Marriage preparation classes have followed a broadly similar format for many decades. Yet couples’ circumstances and expectations have changed and classes need to take account of this When couples want to get married in the Catholic Church, they are required to attend a marriage-preparation course. My husband and I attended one of these courses 44 years ago – and my impression is that, despite the many social changes that have affected married life since then, marriage preparation has changed very little. Now as then, the responsibility for preparing couples for marriage tends to fall upon priests, and upon married people – or, when a parish does not “do” marriage preparation, people are sent to Marriage Care or one of the other organisations that runs cours