I hate to say it but it was a big waste of time. Even the priest who is actually marrying us said they were.
Typically it's the priest and maybe one of two couples from the parish there and they have this little booklet that you fill out the questions and then see if you and your FH have the same/similar answers and then you discuss it. We had a big group at ours. Like 10-15 couples.
If you've been together more then like 6 months you've likely discussed everything they go over. Like children, finances things like that.
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I'm thinking balls are to men what purses are to women. It's just a little bag, but we feel naked in public without it.
Carrie Bradshaw
Okay, I know you didn't ask anyone else, but I want to include my experience with precana. We went in February for our wedding in November. We had to go on Friday night for two hours and then the next day from 8-3, with a mass at 3. It was looooong.
We pretty much did the same thing as Collette, but I have to tell you: the couple they got to speak to us about Family Planning was disgusting. It was this married couple telling us about how they planned for their family and they couldn't have sex on their honeymoon because she was ovulating and they didn't believe in birth control of any sort. Okay, that's not the worst part. The husband goes on to say that he knows when his wife is ovulating because (brace yourself....) her cervical mucus changes. Then they started making jokes between each other where "cervical mucus" was thrown around way too much for my comfort. It was quite disturbing and I will never forget it.
Okay, I know you didn't ask anyone, but I want to include my experience with precana. We went in February for our wedding in November. We had to go on Friday night for two hours and then the next day from 8-3, with a mass at 3. It was looooong. We pretty much did the same thing as Collette, but I have to tell you the couple they got to speak to us about Family Planning was disgusting. It was this married couple telling us about how they planned for their family and they couldn't have sex on their honeymoon because she was ovulating and they didn't believe in birth control of any sort. Okay, that's not the worst part. The husband goes on to say that he know when his wife is ovulating because (brace yourself....) her cervical mucus changes. Then they started making jokes between each other where "cervical mucus" was thrown around way too much for my comfort. It was quite disturbing and I will never forget it.
there were about 10 couple at my session. Part of it were nice- talking about communication and growing old together, which was nice to think about. And we had to fill out these things about ourselved and our SO and share them with each other- it got a lot of things out in the open that, well maybe already were...but it was still nice to talk about.
They did a talk on NFP and sexuality, and one about how to make a moral decision. And then talked to us about the ceremony and gave us a book to pick our readings and stuff from. Honestly the whole thing was pretty boring, but I can see how for couple that haven't been together for a long time it would be good.
There was also a mass, and I found it sadly amusing that only like 3 people of the 20 there knew when to sit/stand and what to say.
The husband goes on to say that he knows when his wife is ovulating because (brace yourself....) her cervical mucus changes. Then they started making jokes between each other where "cervical mucus" was thrown around way too much for my comfort. It was quite disturbing and I will never forget it.-- Edited by nunzi182 at 14:57, 2005-09-16
Ok, pardon my ignorance...but how did he know when her cervical mucus changes?
*shudder* Even typing C.M. made me want to throw up a little.
There was also a mass, and I found it sadly amusing that only like 3 people of the 20 there knew when to sit/stand and what to say.
Honestly, I had never been to a Catholic mass before this past summer when I went to a wedding. I had no idea what to do or what to say.
However, I grew up attending church (of the Baptist variety) every Sunday and Wednesday and have been to many Protestant weddings. Just b/c I didn't know what to do at a mass, doesn't mean I'm an idiot. I've never had any reason or need to attend a mass until this past summer. I'm not Catholic and have never had any friends who are. I'm familar with the religion, but had just never attended an actual mass.
ILoveChoo wrote: There was also a mass, and I found it sadly amusing that only like 3 people of the 20 there knew when to sit/stand and what to say. Honestly, I had never been to a Catholic mass before this past summer when I went to a wedding. I had no idea what to do or what to say. However, I grew up attending church (of the Baptist variety) every Sunday and Wednesday and have been to many Protestant weddings. Just b/c I didn't know what to do at a mass, doesn't mean I'm an idiot. I've never had any reason or need to attend a mass until this past summer. I'm not Catholic and have never had any friends who are. I'm familar with the religion, but had just never attended an actual mass. On a side note, cervical mucus????? EW!!-- Edited by NylaBelle at 12:14, 2005-09-27
I would never have a problem with a non-catholic not knowing what to do- it's confusing! But these were couple who were at pre-cana so that they could get married in a catholic church. I don't know why they would go through all of the hassle of having a catholic marriage if they don't go to church... In catholicism, marriage is a sacrament and not something that is taken lightly at all. But yeah, if it was the case where it was someone else's wedding or something and people didn't know what to do I wouldn't think twice about it.