Is Arranged Marriage the Same as a Mail Order Bride Arrangement?

    • Is Arranged Marriage the Same as a Mail Order Bride Arrangement?

      The terms mail order bride and arranged marriage are both misunderstood by popular culture. They are also sometimes mistaken for the other. To answer the question, no, arranged marriages are not the same as a mail order bride.

      In an arranged marriage, the bride and groom are chosen beforehand by the parents, elders, or a matchmaker. This union is meant to help the two young partners find the right person to get married to.

      There are a number of reasons why the parents choose to arrange a marriage for their children. For some families, it is economical reasons. For example, two families want a partnership in terms of business and the best way to guarantee the foundation of this partnership is to join their two families together through marriage.

      Other parents choose to arrange marriages to guarantee the future by marrying children off to someone who is guaranteed to take care of them.

      Mail order bride arrangements are different. Mail order brides are not as depicted by media and film. These mail order brides are simply women who register with websites like A Foreign Affair or Anastasia in order to meet a man to marry abroad. The men seek out these women by registering for these same sites in order to communicate.

      A Foreign Affair, the industry’s leader in international online matchmaking services, offers everything from translation services to romance tours to guarantee that these men and women have every tool at their disposal to meet and fall in love. Unlike arranged marriages, the men and women who meet on these websites enter into their relationships of their own free will.

      Mail order bride arrangements and arranged marriages are commonly mistaken for each other, yet are completely different. Perhaps the only thing that these two have in common are their misrepresentation by mainstream media. Arranged marriages are not all loveless, forced affairs, and mail order brides are not desperate women looking to meet a man for money.

      What other differences between the two do you know of? Do you think they’re the same? Send me a response, and let’s talk about it!