stronger Marriages
You’re planning a wedding, but you’re also planning a life together. And those are two very different projects.
Premarital counseling gives you a chance to talk intentionally about the parts of marriage that are easy to put off while you’re choosing venues, making guest lists, and figuring out where everyone is going to sit.
How will you handle money? What happens when you disagree? How do you divide responsibilities without quietly resenting each other? What expectations are you bringing into marriage about sex, affection, family, religion, parenting, or careers?
You don’t need to be having relationship problems to benefit from premarital counseling.
The point is to have some of these conversations before you’re trying to have them exhausted, angry, or ten years into an unresolved disagreement
What We Cover in Premarital Counseling
Every couple is different, but premarital counseling gives us a chance to talk intentionally about some of the areas that tend to matter once you're building a life together.
Communication and conflict
Sex, desire, affection, and sexual expectations
Money and financial expectations
Roles and responsibilities in daily life
Family and in-law boundaries
Religion, faith, and values
Children and parenting
Careers, goals, and plans for the future
Friendship, fun, and staying connected over time
You don't have to agree on all of these things before you get married. The goal is to understand what each of you is bringing into the marriage, identify the differences that are worth talking about now, and get better at having those conversations together.
Premarital Counseling With Marina Stanton, LMFT, CST
I’m Marina Stanton, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, and Gottman Method Level 3 Trained therapist. My practice is focused almost exclusively on couples, including couples who would rather have some of the important conversations before marriage than wait until they're ten years into the same disagreement.
Because I specialize in both couples therapy and sex therapy, sex doesn't have to be the awkward topic we save for the last five minutes. We can talk openly about desire, affection, expectations, sexual values, boundaries, and what each of you imagines your sexual relationship will look like alongside money, family, conflict, parenting, faith, and everything else you're bringing into marriage.
I won't expect you to agree on everything. We'll focus on understanding your differences and getting better at navigating them together.
In-Person & Online Premarital Counseling
In-Person Premarital Counseling in Centennial, Colorado
I offer premarital counseling at my office in Centennial, Colorado, serving the Denver metro area, including Parker, Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Lone Tree, and surrounding communities. My office is located near I-25 and C-470.
Online Premarital Counseling in Colorado, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Idaho
I also offer online premarital counseling for couples throughout Colorado, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Idaho. You'll need a reliable internet connection and a private place where both of you can participate comfortably.
Ready to get started?
Start Your Marriage With the Conversations That Matter
Premarital counseling gives you a chance to talk intentionally about the life you're building together before you're trying to work through those conversations in the middle of a conflict.
A free 15-minute consultation gives you a chance to tell me a little about your relationship, ask questions, and see whether my approach feels like a good fit for both of you.
Let's talk.
Frequently Asked Questions about Premarital Counseling
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Premarital counseling gives you a structured place to talk about the parts of marriage that are easy to assume you’re on the same page about until you discover that you’re...not. 😆
Depending on your relationship, we may talk about communication, conflict, family backgrounds, finances, roles and expectations, friendships and boundaries, religion, children and parenting, emotional connection, sex and intimacy, and what each of you expects marriage to look like.
The goal isn’t to find every potential problem before you get married. It’s to understand each other better, identify areas where your expectations differ, and build skills for handling those differences well.
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Absolutely. You don’t need to be having relationship problems to benefit from premarital counseling.
In fact, premarital counseling can be particularly useful when things are going well because you can have important conversations without also trying to repair years of hurt or resentment. We can identify strengths you want to protect, talk through differences before they become recurring conflicts, and give you tools you can use throughout your marriage.
Think of it less as fixing something that’s wrong and more as being intentional about the relationship you’re building.
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There’s a lot of overlap. Both involve understanding your relationship, improving communication, navigating differences, and building a stronger partnership.
Premarital counseling tends to be more proactive and structured around preparing for marriage. Couples therapy is often more focused on concerns that are already creating distress or disconnection.
But those lines aren’t rigid. If premarital counseling uncovers a recurring conflict, sexual concern, family issue, or other area that needs more attention, we can work on it rather than pretending engaged couples are supposed to arrive at marriage with everything figured out.
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No. Premarital counseling can be helpful for engaged couples, couples seriously considering marriage, or partners who want to have more intentional conversations about their future before making that decision.
You don’t need a ring or a wedding date to start talking seriously about the relationship you’re building.
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Please do. 😆
I’m both a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, so sex and intimacy can absolutely be part of premarital counseling.
We can talk about expectations, desire, pleasure, sexual communication, boundaries, differences between partners, religious or cultural messages about sexuality, or concerns about transitioning into a sexual relationship after marriage.
You don’t have to wait until sex becomes a problem to learn how to talk about it together.
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There isn’t one required number. Some couples are looking for a relatively brief, focused experience, while others discover areas they want to spend more time working through.
We’ll talk about what you’re hoping to get from premarital counseling and decide what makes sense for your relationship rather than automatically committing you to a predetermined number of sessions.
And if something important comes up along the way, we can slow down and give it the attention it deserves.
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Yes. Religion can shape expectations around marriage, family roles, sexuality, parenting, finances, and what commitment itself means, so it often makes sense for those beliefs to be part of the conversation.
I have extensive experience working with religiously conservative and faith-based couples, including LDS and mixed-faith couples. I’m comfortable incorporating your beliefs into our work without assuming that I know what your marriage or religious practice should look like.
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Yes. I offer in-person premarital counseling in Centennial, Colorado, serving the Denver metro area, as well as online sessions.
For online therapy, I can work with couples who are physically located in states where I’m licensed: Colorado, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Idaho.
If you’re not sure whether your location will work, we can sort that out during your free 15-minute consultation.