Success Stories

These Success Stories are taken from the discussion forum on weddingsonline.ie

"We did the Avalon on Saturday just gone and I have to say it was very good and would recommend it. It was a lot better than I was expecting, though to be honest, I'm not really sure what I was expecting!

The presenter was excellent and rather than just lecturing on topics, he got people involved and got you thinking about the topics and about your own conscious/sub-conscious expectations and views. I certainly got a lot out of the course and even better it was only one day, from 11am til 5pm!"

"We did avalon. would definately recommend it
it was much better than i thought and they only did about 30 minutes on the reglious end of things. On our course all 26 couples were living together and we werent asked to share our answers etc wiht anyone else but ourselves. they day went really quick as it was from 11-5 with an hour lunch."

"We did Avalon, and found it brilliant. I know lots of people who did it and had no problems with priest accepting it. We really enjoyed the course, thought the content was very appropriate and dealt with v well. No pressure to have to contribute if you weren't comfortable. The advice we got was practical and informative and think it will really help us in our married life."

"We did the Avalon course on Sunday 27th February 2011 and we got a lot out of it, the course was good, we got a workbook which was interactive and relatively fun. The presenter was great, kept it interesting. The reason I booked this one was because it was the cheapest in the area (€120) and it was done in one day at the weekend rather than spread over two days. It got us talking about some interesting topics and on the whole I got a lot out of it. Even H2b said he enjoyed it."

“We did ours back in Nov just cos it suited us and wanted to get it out of the way. I didnt know what to expect and the H2B was like a spoilt child who didnt want to go to school but we both really enjoyed it. We both found it really beneficial and i would recommend Avalon to anyone. It was actually good fun. A friend of mine did hers down the country at a one to one session with a woman and said it was awful cos the woman treated her as the little housewife who was expected to always please her man. I'd say she was living in the dark ages.”

“We had our course 2 wks ago with Avalon & it was great crack. It was a great course & great for couple therapy. My other half was dreading it too but he really enjoyed it.”

“We had done this course a couple of months back and it was excellent. I had previously thought that the PM courses would be cringe-worthy but it was relaxed and humorous at times and we actually enjoyed ourselves on the day.
Cathal”

“We did ours with Avalon. We found it quite enjoyable, definetly fancied it more than doing a full day and evening with Accord (Avalon is one full day)
They also seemed to be quite practical and down to earth with regard children, conflict etc (I have heard that other courses can be quite old fashioned. I also liked that they weere given by Family Therapists.
Mhy priest didnt have a problem with the Avalon course, and he was a stickler for other stuff!”

“We did ours back in Nov just cos it suited us and wanted to get it out of the way. I didnt know what to expect and the H2B was like a spoilt child who didn't want to go to school but we both really enjoyed it. We both found it really beneficial and i would recommend Avalon to anyone. It was actually good fun. A friend of mine did hers down the country at a one to one session with a woman and said it was awful cos the woman treated her as the little housewife who was expected to always please her man. I'd say she was living in the dark ages. Anyway, Avalon are great!”

“hi there, we did the avalon course last sept in Limerick, brilliant course, david the guy who runs it is so nice and easy going. it was on from 11 to 5 with an hour and half for lunch,. 150 euro. well worth doing it instead of the church's own one. We met our parish priest last night to do the pre nup forms (not the priest marrying us) and he said he hadnt heard of them but it was grand as we had the cert to prove we had done the course so he was fine with that, he even gave out that the church one was 180 euros and over 2 days where avalon was 150 euros.”

“We did the Avalon pre-marriage course a couple of weeks ago and it was really beneficial. I was apprehensive about going - I'd heard all the horror stories about other pre-marriage courses - but we both really enjoyed it and the day flew by. It seemed to be quite practical and the information was down to earth with regard children, conflict etc. I also liked that the course was given by a family therapist. It’s recognised by the Church too.”

“I would highly recommend this course. The main presenter, David Kavanagh, was easy to listen to and kept it interesting. We went to the Limerick one there recently which was on from 11 until 5 with a coffee break and a one hour lunch too. There is no necessary interaction with him, unless you want to talk. We were with a lovely group. There is a workbook with questions that you and your partner fill in and swap between you then to see the other's answer. (My fiancé offered to do 50% of the chores – so am saving his for future reference). The topics covered are Children (not family planning but more do with the realities of cost and raising the child etc.) Money, the Wedding Ceremony and Conflict. It was actually nice answering questions and getting them right about the other or seeing what his thoughts were on the whole thing. David is married now and used his own marriage as an example when talking about fighting, money problems etc. which was nice and reassuring.”

“We really enjoyed the course in Dublin. Was easy to get to and didn’t start until 11. We were out by 5. It wasn’t too religious, but concentrated more on the relationship and us as individuals. We both really liked having the chance to find out things about each other which I think we had always assumed we knew the answer to or had just never thought about. It was interesting too and worth the money. I found it quite reassuring as we realised that we know each other really well. It was only a few hours and I think that in the run up to the wedding you can spend so many hours working out every little detail so it's no harm to take a few hours out to think about each other. Thanks David.”

“We attended the Avalon course last Saturday and I have to say it was fantastic. It was really practical and interesting information and conversation starters for you and your future spouse. David is a psychotherapist and is recently married himself and very in tune with reality. We went to Dublin from Kerry for the weekend and it was totally worth it! It only cost €140 so value for money.”

“I just completed my pre-marriage course with Avalon, found it brilliant. Enjoyable day. Not too religious, just a nice amount of talking about family, expectations, dealing with conflict etc. We've been loved up ever since!”

“Avalon is actually a great course. We really enjoyed it. David is recently married himself so we found it very practical as opposed to preaching about the church. He showed us slides outlining what the church expects from marriage etc but the discussions were about dealing with conflicts, looking at your families and your different expectations of marriage and family. We really enjoyed the day and noticed an even closer bond after it.”