Life Skills Every Engaged Couple Should Learn (And, Yes This Includes How to Change Oil)
- Jennifer Wilson
- Jan 5
- 6 min read
Preparing for your wedding day and for marriage isn’t just about timelines and centerpieces. And marriage isn’t just about learning how to communicate without starting arguments.
Cory and Ashley's Engagement Photos above by Angela's Angles Photography, LLC.
Marriage is so many things. Big things, small things.. all the things.
Of course, the classic marriage advice still matters—communication, trust, respect. But most engaged couples have already heard all of the basic advice more than enough.
What we don’t hear enough about are the everyday life skills that quietly shape a marriage long after the wedding bliss is over with. The real-life stuff. The unglamorous stuff. The moments that test every couples patience, teamwork, and emotional maturity.
So yes, this blog technically includes how to change oil (we’ll get there), but this is really about learning how to navigate life together as a new couple.
Adult Life Skills Engaged Couples
Should Learn Together
Learn How to Make Decisions as a Team
Before newly engaged and newly married couples ever argue about money, parenting, or home repairs, they’ll argue about decisions.
Who's the researcher? Who makes the ultimate decision? Who executes? And who's in charge of following up?
Learning how to make decisions as a team—without one person feeling steamrolled or abandoned—sets the tone for everything else you'll be facing together.
Engagement Photography by Angela's Angles Photography, LLC.
Know When to DIY and When to Call a Professional
A leaky faucet is rarely just a leaky faucet. It can quickly send you down the rabbit hole.
The leaky faucet is also about:
Pride
Budget
Stress tolerance
Knowing your limits
Engaged and newly married couples should talk about when it makes sense to fix something yourselves and when it’s smarter to call a professional—whether that’s plumbing, electrical work, or literally anything that could turn into a much bigger problem.
This isn’t about skills. It’s about judgment, smart decision making and communication.
How to Change Oil (and Other Car Basics)
AI generated image 🔧 do not ask me for car advice
Okay—now we’ll talk about it...
Knowing how to change oil, or at least understanding when your vehicles oil needs to be changed, is a basic adult life skill. But it’s also placeholder for something bigger.
Other car-related skills we should probably all have:
Checking oil levels
Monitoring tire pressure
Understanding what the check engine light might mean
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You don’t both need to know everything about cars—but you do need clarity around responsibility. Who handles maintenance and repairs on your vehicles? Who schedules the appointments? Who pays? Who notices the warning signs first?
These small moments are often where resentment quietly starts.
Domestic Skills Every Engaged Couple
Should Learn
Kitchen Skills for a Busy Life
You don’t need to be master chefs—but each of you should have at least three go-to meals you can confidently whip up.
Not for Instagram. For survival.
When life gets busy (and it will), shared responsibility in the kitchen prevents burnout and ultimately resentment. Bonus points if you learn to cook together and stop pretending takeout is a long-term plan. (I feel a little attacked by this one)
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How to Grocery Shop With Intention
Grocery shopping sounds simple— it isn’t when you're doing it right.
Healthy grocery habits usually require:
Ingredient lists
Meal planning
A shared understanding of budget and priorities
Learning how to plan ahead instead of impulse-buying everything that looks good at the moment builds teamwork fast—and saves a ton of money. P.S.-Don't go grocery shopping hungry!
And don't eat the grapes! 🍇
Financial Skills Engaged Couples
Should Learn Together
How to Create a Budget You’ll Actually Use
Avoiding money conversations doesn’t make financial stress disappear.
Engaged couples should learn how to:
Create a realistic budget
Adjust it together
Talk about money without defensiveness or shame
Budgets aren’t about restriction—they’re about clarity and alignment.
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Who Pays What Bills (and When)
This needs to be discussed explicitly.
Who pays which bills?When are they due?How are payments tracked?
Clear systems prevent resentment. Unspoken expectations create it.
Tate and Michelle's traditional 'Money Dance"
Understand Each Other’s Financial Triggers
This matters even more than numbers. Read that again.
What spending habits bother you? What makes you anxious? What feels irresponsible to one person but normal to the other? Things like spending money on fast food, spending money on smoking or drinking, paying bills late, letting mail stack up or not monitoring your credit score. (The credit score gets me😬)
You don’t need identical financial values—but you do need awareness, empathy, and compromise.
Organizational Skills That Will
Save Your Sanity
Shared Google Calendars Are a Marriage Hack
Shared calendars help manage:
Appointments
Work schedules
Family obligations
Social commitments
Shared Google calendars become even more essential if children are a part of your plan—especially with sports, school events, and transportation for after-school activities which can feel like a full time job
Cammie and Josh at Celestial Farms Wedding Venue
Shared Reminders = Shared Mental Load
Use shared reminders for:
Insurance renewals
Property taxes
Furnace filter changes
Any recurring task that’s easy to forget
Marriage works best when one person isn’t carrying the entire mental load.
Try to share the To-Do list. There are some areas you can take on easier than your partner.
Learn How to Argue in a Healthy Way
This Skill Is Non-Negotiable
Conflict is unavoidable. Damage is not.
Healthy arguing means:
Expressing yourself without hostility
Addressing issues early
Asking questions like, “Are you feeling heard?” or “Is there something I’m missing?”
Tone matters. Timing matters. Curiosity matters.
Not every opinion needs to match—but every conversation should end with both people feeling respected.
Learn These Skills Before Parenting
Everything becomes harder after kids.
Schedules. Emotions. Money. Energy.
Learning how to communicate, plan, and problem-solve before parenting gives couples a huge advantage for a successful, happy and healthy family dynamic.
Milo having the time of his life at Celestial Farms Wedding Venue
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Be Open to Counseling—Even When
Things Are Good
Counseling isn’t only for crisis moments.
It can be:
Preventative
Educational
A safe space to grow
Getting comfortable with counseling early makes it easier to seek help later—before small issues turn into major ones.
What We See at Celestial Farms
At Celestial Farms wedding venue at 3116 E. Vienna Rd. Clio, Michigan 48420, we are proud to host couples from every walk of life.
Some of our couples have strong family support. Some are figuring absolutely everything out on their own. Some already have children. Some are just beginning their shared journey.
Every single couple at Celestial Farms wedding venue arrives with different communication styles, backgrounds, and expectations—but each one has the same opportunity: to build a healthy, successful marriage by learning life skills together.
And as a Michigan wedding venue owner that's extremely passionate about coordination, dream wedding experiences, and helping couples navigate this very important time of their lives, it's impossible to not notice which couples communicate extremely well and which ones have some thing to work on.
I try to give subtle advice when it's appropriate- without overstepping. But..
Weddings can be emotional for everyone involved, including me.
And if this advice helps even one of my couple's with their communication-that's enough for me. I'm extremely invested in my couple's in many ways. And I wish every single one of them nothing but success, happiness and a life full of love.
One Last Honest Note..
Full transparency:
I don’t know how to change oil… and I don’t plan on learning.
I needed a solid SEO strategy—and an easy keyword phrase readers actually search for—and this one worked.
What I do know is how to drive myself to Fast Eddie’s without assistance. And I don’t need my husband for that one.
Win-win.
Jennifer Wilson
Michigan Wedding Venues Near me
Did you know…when you choose a locally owned wedding venue like Celestial Farms you are helping to develop and improve the local economy? It’s true, your locally owned wedding venues are small business owners who not only create hundreds of jobs for the local wedding industry every year, we actively support our local economy. Please consider a locally owned venue, you can find locally owned wedding venues featured on this wedding venue map.
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