When my wife and I first got married we were very young, and we knew that we didn’t know enough, so we decided to educate ourselves (to be honest, she decided). We read several books on relationships, which started us down the road of continually trying to improve our marriage.
One of the first books that we read together was The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. We learned a lot about ourselves from reading it.
When we were preparing for our marriage, we were told by many people (btw, why do so many people feel a need to give advice to engaged couples?) that communication was the key to a happy marriage. What this book taught us was that it’s not just communication, but communicating in a way that your partner understands.
The Five Love Languages helped me understand that my wife feels most loved if I am touching her when I speak to her. It helped her understand that I respond very well to praise. One’s not better than the other, it just has to do with the way we’re wired.
I highly recommend the book.
[...] door. If you don’t know what kind of affection makes your wife happy, then I suggest you read The Five Love Languages. That book will show you how to find out what each of you needs in a relationship to communicate [...]