First off, may Allah bless your marriage. We just wanted our nikah with immediate family so it wouldn’t have been a big wedding. We met then told our families and by 2 months later we had met each other’s parents. After that (chronologically): - his family went abroad for a few months - a close family member of mine died - there was a lockdown in the U.K. for 3 months Another 3 months passed without lockdown during which time my family invited his and they came round during the last month and said they would invite us, which didn’t happen until 3 months later (during one of these months another lockdown took place). the night before we were meant to visit his family and set a nikah date another lockdown was announced and since then we’ve been waiting for it to be lifted

Some of it was unavoidable but some wasn’t. I think on both sides parents lack a sense of urgency which is needed when an attachment like this is formed. For my parents they understand that having the nikah done is the most important thing but they also don’t want to be pushy towards the other side. My partner also doesn’t want to push his parents at all. the delays are devastating and living with the guilt of being in a “relationship” without marrying weighs heavily on me. I just don’t know what to do anymore tbh