For richer or poorer…

I will be getting married Saturday afternoon and, needless to say, I could not be more excited to spend the rest of my life with my best friend who I know will be there for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, ‘till death do us part. Plus, you can be assured, this won't be a 72-day publicity stunt just so we can rake in approximately $20 million.

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries should be ashamed of themselves. Argue all you want about whether or not their "marriage" was staged. However, one thing is for sure, it's people like these two who give marriage a bad name. They send the message to everyone that marriage is just a big joke. It's no wonder 50 percent of marriages end in divorce.

I think too many couples have this preconceived notion that marriage is "easy" and they end up putting way more time and effort into the wedding than they do the marriage itself. While everyone wants to have a perfect wedding with no hiccups (believe me, I'm one of them), you have to realize that the wedding is such a small step of marriage in the grand scheme of things.

No matter how compatible you and your spouse are with one another, you still have to work at it. Even the best marriages face minor problems at one point or another; it's how well you are able to communicate, adapt and compromise that matters most. You have to be willing to work things out, instead of just giving up and calling it quits like Mr. and Mrs. Humphries.

Had Kim and Kris taken some premarital counseling, maybe their marriage could have lasted – if they ever intended for it to last in the first place, that is. Premarital counseling, or at least sitting down with your minister, priest or whomever, may not sound like fun, but it's really not that bad. It helps you learn more about your significant other and it forces each of you to discuss common issues you may face throughout your marriage, such as money management, career aspirations, children, etc.

Communicating and listening to one another is one of the most important aspects of marriage, if not the most important. No one should ever laugh with your spouse more than you and no one should ever weep with your spouse more than you – communication is key.

If people prepare to take marriage seriously, maybe together we can start to lower the divorce rate and erase the negative image about marriage that has been produced by those such as Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.