Create Your Marriage Retreat:

 Strengthen Your Connection and Build a Vision for the Year 

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This year, Jeff and I decided to try something new to set ourselves up for a year of connection, growth, and intentionality: we organized our first annual marriage retreat. That might sound like we did some big thing but it was just us. 😅 It wasn’t perfect, but it was transformative—it may be something you want to do as well. So, let me share with you what we did.

Here’s everything we did (and learned) during our retreat weekend, so you can strengthen your connection and build a vision for your family this year.

Why We Decided to Do This

Last year felt like we were coasting—living life but not truly leading it. We didn’t want another year to go by without feeling intentional and aligned. We wanted to focus on growth, progress, and celebrating wins while defining what matters most to us as a family.

This retreat was our way of starting 2025 with purpose.

Our Plan (and Adjustments)

Originally, we had planned for a 3-day retreat with a rest/celebration day, a planning day, and a review/wrap-up day around our anniversary on the 11th. Life had other plans! Sitter schedules worked better on the following weekend, we scheduled it and then Jeff had an unexpected work commitment, so we condensed everything into a day and a half.
I will say for the future, we will be more firm and less negotiable with work about this.

We stayed home for the retreat—simple, affordable, and perfect for us. Outside of our first breakfast out, everything else happened at home. We made a charcuterie board, cooked together, and Jeff even whipped up some delicious pancakes for breakfast on Day 2.

How We Organized the Retreat

Before the retreat, we created a shared Google Sheet to map out the main categories we wanted to cover. Each category included key points and specific questions to guide our conversations. Here’s what we focused on:

• Family/Parenting/Jorden: What kind of example are we setting? What does Jorden need from us this year? 
  • For the first time, we created "Our Family Values" to put on a board so we can see it daily and Jorden understands what we believe and what we stand for as a family. 
• Faith: How are we growing spiritually? Where might we need to shift and what does that look like?
• Financials: What’s coming in, what’s going out, and where can we save or invest?
• Home: What projects or upgrades do we want to tackle and when?
• Wins/Highlights/Gratitude: What went well last year, and what are we most thankful for? What do we really appreciate about one other?
• Personal Goals/Dreams: What do we each want to accomplish individually? How can we support each other?
• Marriage: How can we strengthen our relationship this year? How can we love each other better?
• Travel: What trips do we want to take as a family, as a couple, and individually?

We also added a calendar column to schedule key dates like birthdays, family trips, date nights, and solo adventures.

What the Retreat Looked Like

• Day 1: After breakfast and caffeine, we started the day in prayer, asking for wisdom, clarity, and patience. We created family values, brainstormed goals, and mapped out key dates on the calendar. By late afternoon, we dove into financials—a big task but essential for creating a plan we could stick to. We worked late into the night, customizing spreadsheets to track our unique pay schedules and expenses.

  • To keep things balanced, we made time for fun—snacking on our charcuterie board, cooking dinner together, and taking breaks when we needed a minute. 

• Day 2 (Half-day): I woke up and had my quiet time and Jeff made breakfast. With fresh eyes and full bellies, we reviewed what we’d worked on and refined our action plans and finalized some more dates on the calendar. Then we went our separate ways; him to work and me to pick up Jorden.

   

What We Learned

This was our first time really tackling all these things together and at once. The vision we came up with was much more specific, mutual, and understood by one another and I feel like that will go a long way. Also, we learned to:

1. Start with Gratitude: Reflecting on wins and what we appreciate about each other set a positive tone for the retreat.
2. Stay Flexible: Life happens! Adjusting our plan didn’t diminish the impact of the retreat.
3. Be Vulnerable: Some conversations were hard, but they brought us closer. Listening with love and respect made all the difference.
4. Include Fun: Cooking together and staying physically connected (Jeff’s love language!) kept things light and joyful. 
5. Take Action: We ended with a clear vision, actionable goals, and scheduled weekly check-ins to stay on track. 

Important to Note:

None of this works unless you regularly check in on your progress or areas where you’re falling behind. Our weekly check-ins are foundational to stay aligned. We, and maybe you too, have made great plans before and honestly can't even remember what they are weeks later. So, we chose to do these weekly at first while we are getting the hang of it then maybe move them to bi-weekly. These chats allow us to celebrate wins, address challenges, quickly review finances, and keep moving toward our shared vision with intention.

Your Turn!

If this inspires you, why not try a marriage retreat of your own? Whether it’s a weekend away or a day at home, the key is to create space for connection and planning. Start with what matters most to you and go from there.

If this blog resonates with you and the idea of setting intentions around your time inspires you, then here are some other great tips for doing just that: [Insert Post Link]. Let’s make 2025 the year of intention and growth—for your marriage, family, and dreams!

Side tip: Don’t forget to schedule in intimacy breaks—it goes a long way for connection! 😉