About Us
The Founders of Wedding Stress Coaching
William J. Doherty, Ph.D.
William J. Doherty, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota. He is a teacher, researcher, and therapist with over 30 years of experience working with couples. Bill is past president of the National Council on Family Relations, co-founder of The National Registry of Marriage Friendly Therapists (www.marraigefriendlytherapists.com) and The First Dance, LLC (www.TheFirstDance.com), and author of 12 books including Take Back Your Wedding and Take Back Your Marriage. He speaks across the country to both lay and professional audiences and appears frequently in the media. He has been married to Leah Doherty for 35 years, is the father of two grown children and a doting grandfather.
Elizabeth Doherty Thomas
Elizabeth Doherty Thomas is the co-founder of The First Dance, LLC. She has a B.A., in psychology from Macalester College and spent 8 years in the business world before starting this new venture. Having grown up as the daughter of a famous family therapist father, she found herself in a strange new world when she became engaged. She quickly realized that wedding planning offered tremendous opportunities to learn about relationships, marriage, and family life. Elizabeth read thousands of internet posts from brides who were overwhelmed by the interpersonal stresses of weddings, and invited her father to help uncover the family systems principles behind these stories. Out of these father-daughter conversations came a program to help engaged couples where they are—planning a wedding with their loved ones. Elizabeth is married to Michael Thomas and has a very energetic young son and a new baby daughter.
The Coaches
Wedding Stress Coaches are mostly new counselors and counselors in training in marriage and family therapy. They were chosen because of their sensitivity to the challenges of today’s couples who often marry later than previous generations, are more self-sufficient, have higher expectations, and come from more complex families. The coaches see this work as a great opportunity to help couples from their generation and begin to earn income as they finish their training as marriage and family therapists.