Newlywed Archives

Tips for the Engaged and Charting

We are an engaged couple preparing for marriage. My fiancé and I are Catholic and talked a lot about our beliefs when we were first dating. One of those was Natural Family Planning (NFP). When we first got engaged, I made an appointment with a doctor who upheld Catholic teachings in her practice — including…

5 Resources for Newlyweds

Written by Sharon Drees. Originally published in Family Foundations. My husband, Brian and I have been married for sixteen years. While the early days of our marriage were mostly “roses and lilacs” as we say in our family when referring to the ideal state of life, it didn’t take long before we realized that “happily…

Newlywed and New to NFP (Part 2)

Written by S.J. Duca. Originally published in Family Foundations. Annie and Matt are the second couple featured in this two part series, where newlyweds share about their journey to the altar, their Natural Family Planning (NFP) experience, and what excites them most about Couple to Couple League’s new PeakDay app. ( You can read the…

Newlywed and New to NFP

Written by S.J. Duca. Originally published in Family Foundations. For Holly Livingston, eight months married, the most surprising part is how natural it feels. “Of course, there has been adjusting, but being married to John feels so normal and ‘meant to be,’ even amidst the chaos of newness!” Holly and John are one of the…

Joy Amidst Uncertainty: A Covid Wedding

Marriage Planning “It is difficult to know at what moment love begins; it is less difficult to know it has begun. A thousand heralds proclaim it to the listening air, a thousand messengers betray it to the eye,” says the poet Longfellow. What a glorious time–to be newly in love and looking forward to beginning…

Man to Man: Advice from NFP Grooms

From the Family Foundations archives **** She said yes! Great! Now what? There’s finding a church, ordering food, booking the DJ and photographer. It’s enough to make a guy go nuts! The recently engaged and married fellows interviewed by Family Foundations offered a few pointers for men preparing to take the big step. From learning how to argue…

6 Books to Read Before you get Married

Congratulations! You’re engaged! Phew, do you have a lot of work ahead of you. It will be easy to get caught up in the details of the big day, so take it from someone who’s just a month away from her own wedding: make a point to slow down and put some preparation towards the…

5 Ways to Get More Out of Marriage Prep

I’m currently four months deep in an 8-month engagement. As I write this, my fiancé is in a U-Haul moving across the country, where he’ll stay until I move and join him after the honeymoon. As we are back again in a long-distance relationship and because he is not Catholic, much of the planning and…

For Richer or Poorer

From the Family Foundations archives **** Thirty years ago it was all different. There was a ring, a white dress and an “I do.” There were chicken and mashed potatoes, an open dance floor and an overjoyed couple ready to start their lives together as husband and wife. Now, as 20- and 30-somethings prepare to say “I…

Love and Marriage

Love means many things. The baseball player loves his glove. The little girl loves her Easter dress. The father loves his son. When we think of the essence of love, however, we tend to think of the love of a man and a woman, especially the love of a man and woman who give themselves…