With relationship stress and bitterness, who doesn’t want to plan couples retreat? Of course, it may sound a challenging task, but if you do it correctly, it will be worth every effort! 

“To love and to cherish, until death does us part.” Well, it all started with such vows. But sometimes, the flame starts to dwindle. No, it is not exactly falling out of love. We would say it needs you to put more spice in the marriage. And it’s normal; to keep the flame on, you need to keep adding firewood. 

And, going on marriage retreats is hands down the best way to rekindle the flame and love in your marriage. You can organize a romantic getaway out of town. The advantage? You get:

• to entirely focus on yourselves and your marriage,
• Listen to and understand your partner,
• Get tips from experts,
• adventurously spice your relationship,
• leave behind any stressful baggage. 

 However, proper preparation ensures you get the most from it. 

How do you prepare for the best marriage retreat you could ever have? 

How to Plan for a Couple Retreats 

While going on a couple’s retreat, you want to get the most out of it. You want to relax and get more emotional and physically intimate with your partner. Think of it as a relaxing holiday. Furthermore, you have paid for the getaway. So you also need to get value for your money. (1)

Here are steps to help you plan your perfect couples retreat. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #1: Decide Your Getaway Destination 

The first step to planning your getaway is deciding your ideal destination. You want to start with something general before narrowing it down. 

• Do you want to go to a breathtaking beach destination?
• Or would you love to explore the mountain retreat to scale up the couples retreat plan?
• How about time in a treehouse in a jungle? 
• Does a luxurious hotel with a great luxury retreat sound like a perfect idea? 
• Or do you wish silent retreat on your couple retreat plan checklist?

What is the benefit that comes with the destination of your choice?

This stage is not only to decide the destination. It gradually helps in building an emotional connection.

So, let’s say you have chosen one among California retreat and Arizona retreat as your weekend couple’s destination. The next step would be setting goals. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #2: Establish Clear Goals

The second step would be to set clear goals for your couple’s retreat. Yes, it is like any other date night or vacation. We would love you to think of it as a short vacation. But, we would hate for you to pack your bags and travel blindly. 

Ask yourself, what are you looking to achieve from the marriage retreat? This is something you should discuss with your partner and note down. 

The tip is to ensure the goals are specific as they come. Well, generally, the goal of marriage retreats is to restore your relationship. But how exactly? You want it to be more specific than this. 

Here are some of the possible goals of a couples retreat:

• spend alone quality time,
• get couple therapy offered in the retreat facility,
• sit and discuss the issues affecting your relationship,
• Find solutions alone or with a couple’s therapist,
• Explore together what the environment and the city around you has to offer.

Plan for Couples Retreat #3: Choose the Period for Your Couple Retreat

This is an essential step in your preparation. You want to clear all obstacles that may destruct your retreat. 

 If you are having your couple vacation for a weekend, you want to ensure that your work and business are taken care of until you return. You want to ensure that your kids and dogs are taken care of.

If you have a nanny, ensure you have a reliable nanny and make the arrangements in advance. With pets, ensure you book a slot with trusted pet sitters in advance. You do not want to start looking for a pet sitter shortly before your destination. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #4: Discuss Matters Budget 

 Not going to lie; finance is a delicate issue for many couples. And even if it’s not one of your relationship issues, you want to get it out of the way before getting into the entire retreat mood. 

 It is a great idea to draft your budget before doing any research. Ask yourselves these as you plan:

• How much do you wish to spend? 
• Beyond how much do you consider too expensive? 
• Are you looking for a luxurious getaway or a simple yet distraction-free getaway? 

As you budget, ensure everything is catered for. Do not leave behind:

• food, 
• accommodation, 
• extra activities such as hiking and romantic dinner dates, 
• couple therapy sessions, 
• souvenirs

Tip: It is much easier to budget when you choose to work with an all-inclusive retreat. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #5: Research and Make Your Booking 

From step one, let’s say you decided to go to the mountains to spend time for your marriage retreat. Now, you want to research and find retreat facilities that let you access the mountains. (2)

 Do not settle on the first thing you bump into. Keep these in mind as you search for a retreat facility:

• What amenities do the retreat facilities offer? 
• What is their retreat program like? 
• Were the previous guests happy with the service they got? 
• Do they have active listening therapy sessions? 
• What activities do they offer as a way to spend quality time together? 
• And most importantly, does the facility offer accommodation? 
• If not, will finding a peaceful location for accommodation outside be easy and worth it? 

These are essential elements you need to sort out during your retreat planning. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #6: Create an Itinerary 

There are a lot of retreat facilities that offer a customized itinerary for their guests. However, some facilities let the guests do this. It gives you the liberty to do what you want whenever you want to. It is a good thing. However, it can end up getting stressful if you don’t handle it well. 

This is why we recommend you get the itinerary out of the way. Fully plan your days from the departure to when you arrive back at your house. You do not want to figure out what to do next when you are at the retreat facility. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #7: Pack 

 Yes, pack early. Packing seems like a simple activity, but you will most likely overdo or underdo it if done last minute. Okay, most likely overdoing it. 

Use these tips to pack effectively:

• pack clothes to match the activities included in the itinerary
• look at the weather in advance to pack weather-appropriate clothes
• a pair of shoes is enough for a weekend getaway
• comfortable jeans can be worn more than once
• ensure everything you pack is comfortable

Be sure to include items such as a pen and notebook for the therapy sessions. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #8: Get into the Retreat Mood

Many retreats will have a theme to focus on. Therefore, ensure it is a theme you are interested in. It has an issue that is affecting your marriage. 

For example, the theme can be “communication in a relationship.” Or something like “conflict resolution.” 

So, let’s say you are interested in a retreat focusing on communication in a relationship. To get in the retreat mood, you want to brainstorm on the communication issue in your marriage. It can be something in lines of:

• What do you think about communication in your relationship?
•  How would you love your partner to communicate better? 
• What does the ideal communication in a relationship look like to you? 

Getting into such topics and slowly doing away with stressful topics gets you in the mood for the retreat. 

Plan for Couples Retreat #9: Switch Off your Electronics

To get the best out of your couple’s retreat, we recommend that you switch off your gadgets. The reason? 

• it helps you take a break from social media
• gives you the perfect occasion to focus on your partner and the theme of the couples retreat
• It’s an excellent tactic to relax. 

We know how rude it is to be on a date night yet constantly check your phone. That is the last thing you want to happen when you are on your marriage retreat. In the final stages of your couples retreat planning, switch off your phone and focus on discovering your partner on whole new levels. 

Planning for Couple Retreat #10: Take Full Advantage of the Retreat 

 When you are on a couples retreat, you want to take full advantage of it. Plan to turn it into a romantic getaway or a romantic weekend for you two. Go to dates in the evening, and spend time discovering each other. Have the bubble bath or the couples massages you have always wanted to. (3)

 Have your to-do list and tick off items you do. With fewer distractions, you have a special occasion to take it as your own retreat. It is a perfect time to ensure your partner is heard and understood. It is a perfect setting to express yourself and restore your relationship. 

 If there is a group or individual couples therapy offered, plan to make good use of it. Take notes and discuss. Express yourselves on how you can incorporate the lessons in your relationship. Remember, every relationship is different. 

Finally, if there are any other extra activities such as wellness hiking, yoga, or even duo weight loss program, be sure to hop on those. They are perfect for helping you spend more quality time together and unwind. 

Final Thoughts 

Phew! Big up for coming all this way. Not gonna lie, planning for a marriage retreat can be a vigorous sport. You do not want anything to go wrong. Snd, a little overlooking or mess-up can destroy everything else. You don’t want to think of time-consuming marriage-retreat planning. And that’s why we encourage couples to have the planning professionally done for them. 

However, you can still take the brave move to do it yourself. In this case, take as much time as needed. You would rather take weeks planning for the retreat and enjoy it to the fullest than plan for it quickly and not get its worth. Therefore, invest yourselves in the planning and prior research. 

Voila! Go ahead and add spice to your relationship. 

References:

1 https://oureverydaylife.com/plan-couples-retreat-7256879.html

2 https://www.coasthotels.com/blog/how-to-create-a-romantic-hotel-getaway

3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2018/06/04/how-to-organize-a-retreat/