When I heard he was getting married in January. In New York. In upstate New York, I was a bit less than enthusiastic.
A wedding in the dead cold of winter? I pretty much want to hibernate and wear sweatpants all winter long – let alone drive over five hours through snow to wear a dress in more snow.
January? Really? Hmm. Well, then.
It ended up being the most rejuvenating weekend imaginable. A weekend filled with delightfully warm(er) weather, laughter, dancing (oh! the dancing!), good food, and wonderful people. The kind of people who warm your soul with their sincerity, kindness, and a bubbling sort of love. It also reaffirmed for the 50 bajilionth time that nearly everyone who graduates from Dayton is down-to-earth and fabulous in an indescribable way. Marriage retreats are a great way to enhance your marriage, get through a crisis, or get moving on long term problems. Most marriage retreats provide a way to step away from your daily routines and concentrate on your marriage. To do a retreat, you must first decide between the different retreat formats and options. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of marriage retreat? In religious retreats your marriage is understood within the context of religious beliefs about marriage. Most religious marriage retreats are run by clergy and are group format. You can read more about this here for MARRIAGE RETREAT NEW YORK. They tend to be affordable and accessible. These marriage retreats are at their best only when you both have very similar strongly held religious beliefs. Problems can occur if the needs of one or both partners conflict with the religious tenets. Another possible downside can be that while some retreat leaders are very skilled in marriage counseling, others are not. These non-religious retreats are usually run by therapists, and may be group or individualized. The advantage here is that most of these therapists are trained, experienced marriage counselors who are supportive of marriage but incorporate a wide variety of participant needs and orientations. There are disadvantages of course. Secular retreats are harder to find, frequently require travel, and are generally more expensive. Further, therapists vary in quality, theoretical approach, and personal style – and it can be tricky sorting this out. The Enchanted Valley Barn is a very unique wedding and special events venue where the DIY bride or event coordinator may work to create a magically memorable day. We offer venue rentals that include many fantastic amenities. Want to add your own touch to the day? Or are you looking for something simple and sweet? Enchanted Valley Barn is here to make that event or wedding everything you’ve dreamed. Here you easily get the best wedding barn cost, do visit. Marriage seminars are good and can do excellent things for your marriage, but generally they are a bit like taking a college class. You get lots of good info and maybe a little bit of how to apply, but it’s not generally a fun or active thing to do. This is where marriage retreats come into play. They are more about the application of those principles that you learn in marriage seminars than about learning the principles.
You have to make booking for the date of your wedding and what kind of limousine available on that date and so forth. It will depend of what kind of limousine or model you wish to rent. A minimum rental hour for limousine service is 3hours. It consumes 1hour for service of pick up and drop off, most limousine service do not offer this, if you will hire their limousine for 3hours only. To know more about the rockstarz limousine & party bus have a peek here.
Offering professional services is an important characteristic of the limousine operator. The chauffeurs are trained on strictly maintaining time schedules. The operators ensure the good condition of the limousine on hire and in the unlikely event of the limousine breaking down midway they guarantee the immediate deployment of a standby limousine. The limousine services also cater to the custom needs of the clients in providing food, beverage and even newspapers and magazines, desired by them.
Marriage retreats are about the doing and applying and getting away from the things that were tearing you down and making it hard to really appreciate your spouse. So what are they and how can they help? Let’s get into this. The key part of a marriage retreat is the “retreat” part. A retreat is: a place of refuge, seclusion, or privacy. It’s about getting away from it all. Marriage retreats are often held in places far from the hustle bustle. Many are in the mountains or on the beach. Some will be at a hotel or similar destination. The key is it is about getting away! So choose a marriage retreat program that is both a good sounding program AND takes you to a location that is relaxing for you. If you’re idea of a getaway is going to the beach and having the cool breeze of the ocean on your skin, then a retreat at a hotel in New York City would not be a good idea! The next key is the marriage part. I know, redundant sounding, but some people forget this part. This should be fun, it should be a get-away, but it’s not a vacation. The marriage retreat will force you to work on your marriage. It is highly likely there will be couple activities, relationship builders, even some seminars and talks. But don’t despair, the creators of these programs know you are there to renew your marriage and part of marriage is that it is an adventure, so they will almost certainly create an environment where you can have fun while working on bettering your marriage. Every marriage retreat is a little bit different, but I’ll try to cover a variety of different events that you may encounter. Try to remember that this is an adventure, so let yourself go and let yourself have fun! Many of the events may be a little awkward or challenging, but trust me it’s worth it to strengthen your marriage! Trust building exercises. These can range from the classic “catch your partner” where you stand behind your spouse and they close their eyes and fall backwards and you catch them to telling your spouse something you’ve never told them before. The key is actually earn more trust though, so be honest and give it a try. Trust in a relationship is important especially if it’s been broken before. Seminars. What retreat wouldn’t be complete without at least one marriage seminar that teaches you how to strengthen your marriage? The retreat is usually more than just about getting away and having some fun. They want you to learn skills to make your marriage better and to give you hope for your future. One really good way to do this is to spend a few hours or so with speakers that can give you their expertise. Counseling. Being just the two of you for a long period of time is likely to bring out the little things that have been grating on the relationship. So now you’ll need an environment that is safe and fosters open communication. This is where the counseling will come in. They may do some group counseling, but most retreat will make the services of a private counselor available to the couples so they can touch on more personal and private matters along with the support group style meetings. Games. Gotta have fun right? Expect most of the games to have some sort of “lesson” with them, but don’t be cynical. Things that challenge you and bring you together with your spouse can be great opportunities to both grow AND have some fun!
I tickled a one-year-old and witnessed his first swimming pool experience, I took too many photos, I ate the most amazing Italian food, I enjoyed being with countless vegetarians (“When two vegetarians get married, it’s the most exciting thing ever, because they’re all, ‘Yes! We’re going to have entire meal consist of foods we can actually eat!'”), and I basked in the embrace of a weekend brimming with love.
There is something special about weddings – aside from all the stress over the silly little details (colors! flowers! center pieces!), the delight of the bride and groom in their new marriage, the reminders about what marriage is all about during the ceremony, and the presence of so many family and friends always seems to inspire my commitment to be a better wife to Mike. (It didn’t hurt that Mike was playing guitar during the wedding and his musical abilities would make anyone want to be a better wife to him. Seriously. It is good we had a nice wedding band, they really saved the situation. If you are interested, check out Wedding Music Bands website)
Weddings are magical.
Especially in January. (The four day weekend? May have helped.)
(A sucker for all things wedding? Check out the slideshow from the wedding. And be prepared for the song to make you want to get married in January, too.)
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