The Couple Visioning Box: Making Engagement (and Marriage) Meaningful

I’m on a mission to help couples thrive during their engagement and learn how to build an emotionally fulfilling marriage. That’s why I’m busy creating a new format Couple Visioning Box™ with couple dates and tools and playful items. It will suit engaged couples, as well as newly married couples who want to cultivate a healthier emotional bond.

Here’s why I believe the Couple Visioning Box™ is so relevant in these times.

The original intent of engagement was to focus on getting to know each other at a deeper level and building the foundation for a lasting relationship.

Sadly, today we live in a society that treats engagement and the lead up to the wedding as though the Bride and Groom are the stars of a fairy tale.  It’s become a time of what I call ‘romanticized consumption.’ The result is that there is very little, if any, discussion about what happens after the wedding.

If you are a couple who already lives together, you may think you know everything about each other and that there’s nothing to discuss. But I’m willing to bet that you don’t and there is! There can be many things you have never thought to talk about.

Don’t get blindsided. Talking about things, getting clear on your values, hopes and dreams, doesn’t mean that if you disagree you walk away. It just gives you more information about each other. And it increases your ability to cultivate love and harmony after the wedding day is over. Wouldn’t it be nice to start out on strong footing?

I’ve been blessed to collaborate with many couples over the years as their Wedding Celebrant. Because of the deeply reflective process that I use, we get to know each other pretty darned well.  Most stay in touch and many ask me for advice and guidance around making a stronger and more conscious marriage.

Their experiences, combined with my own doing lots of couple-building therapy with my fab husband Dan, inspired me to create a Couple Visioning Box™. My goal is to help engaged and newly married couples thrive in relationships of joy and intention.

The box is filled to the brim with tips, tasks, and tools (and some fun treats) to nourish your emotional connection with each other. A strong emotional bond is what will hold you together in the long term, not the size of your dessert table!

The boxes will be ready to post in June. If you want to be put on the pre-order list, email Michele@moderncelebrant.ca

The first 44 readers to sign up for the new box receive it for just $95 (regularly $175). Please note this code in the subject of your email: MCMD12.

Real Weddings: Zoë and Tyler

Wow! Working with Zoë and Tyler was an incredible privilege.  They were totally into the reflective process that I mindfully guide couples through before I write their ceremony. Zoë and Tyler, like all the the couples I work with, BELIEVE in the transformative power of ceremony. They found the time spent reflecting on the deeper meaning of the life transition that is marriage to be immensely valuable.

Zoë and Tyler made a strong commitment to this process… in fact the strongest I’ve ever experienced with a couple.  They journalled and thought deeply about the questions I asked.  And thus they gave me FANTASTIC material to weave the storytelling tapestry of their wedding ceremony from.

Far too many wedding ceremonies these days feel like some sort of hoop to jump through. Zoë and Tyler couldn’t imagine having a ceremony like that. This couple wanted their wedding ceremony to sing with their intentions and their feelings. They wanted it to be an authentic reflection of their innermost selves.

When a ceremony is alive with this much meaning, it is a transformational and very collective experience. We don’t have many of those anymore, do we?

The ceremony was held at the Rose Garden in New Westminister on the one brilliantly sunny day in a week of rain.  My powers as a keeper-away of rain seem to be developing well!  The couple’s guests sat in a semicircle facing them, so they could see every smile and tear on Zoë and Tyler’s faces.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the ring warming and the Handfasting ritual… fielded lots of enthusiastic comments and questions afterwards. People loved hearing all the things that Zoë and Tyler respect and admire about each other… and about the things that they do to bring laughter and kindness into their days.

Family is VIP to both, and I loved that they held Japanese prayer beads belonging to Zoe’s parents, who had them at their own wedding.  Here is a photo.  All the photos here were taken by the lovely Jenny of Jenny Photography.  She really cares!