SUMMER is the season of wedding bells and relationship charity Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon has offered advice for couples before they get hitched.

Their top 10 tips include creating an ‘ideal’ future timeline, booking a one off couple counselling session at Relate to help discuss expectations and visions for the future, working out what is important to your partner, keeping the magic alive, handling conflict, deciding together what constitutes cheating, talking about finances and housework, discussing expectations from sex, agreeing to a regular relationship MoT and respecting the plans you make.

Kimberley Wall, service development manager with Relate Gloucestershire and Swindon, said: “Rather than just focusing on the amount of time a couple have been together, another indicator of relationship longevity might be how in sync a couple’s expectations of the future are.

“While it might not seem romantic to discuss practical issues that may arise in the distant future, ensuring you share the same vision could decrease the chances of unsolvable conflict arising once the couple are married.”