To be prepared for your marriage is more important than being prepared for your wedding, and yet so many of us let premarital counseling take a back seat to the wedding ceremony and the reception. The wise couple will eagerly and humbly seek counsel from a trusted pastor or a godly older couple. One way to prepare for your future is to fill out this quick survey, assessing expectations of how you each envision your daily life together. After you fill out your respective forms privately, come together and compare your answers. Identify areas of disagreement and try to resolve them.
Download a PDF version of this survey here.
To be answered by the GROOM:
1. To what degree do you believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant and God’s blueprint for marriage and life?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
disagree completely agree
2. Do you intend to pattern your marriage after the biblical model? Yes No
3. Do you have a conviction to live debt-free? Yes No
4. If you answered “no,” please circle the items that you believe are OK to purchase on credit:
house car credit card purchases other: ___________
5. What do you expect will be your standard of living, generally speaking?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
poor modest comfortable affluent
6. Do you plan to use birth control? Yes No
7. If “yes,” what form(s)? ______________________________________________
8. How many children do you plan on having? _________________________________
9. Do you plan on spacing them intentionally? Yes No
10. Would you support your wife having a home birth or using a birth center? Yes No
11. How do you plan on educating your children?
public school private school home school other:_____________
12. Do you plan to vaccinate your children? Yes No
13. Do you plan to use traditional medicine or homeopathic health care? _______________
14. Do you see grad school, career change, or vocational ministry in your future? Yes No
15. Would you consent to your wife having a career outside the home? Yes No
16. If “yes,” on what terms? If “no,” on what basis?
17. How involved will you be in childcare, diaper changing, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping?
18. How involved will you be in bookkeeping, banking, taxes, lawn care, trash disposal, home repairs, etc.? Are you expecting your wife to do any of these things?
19. How do you expect to spend your free time? How do you expect your wife will spend her free time?
To be answered by the BRIDE:
1. To what degree do you believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant and God’s blueprint for marriage and life?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
disagree completely agree
2. Do you intend to pattern your marriage after the biblical model? Yes No
3. Do you have a conviction to live debt-free? Yes No
4. If you answered “no,” please circle the items that you believe are OK to purchase on credit:
house car credit card purchases other: ______________
5. What do you expect will be your standard of living, generally speaking?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
poor modest comfortable affluent
6. Do you plan to use birth control? Yes No
7. If “yes,” what form(s)? ______________________________________________
8. How many children do you plan on having? _________________________________
9. Do you plan on spacing them intentionally? Yes No
10. Do you prefer to give birth at a hospital, at home, or at a birth center? ______________
11. How do you plan on educating your children?
public school private school home school other:______________
12. Do you plan to vaccinate your children? Yes No
13. Do you plan to use traditional medicine or homeopathic health care? _______________
14. Would you be supportive if your husband decided to go back to school, change careers, or enter full-time ministry in the future? Yes No
15. Do you desire to have a career outside the home? Yes No
16. If “yes,” on what terms? ______________________________________________
17. How involved do you expect your husband to be in childcare, diaper changing, cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping?
18. How involved will you be in bookkeeping, banking, taxes, lawn care, trash disposal, home repairs, etc.? Are you expecting your husband to do these things?
19. How do you expect to spend your free time? How do you expect your husband will spend his free time?
For a complete premarital course, including lessons, meeting agendas, homework and more, see Reigning Together: A Christ-Exalting Marriage, available on Amazon.
