Modern Marital
A modern pre-marital course. No therapist needed.
Built on relationship research and traditional wisdom about what actually makes marriages last. Five modules, one to two hours each, done together before or after the wedding.
Know an engaged couple? Give them the course as a gift.
Couples who complete pre-marital education are over 30% less likely to get divorced1. But if you're not religious, your only real option has been couples therapy which is expensive and carries a “something's wrong” feeling that's the last thing you want in the lead-up to your wedding.
A Modern Alternative
Couples Therapy
$150 to $200 a session, usually several sessions, scheduled around someone else's calendar.
Modern Marital
$129, once. One to two hours per module, on your own schedule, at your own pace, together.
“Would recommend to anyone as a more affordable and low friction alternative to a marriage counselor.”
— L+L, Married 2026
What's Inside
- 5 modules covering the conversations that matter most to get your marriage off to a good start
- Practical exercises, meant to be talked through together, not read alone
- A continued-learning path for after “I do”
Why This Exists
We built Modern Marital because we got so much out of the pre-marital course we took ourselves. Nine years into a happy marriage, we still talk about the topics and strategies it gave us.
Looking back, we realized most of that value came from the workbook and the discussions it sparked, not necessarily from the specific religious context around it. So we set out to build a refreshed pre-marital and early-marital course that keeps the timeless wisdom but meets modern couples where they actually are.
We built the first version as a wedding present for Erik's brother. He wanted to do some kind of pre-marital preparation after seeing how much it helped us, but he wasn't as religious as we are and didn't want to start his marriage with counseling.
We shared it with five to ten engaged couples, mostly family and friends, before there was ever a public page or a price list. Some got it free as a wedding gift; the rest paid for it. A handful worked all the way through it and told us directly what helped and what didn't, and that feedback shaped the version you're reading about now.
— Erik & Caitlyn
“We're really glad we completed Modern Marital while we were engaged; it ended up being a fun, helpful thing to do leading up to the wedding. We're not religious, so most marriage prep/counseling wasn't readily available to us, and this filled that gap. Even the topics we had deeply discussed before getting engaged were good to revisit, and it was particularly helpful to investigate the areas that hadn't naturally come up yet. It also surprised us how painless it was. No significant time commitment, we went at our own pace, and it actually turned into something we looked forward to discussing on our evening dog walks. We'd tell any engaged couple to do it, religious or not.”
Across early outreach to couples who've taken it, three out of three respondents said they'd recommend Modern Marital to another engaged couple, two rated it a perfect 10/10.
In a national survey of married couples, those who'd had premarital education had a 31% lower divorce rate than those who hadn't.1
1 Stanley, Amato, Johnson & Markman, “Premarital Education, Marital Quality, and Marital Stability,” Journal of Family Psychology, 2006. This finding is about premarital education broadly, mostly religious or clergy-led counseling, not Modern Marital specifically, and it's based on survey data, not a controlled study.
Get the course. $129, once.
Immediate access. No account, no subscription.
Know an engaged couple? Give them the course as a gift.
Questions
Do we have to be religious for this?
No. We are Christian and the course draws on traditional wisdom, but it's built for any couple who wants a real foundation, not a sermon.
“We're not religious, so most marriage prep or counseling wasn't readily available to us, and this filled that gap.”— T+S, Married 2024
How long does this actually take?
About six to eight hours total, spread out however works for you. Mostly conversation, not homework.
“It was surprisingly painless. No significant time commitment, we went at our own pace, and it turned into something we looked forward to discussing on our evening dog walks.”— T+S, Married 2024
Is this therapy?
No, and it's not meant to replace therapy if you need it. This is preparation, not treatment.
Who built this?
Us. A married couple that got a lot of value out of their pre-marital counseling but had friends who were looking for a modern alternative. We built the first version as a wedding present for Erik's brother, then rebuilt it after real couples asked to use it and paid for it before it was ever a public product. It's built on established relationship research, traditional wisdom, and direct feedback from the couples who worked through the early version, not personal opinion alone.
Is this only for couples who aren't married yet?
No. Most people take it while engaged, but it works just as well as a check-in later. One couple did it a few years into their marriage, a few months after having their first baby, and said it surfaced conversations they'd never actually had.
“We went in expecting a refresher on the basics. We came out having had conversations we'd never actually sat down for. Expectations was the one that got us; having a baby changes a lot of assumptions you didn't realize you'd made.”— J+C, Married 2023
Can I buy this for someone else?
Yes — that's exactly what our gift option is for. Every couple who's been given Modern Marital as a gift has said they'd recommend it to another engaged couple.
Ready to get started?
Immediate access. No account, no subscription.
Know an engaged couple? Give them the course as a gift.