Rules of Engagement

Organising a wedding can require great strategic know-how and precision planning. But the wedding day is just the beginning…

Katharine and Richard Hill’s book, Rules of Engagement, aims to help couples plan a successful wedding – and then looks beyond their special day, showing them how to build a marriage that lasts.

“Our purpose in writing ‘Rules of Engagement’” says Katharine, “is to help couples meet the challenges of marriage as they come along, beginning with the first challenge: planning the wedding. Planning a wedding is great fun, but it will almost certainly be hard work. The same can be said of building a marriage.

“One good thing about the book,” she continues, “is that couples who might not be prepared to go on a marriage preparation course will buy it and hopefully work through it. They may buy it for the advice on the wedding day, and end up finding they have tips for building a healthy marriage into the bargain.

“It’s a popular gift purchased by those in the church (often by parents or godparents) for engaged couples in the community. We’ve heard of couples buying it, inviting the engaged couple round for a meal and going through some of the exercises with them. It’s also a good resource to sell on a stall at a wedding fair.”

One of the principal tasks of engagement is learning how move from being single to being a couple, to thinking ‘us’ rather than ‘I’. Rules of Engagement gives couples ten ‘rules’ or principles upon which to build a marriage, encouraging them to develop skills and habits that will lay strong foundations for the future. These include learning how to meet one another’s needs, developing communication, building intimacy and importantly learning how to resolve conflict as and when it arises.

For details of how to buy the book, as part of your church’s marriage preparation, visit www.careforthefamily.org.uk/roe.

Last Updated 06 December 2010