Table 2.

Defining characteristics of different types of marriage.

Love Marriage and Elopement	Arranged Marriage	Arranged Love Marriage
Couple meets on their own	Boy’s family approaches girl’s family	Couple meets on their own
Love develops before marriage	Love expected to develop after marriage	Love develops before marriage
Couple choose each other without parents’ consent	Family members choose spouse, but couple consents	Couple choose each other, but get parents’ consent
Couple may be different castes and religions	Couple must be the same caste and religion	Couple must be the same caste and religion
Couple elopes without parents’ knowledge	Couple participates in engagement ceremony	Couple participates in engagement ceremony
Couple begins cohabiting without a wedding ceremony	Families exchange gifts and engage in other caste specific traditions surrounding the wedding	Families exchange gifts and engage in other caste specific traditions surrounding the wedding
Couple is formally married after cohabiting	Couple is formally married before cohabiting	Couple is formally married before cohabiting