If your marriage is in danger of hitting the skids or you just want to make sure that it doesn’t, marriage conferences are a great way to learn a few new things about your marriage or practice what already works. Marriage conferences are not like marriage retreats, conferences are much more structured and require your attendance at events and workshops, while marriage retreats are more laid back and give you several choices of workshops to attend.
A marriage conference is usually set up through your church, but you can find them online if you are not currently attending church. They typically last a weekend or can last a long as a week during the summer. You will go to a conference center and check into the hotel, and usually attend a informational meeting along with a dinner the first night.
The next day there is usually a buffet breakfast and then the seminars begin. They last around an hour, and include topics like “how to actively listen to each other,” “how to put the romance back in your marriage, and “fair fighting.” Then you have lunch and the support and encounter groups begin.
You don’t have to participate in the encounter groups, but they are the backbone of the conference, and even though they can be intimidating at first, they are an integrated part of the workshops. Here you will break up into groups with other couples and discuss topics around your marriage. The point of these encounter groups is to learn how to better your communication skills. This is usually the difficult part of the seminars, especially for the husbands, it seems. You may be asked to role play different situations in front of the group.
There is usually time to schedule private counseling sessions between couples as part of the cost of attending. These are anywhere from an half an hour long to one hour in length and are always private. This is the time to talk with your individual counselors about problems you maty be experiencing in your marriage that are inappropriate to discuss in the larger support groups.
The nights usually end with some sort of social, so you may want to pack accordingly. You may want to dress up a little for the night time entertainment, which can be anything from a dance to a formal dinner. At marriage conferences there is usually very little time scheduled for “free time” for you and your spouse to just hang out with other couples or spend some time alone, however some times the groups go to the pool or the wives spend a day at the spa if one is available at the hotel. If these accommodations are available, the cost of the conference usually allows time to enjoy this little extra, besides, how long has it been since you and your husband had a massage together?
The best part of a marriage conference is just enjoying the time that you’ve set aside to work on your relationship, so take the plunge and treat your marriage to a weekend of working on the most important aspect of your life, your family.