Marriage Preparation: Is there such a thing?

Ben and I went to pre-cana class on Saturday. Basically, it's pre-marriage preparation for those who are getting married in the Catholic Church.

It was seven hours of lecture with 100 other couples. It was uncomfortable, physically. At times, the speaker was offensive. And I left with stronger opinions about the Catholic church than I had going into the class.

I had expected more, although I disagree with anyone who says you can prepare for marriage in two classes.

I attended Catholic school growing up. I went to Mass every Friday. As my colleague would say, I'm culturally Catholic. I want to be married in the same place I experienced baptism, my first Communion, reconciliation, confirmation. But I find the church's lack of openness to certain people and beliefs disconcerting.

Our next class is in two weeks. We'll be learning "life skills."

By the time we get married, we'll have more than 12 hours of class behind us. That doesn't include the counseling phone sessions Ben and I will have with our priest.

All of this gets us a nice discount on our marriage license and a pass (we hope) to get married in the Catholic church.

I'm thinking about putting together a first-person account of the next several months. Not what goes into planning. I'll leave that for the writers at The Knot Weddings magazine. I'm talking about the preparation. I think the title would go something like this. Getting Married: Satisfying the Church and State. Or something like that. A colleague suggested I write about these experiences and pitch a story at some point.

I will. But I'd like to get married first:)