Re: Arranged Marriages: your experience
I had an arranged marriage, and it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Honestly, the only difference between arranged and love marriage is how you initially met, other than that, the dynamic of the marriage is the same.
As far as falling in love, my husband and I met only one time before we got engaged. Within a month of our engagement, we were totally in love with one another. By the time we were married, it felt like a whirlwind romance. It's been five years now, and MashAllah, we still feel the same way!
I disagree with Legally Brown that there is no such thing as compromise. If you feel that way, then marriage isn't for you. Marrying someone means that sometimes you'll give in and sometimes your partner will. It's not a big deal. As far as finding someone with similar interests, where on earth are you going to find your exact clone? So someone is not marriage worthy if they don't like your type of music or food? BFD, you have a good opportunity to learn new things and expand your horizons with your spouse. You don't give up your interests, you introduce them to your spouse, who will probably be more than happy to take you to the places you want to go (and vice versa).
Rather than having identical interests and hobbies, it's far more important to find someone who has the same values and goals for the future that you do. That's where I think arranged or semi-arranged marriages are stronger. Do I care whether or not my husband likes Indian films as much as I do? No, I don't. What I care about is that he believes in faithfulness, that's he's loving and kind and that we share the same dreams about our lives.