I was watching a lifetime movie this weekend about two teenagers who wanted to get married right before college. While I applaud their commitment, I wanted to jump through the screen and say “hold your horses kiddies because there are a few things you should know before you get married”.

1) MONEY- ick. It’s so hard to talk about but it’s so necessary. Who is going to pay for what? Are you going to have joint or separate accounts? Debt anyone? These are all things that need to be discussed.

2) CHORES- unless you are an extremely unique person, housework is not fun. Someone has to do it. You’d think that it wouldn’t be that big of an issue but trust me, it is. Who is going to do the dishes? Who is going to clean the toilets? Do you have pets? Who is going to clean up after them? Who is going to grocery shop and cook?

3) HOLIDAYS- You are used to spending the holidays with your family right? Well now you have two families and now you have to decided which family gets what holiday…or if you’ll even visit your family on holidays.

4)RELIGION- I think this is a dating question but I guess it slips some peoples minds.

5)WORK- what are your goals? Are you a workaholic? What happens if one of us decides we don’t want to work anymore?

6) KIDS- Do you want kids? How many? When?

7)FAMILY- what kind of relationship do you have with your family? Will this interfere with a marital relationship?

8)FRIENDS- what is your life like socially? Do my partners social needs (or lack thereof) annoy me?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. What really helped me was ordering Saving Your Marriage: Seven Questions To Ask Before (and After) You Marry. I will mention this over and over because there are important questions in there that I never would have thought to ask. Also, completing the activities as a couple is quite romantic. I found the workbooks more useful than the book but I’d recommend both. If you only get one then get the workbooks; one for each of you as they are different according to gender.