To say there should be 'pre-marriage tasks' that you have to do before you tie the knot

[Toffeesgirl]

(Light-hearted!)

I'll start....

1). You need to put together at least 2 pieces of flat-pack furniture .

2. To travel by plane and have a delay of at least 5 hours having run out of the local currency

3). To spend a weekend away together with the in-laws where there is one disaster eg power cut or car breaks down.

Any more ideas?

This would actually make a great TV show! Move aside MAFS!

Manflu

This, although Dh and I are on the same page when it comes to this but my parents, strict Catholic never lived together or spent a weekend away together until after they were married in the 60s.

They were polar opposites in terms of sofa choice, bedding sets, even down to choosing new dinner plates. We were raised with one of them being pissed off about items so if Dad got his way about the sofa my Mum chose the curtains. It was always seen as "winning" rather than a team effort to achieve a goal.

Dh and I had to have marriage counselling before marriage, not Catholic. Just a general chat with the priest to make sure we had talked about the important stuff.

One of you does something that’s clearly wrong and seriously inconveniences the other. The other persons chance to see how they react and put it right.

I may be feeling a little invested in this as DH reversed his car into mine yesterday and has seriously dented the back. So far he’s made noises about taking it to a garage up the road after his attempts to remove the dent with boiling water failed. I’m waiting for him to inconvenience himself by taking the car there…

During lockdown, my friend and her then then-fiancé were stuck in a small flat with no outdoor space. They survived that, so I reckon their marriage is likely to last.

I think that at some point before getting married, ideally everyone should spend at least a few months living alone, doing all the housework and life admin. I wouldn’t marry a man who’d only ever lived with his mum (and previous partners), because there’s a high chance he’d have no idea what pulling his weight would actually look like.

Take a trip to IKEA (everyone argues at IKEA) & see if you still like each other.

Spend a week each doing all the washing up & dishwashing stacking whilst the other one puts away/dries/whatever.
If you can cope with the other person doing it all wrong then you'll have a good marriage.

Take a trip to IKEA (everyone argues at IKEA) & see if you still like each other.

IKEA is a strange form of hell. I’ve been there twice, about 20 years apart and I swear I’ll never go again.

Exactly. That is literally the only reason why I married my (ex) husband. Then the fucker proved to be useless so had to divorce him (and buy furniture from flea markets).

Who's pissing in the living areas?? I insist they use the toilets!

One person drives to an unknown area one person has a upside map in a foreign language

Oh God no. I pay people to put together my flat pack furniture. Once I paid I am never going back to doing it myself!

Spend a week in a campervan with no air-conditioning in 40 degree heat camping in high season in a foreign country.
That sorts the wheat from the chaff.

These are all so funny (and accurate)

I've heard awnings be referred to as a Divorce in a Bag

Nobody would ever get married, surely ?!

Had we not decided to give up and get a decorator in for our now adult child's nursery when I was pregnant, we probably wouldn't have still been together at the birth

This is a thing in Ireland called a pre marriage course.
Run by the church and usually by people who aren't the best advisors.
Based around money, feelings, and discussing big issues. Generally a good idea.

People who pay other people to assemble flat pack furniture - where do you find this wonderful service? Just thinking of flat pack furniture gives me a meltdown

There’s an odd job man on my local Facebook group that offers this service among others, I haven’t used it but god I’ve been tempted after the last Ikea delivery

I was also going to say pre marriage counselling.
I can remember gritting my teeth expecting some trite lectures but each session was rooted in the practicalities of living together over decades and the challenges which come through life. It really did give us a lot to think about and there were many occasions when we hit life's rocks that I thought back to those sessions - they did a good job of setting realistic expectations.
Probably also helped that there was no insta-world telling us that everyone else was living the dream life!

Go to Ikea. Take along two children under the age of 4. If the journey is not successful, live with clothing on your floor for 3 weeks. Repeat.
Heh.
Or, easier level: go to Ikea with a hangover and a time limit.

The only time I was delayed long enough to get any airport food courtesy of the airline, the vouchers were barely enough for a hot dog and weren't valid for any alcoholic drinks!

Buy something that doesn’t ‘quite’ fit in the car. I think this could be added to the IKEA shopping trip and the flat pack assembly challenge.

Might as well use the 3 as the final test.

Get ill for two weeks and see how the other person manages.

Pretend you have a small child who has just lost their much-loved cuddly toy/blanket/insert emotional support item here. They absolutely cannot sleep without it. You have 4 hours till bedtime to source an exact replacement. Go!