What is your opinion on arranged marriages?

I would not go for arrange marriage, not that I oppose it as such. Nowadays, only the ultra traditional families do proper arranged marriage in India. What has been considered arranged is usually just a face. I'm not saying all are like that, but generally, that is true. Modern families don't really interfere with their children's love life, unless the girlfriend or the boyfriend is really objectionable, which is becoming rarer now. I am just talking about India here. When I was doing my graduation, my professor arranged his daughter's marriage with a guy who has settled in the US (not American, he was living in the US for 2 years or so at that time). It turned out that the guy has a girlfriend back in US and after he got back to US, the wife could never reach him. Even when their baby was born, the guy was incommunicable.

I never liked the idea of arranged marriages but now I just loathe it!! My ex married according to his parents wishes and left me high and dry!!! I still can't get over it even now after 5months!! Thank God I won't have an arranged marriage. Catholic Indians are very liberal are only rare cases your have arranged marriages. Its you who is gonna get married so why do your parents and relatives choose whom you have to marry!!! That's stupid. Now if I can't find someone on my own and then my parents choose someone for me then that makes sense. I will definitely be choosing whom I marry!! The situation you mentioned sounds unbelievable but I guess stuff like this happens a lot in Pakistan. India, for that matter also has similar instances where people who marry from two different castes are hunted and killed by their own parents or siblings cause they have disgraced their families. They are known as honor killings. Its sad to think that society's opinion matters more than your own flesh and blood!!!

I have a friend from India who got married trough arranged marriage by his parents. And it worked well with him he said. I think sometimes, it is more convenient for them, especially in finding someone who has the same faith. So it doesn't produced conflicts in the future. I think for some it works. But it is wrong when the people involves doesn't love each other and more if they don't want to be together. It's very tragic when family feud sprang from such arrangements. Like what happened with the couple you mentioned. I think that's immature when you have to resort to killing when someone got stood up at the altar. They should have been happy, that person was not worthy of them. (^^,)

I think this would be a thing in the past!! Arranged marriage is a No, No, No, for me. I love freedom. I want to have a freedom to choose who I want to marry. I am so curious if this really works! Are they gonna be happy? I don't know. But for me.. this isn't good anymore. Parents should let their children choose for themselves not them sot that there would be no dispute just like this. This is a horrible news.

Well, I have never supported not against it. I think marriage is very important part of life so one has right to choose their partner. People of India basically follow the arranged marriage system, and they consider it as something great. I think Marriages, be it love or arranged the main essence remains intact in both. Arranged marriages have always been a debatable subject. When it comes to love marriage, the two people tie the nuptial knot only after falling in love with each other and probably, after knowing each other for a long time. They get ample time to explore both the good and the bad things about each other, well before marriage. This helps them to develop a good comfort level after marriage, very effortlessly. On the other hand, if two people do not know much about each other, when their marriage is arranged by their parents, then they might take some more time to develop a level of comfort, understanding after marriage. Here, love marriage scores more than arranged marriage in this case.

Though it is not fare, but tradition is tradition... but this: Love should be the reason why we enter into a married life not arranged!

Well I grew up in a country that does not practice this anymore. I believe that our sons have their own mind and heart to follow. When it comes to the heart it is the children who will decide for themselves and our role as parents end there.

That's really sad. Although I don't like the idea, I'm not totally against it either. I only know of one arranged marriage, my maternal grandparents. They weren't crazy about each other at first (or was it that my grandmother wasn't crazy about my grandfather? LOL) Eventually the love was there and the had a wonderful life together. If it wasn't for it being arranged they would have never gotten married. Which in turn means that they never would have had the life that they had or had the children that they had for that matter. And just think, a lot of us would not be here today if it wasn't for arranged marriages at some point in time. I know I wouldn't be. So, even though arranged marriages may not seem like a good idea, sometimes some good comes out of it anyway, like in my grandparents case. Happy mylotting!

Well this is a new one. Shooting down people cuz of arranged marriage. Lol. I think arrange marriages are a thing of the past. I wouldn't wanna be in one. I like to marry someone i chose myself, not my parents. Parents help you choose your clothes, shoes, etc..When you were a kid but they don't have to choose who you're marrying.

I don't support arranged marriage. Unless before the marriage, both parties are given the opportunity to know each other and also the freedom to choose whether to go ahead with it or not, else I find it very tough for two strangers to build a family especially if they have different mindset, thinking and characteristic. (Although not through arranged marriage) Some of my friends and their partners met through matchmaking services or arranged dates. Thus, it shows that arranged situations are not really that bad. But for their situations, they have the freedom to choose whether to continue or not.

I don't agree to it. We my owe our lives from our parents and those people that nurture us, but that don't give them the right to dictate our future. We are all born free to love. So we should be free to choose our partner in live.

No way. I say no to arranged marriage. I dont know the person and I might end up with a mean person who wouldn't treat me right and so difficult to love, and I would suffer forever. worst thing is I didn't choose him. Oh my, I think I would rather not marry at all than live a life full of regret and misery with a person I dont love.

Sorry to hear the sad news! Personally I feel both the marriages (love and arranged) have their own pros and cons. Arranged marriage is a good decision, provided the parents don't force their wards to do as they decide. The son's / daughter's opinion should be respected and then only the further step should be taken. Also what happens in most arranged marriages is the perception difference due to generation gap. The parents have come a long way and there is no place for emotion. In most cases, they very carefully plan a bride or bridegroom based on the economical and social status and the character of the person or love coefficient is ignored. Whereas in love marriage, love stands first irrespective of the social and economical status and however the person is, the couple is inclined to do it. They don't have a future planning at least here in India. Most of them fail it in a hasty decision leaving all family members unhappy and frustrated. I don't want to say arranged marriages don't fail. But in arrange marriage, there is not just the unity of the couple, but two families are tied to each other, while in love marriages, if the seniors are not willing, the couple has to drag their entire life without their seniors entirely or for some time.

I am happy that I live in a country that does not recognize arranged marriages. I cannot imagine not having the freedom to marry the man I want. I think it would be difficult for both the man and the woman especially if they are not compatible with each other.

Arranged marriage, in my opinion, is only applicable if both man and woman comes from within the community they are in. But if one side is from another country and the other in another, I guess this seldom works, especially if religion of both are different, not to speak of their culture. In this case, a Pakistani and a British citizen is much different when it comes to culture and religion.

I think it depends on how the marriage has been arranged. The incident you mention is terrible but it is rare (thank goodness). The modern version of arranged marriages are more like arranged meetings, or even monitored dating between like-minded families. My friend had a family member arrange a meeting with a boy from a good family- they hit it off and spent a lot of time getting to know each other and then got married. The key is that the couple should both have a choice and a decent chance to get to know each other. At the end of the day most arranged marriages work out in comparison to love marriages as it isn't done purely for emotional reasons. Making sure people are compatible on important life issues is important before people get married. Whether that is done via an arranged marriage or not doesn't really matter. Would I have an arranged marriage? No! But that is more because I don't want to get married at all.

Marriage is a vow made by both the couple before God . I was born in a country that does not practice such but I am also thankful because we were not forced to be married to someone just because of our parents decision. It will be a nightmare for me to be married to someone i personally don't know and the time spent was just what? weeks to know the person and settle down. Well it all depends on the couple, be it parental arrangement or not, if they will not love each other and if they don't help each other, the relationship will not work out.

My two sisters had arranged marriages and they are well enough, I think one has to choose a suitable family to make an arranged marriages because the son or the daughter can be good sometimes whereas their family cause a serious problem so in arranged marriages one has to see if the married couples will stay with the in laws or separately.

I my country there is one ethnic group that arranged marriage They say : "Parents know very well choose for their children and no divorce"