What is the best marriage advice? What should you know if you're going to be getting married soon, or you and your spouse are still newlyweds? Chances are you are getting marriage advice from a number of sources. Friends of yours that have been married for years, your parents or grandparents, and even professional counselors may be giving you and your spouse pointers on how to keep your relationship strong. And while these suggestions may be valid, it's up to you and your partner to heed the marriage advice that you know will work for your relationship.

Some of the best marriage advice should be taken into consideration before you actually walk down the aisle. For instance, you'll need to know how your partner handles money before you get married. Studies have shown that the main reason for divorce and marital problems is money, so once you know how your partner handles finances-and how well that compliments your money style-you can eliminate a number of arguments. If one of you is a saver and the other is a spender, it's very important that you talk about how much money you will need to save every month, and how much you can spend on recreational activities or household decor after the bills are paid. If these types of things are not discussed beforehand, they could cause serious problems in the relationship.

Learning how your partner will handle raising children is another important piece of marriage advice that you'll want to pay attention to. Will your partner be more of the disciplinary type? Would he or she rather leave that up to you? Even before you talk about how you will raise your kids in a marriage relationship, you and your partner need to talk about when you think you will be ready to expand your family, and how many children you want to have. Knowing this information before the wedding will make you completely aware of your partner's expectations. It's definitely not a good idea to wait until you want to start trying for a baby to talk about who will stay home with the child, or how long you should wait before having another baby. When your family is growing, this is cause a great deal of stress if you're not prepared, and could damage the marriage.

Romantic relationships take a lot of maintenance as well, which is why you may get marriage advice like 'keep the romance alive' and 'date as much as you can'. Even if you're not able to go out to dinner as much as you would like, buying your partner a bouquet of flowers every once in a while, or preparing a gourmet dinner at home is a great way to keep your marriage strong and improve the family dynamic.