Chandler, Arizona
Christian Premarital Counseling in Chandler, AZ
You'll have had the money conversation before it can turn into a fight. You'll know how your family handles conflict and how theirs does. And you'll have a process for the first hard conversation of your marriage, before you need it. Ten weeks, both of you, at our Chandler office or online.
30 minutes, free, no obligation. Nobody signs anything on the call.
On this page
What You'll Leave With
Engaged couples do an enormous amount of planning for the wedding and very little for the marriage. That isn't a criticism. The wedding has a date and a deposit and a hundred decisions attached to it. The marriage doesn't announce itself the same way.
Jesus asked who would build a tower without first sitting down to count the cost. That's the whole idea here. Not to talk you out of anything, and not to scare you. Just to sit down together, on purpose, and count it before you build.
You'll know how you each handle conflict
Not in theory. You'll have practiced a real disagreement with a coach watching, and you'll know what each of you does when it gets uncomfortable.
Money will already be on the table
What you each grew up believing about it, what you owe, what you earn, and how decisions get made. This is the conversation couples most often postpone and most often regret postponing.
You'll have named the expectations
Roles, in-laws, holidays, church, kids, whose career bends when. Most first-year conflict comes from an expectation nobody said out loud.
You'll have a process, not just goodwill
A repeatable way to raise something hard without it escalating. You'll leave able to use it, because you'll have used it here.
What the Ten Weeks Covers
Ten weekly sessions, both of you every time, same coach the whole way through. Every session teaches something and then has you practice it on your own real situation, which is the part that makes it stick.
How you communicate
The process for raising something that matters without it turning into a fight, and the listening half that most couples skip. You'll practice both.
Conflict and repair
Every couple fights. Healthy couples have a way back. You'll learn what your patterns already are and what to do when one of you blows it.
Money
What you each believe about it, what you're each bringing into the marriage, and how you'll decide together.
Family, roles, and expectations
In-laws, holidays, whose family does what, and what each of you quietly assumed marriage would look like.
Intimacy and expectations around it
An honest, non-awkward conversation that most engaged couples have never actually had out loud.
Faith as something you do together
Two people who believe the same things and practice them separately is the common default. We'd rather you leave with a shared rhythm.
What We Mean When We Say Christian
We don't run a separate curriculum for Christian couples. What changes is the foundation underneath it. When we say a marriage is a covenant and not a contract, we don't need to explain that to you, and it isn't a throwaway line. A contract is about what each side gets. A covenant is about what each side gives, and it holds when the getting is thin.
Prayer is on the table if you want it, including learning to pray together, which most engaged couples find harder and more awkward than they expect. If you'd rather do this work without much religious framing, that's a normal request and you'll get the same ten weeks.
We also work with couples who aren't Christian, and we don't pretend otherwise. If you want the version of this without the faith layer, that's our premarital counseling in Chandler. For married couples, see Christian marriage counseling in Chandler.
If Your Pastor Requires Premarital Counseling
Plenty of churches won't schedule a wedding until a couple has completed premarital counseling. If that's why you're here, you're in the right place and you don't need to explain yourself.
When you finish the ten weeks, we'll give you documentation of completion you can hand to your pastor or your church office. If your church has its own form or its own requirements, send them to us at the start and we'll work to them rather than making you chase it at the end.
If you're a pastor reading this and you'd like to know what we cover before you send couples our way, call the office at (623) 343-4764. We're glad to walk you through it.
Arizona specific
Covenant Marriage in Arizona
Arizona is one of a small number of states that offers covenant marriage, a legally distinct kind of marriage with a stronger commitment and narrower grounds for divorce. Choosing it is optional, and the state requires premarital counseling before you can.
Under the statute, that counseling has to come from a member of the clergy or a marriage counselor, and it has to cover four specific things: the seriousness of covenant marriage, that it is a commitment for life, the obligation to seek counseling if you hit marital difficulty, and the exclusive legal grounds for ending one. The counselor then signs a notarized attestation confirming the counseling happened and that you received the informational pamphlet the Arizona Supreme Court publishes. That attestation goes with your Declaration of Intent when you file.
Chad is an ordained minister, so he can provide this counseling and sign the attestation. Covenant marriage sessions are done with Chad specifically, for that reason.
We can fold the covenant marriage requirements into your ten weeks, or handle them on their own if that's all you need. Tell us on the consultation which you're after.
If Your Wedding Is Sooner Than Ten Weeks
Call us anyway.
Ten weeks is the shape the program takes when there's runway, and if you're four or more months out, that's the version we'd put you in. Plenty of couples find us later than that, sometimes a lot later.
When the date is close, we compress it. Fewer, longer sessions, or a concentrated format that covers the same ground in less calendar time. What we won't do is quietly drop the parts that matter to make the schedule work, and we'll tell you honestly on the consultation what fits and what we'd have to leave out.
And if the honest answer is that you'd get more out of it after the wedding than before, we'll say that too.
Coaching, Not Counseling
Counseling and therapy are clinical care. A licensed therapist can diagnose and treat things like depression, anxiety, and trauma. Coaching is teaching and practice. We hand you a process, watch you use it on your own real situation, and correct you in the moment.
For premarital work in particular, teaching is usually what a couple actually needs. You're not trying to repair something. You're trying to learn something before you need it.
Sarah-Gayle holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific, and she works here as a coach rather than a clinician. Chad is an ordained minister. If something comes up in your ten weeks that calls for licensed clinical care, we'll tell you and help you find it.
What It Costs
Premarital coaching is private pay. There's no diagnosis, no billing code, and no claim, so nothing about it becomes part of a medical record.
The tradeoff is that there's no reimbursement either. If cost is the deciding factor and your church offers premarital counseling free with a volunteer mentor couple, that's a genuinely good option and we'd rather you take it than stretch for this.
We'll give you the actual number on the consultation, before you've committed to anything. Ask any practice you call the same four questions: how long is a session, do both of us attend every time, what happens between sessions, and what does the whole thing cost start to finish.
Who You'll Work With
You'll be matched with one coach on the consultation and you'll stay with that person for all ten weeks. We think consistency matters more than variety when you're learning something together.
Sarah-Gayle Galbreath
Marriage Coach
Sarah-Gayle meets couples at the Chandler office or online, and carries most of our premarital work.
- Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology, emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, Azusa Pacific University
- Works here as a coach, not a clinician
- Chandler office or online
Isabelle Lovejoy
Premarital Coach
Isabelle is a wife of seven years and a mother to a blended family of four children. She and her husband are called to church planting and to marriage and family ministry, and that calling is what brought her into this work. Her conviction that strong families are foundational to Kingdom work shapes how she works with couples preparing for marriage.
- MA in Youth and Family Ministry
- MS in Mental Health and Wellness in Christian Ministry
- Doctoral Resident, DMin in Counseling
- Works here as a coach, not a clinician
- Focuses on communication, trust, and conflict resolution
- Meets couples online
Our Chandler Office
We meet couples at our Chandler office, or online if that's easier. Online works well when two schedules and a wedding to plan make an office visit hard.
3075 W Ray Rd #200
Chandler, AZ 85226
Questions Engaged Couples Ask
How long is Christian premarital counseling and how far out should we start?
Ten weekly sessions, both of you every time, with the same coach the whole way through. If you can start four or more months before the wedding, that is the version we would put you in. If your date is closer than that, call us anyway. We compress the program into fewer, longer sessions rather than quietly dropping the parts that matter, and we will tell you honestly on the consultation what fits.
Our pastor requires premarital counseling. Will you give us proof we completed it?
Yes. When you finish, we provide documentation of completion you can hand to your pastor or your church office. If your church has its own form or its own list of required topics, send it to us at the start and we will work to it, rather than making you chase it at the end.
Can you do the counseling for an Arizona covenant marriage?
Yes. Arizona requires premarital counseling from a member of the clergy or a marriage counselor before you can enter a covenant marriage, covering the seriousness of covenant marriage, that it is a commitment for life, the obligation to seek counseling in times of marital difficulty, and the exclusive legal grounds for ending one. The counselor then signs a notarized attestation that goes with your Declaration of Intent. Chad is an ordained minister, so he can provide that counseling and sign the attestation. We can fold it into the ten weeks or handle it on its own. We are coaches and clergy, not attorneys, so nothing we tell you is legal advice.
What makes this Christian premarital counseling rather than regular premarital counseling?
The material is the same. What is different is that you do not have to translate. Covenant is the frame rather than a word we avoid, prayer is on the table if you want it, and we start from the belief that the marriage you are about to make is worth preparing for seriously. You set how much faith is in the room, and you can change your mind partway through.
Do you work with couples who are not Christian?
Yes, often. If you would rather do this work without the religious framing, that is a normal request and it will not get you a lesser version of anything. The tools are the same either way.
Are you licensed therapists?
No. Hope Relentless is a coaching practice. We do not diagnose, we do not treat mental health conditions, and we do not provide therapy. Sarah-Gayle holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy and works here as a coach rather than a clinician, and Chad is an ordained minister. If your situation calls for licensed clinical care, we will tell you and help you find it.
Does insurance cover premarital coaching?
No, and we do not submit anything to insurers. Coaching is private pay only. There is no diagnosis, no billing code, and no claim. The tradeoff is that there is no reimbursement either. If your church offers premarital counseling free with a mentor couple and cost is the deciding factor, that is a genuinely good option and we would rather you take it than stretch for this.
Do we both have to come to every session?
Yes. Every service we run has both partners in the room, and premarital is no exception. The thing we are teaching is something the two of you do together, so we need both of you learning it at the same time. We do not offer individual sessions.
What is the next step?
Schedule a consultation. It is 30 minutes, no cost and no obligation, and nobody signs anything on it. We ask where you are in the planning, you ask us anything, and we tell you honestly whether the ten weeks fits your timeline or whether we would compress it. You can book online any time, or call (623) 343-4764 if you would rather talk to a person first.
Count the Cost Before You Build
Thirty minutes, free, both of you on the call. We'll tell you honestly what fits your timeline.
Or call (623) 343-4764
There's always, always hope.