For Your Shelf
A short list of books we actually recommend, split into two groups: ones to read before the wedding, and ones to read once you are a few years in. None of these are ours. We just think they are worth your time.
Read these while you are still engaged. They ask the questions most couples only get to after the wedding.
Les & Leslie Parrott
Seven honest questions to ask each other before the wedding, covering money, sex, roles, and family history, from two marriage researchers writing for couples who are still engaged.
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David Boehi, Dennis Rainey, and the FamilyLife team
A guided workbook for engaged couples to work through together, covering expectations, communication, and roles before the wedding day arrives.
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Timothy & Kathy Keller
A biblical case for why marriage matters and what it asks of both people, written by a pastor and his wife after decades of marriage and ministry together.
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Shaunti Feldhahn & Jeff Feldhahn
A pair of short, research-based books, one for each of you, that explain how the other actually thinks about love, respect, and connection.
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Howard Dayton
A practical, Bible-grounded guide to combining finances, setting a budget, and talking about money before it becomes the fight you have every month.
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Juli Slattery
A thoughtful, biblically grounded look at what Scripture actually says about sex and desire, written for engaged and newly married couples navigating expectations.
View on AmazonThe wedding is one day. The marriage is the rest of your life. These are for the years after the ceremony.
Gary Chapman
The classic guide to understanding how you and your spouse each give and receive love differently, so you stop missing each other's signals.
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Gary Thomas
Asks a different question than most marriage books: what if marriage is meant to make you holy more than it is meant to make you happy?
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Emerson Eggerichs
A look at the cycle where she needs love and he needs respect, and how that cycle can spin toward connection or away from it depending on how you respond to each other.
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Willard F. Harley Jr.
Identifies the core needs that, left unmet, quietly pull spouses apart, and shows couples how to meet them for each other instead.
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Henry Cloud & John Townsend
A guide to the choices, big and small, that make or break a marriage, and how healthy boundaries protect love rather than limit it.
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Juli Slattery
A married-specific look at intimacy, addressing the real obstacles couples run into and how faith speaks into that part of marriage too.
View on AmazonWe do not earn anything from these links. They are simply the easiest way to find each book. Buy wherever you prefer, and read them together.
Twenty minutes, no cost, no pressure. We talk about your day and whether we are the right fit.