I've been witnessing it 3rd hand however and while I'm only getting one side of the story the threats being made seem completely out of league.
Someone close to me has recently gotten engaged and his finance's parents don't approve of the engagement based (from what I've been told) solely on the couples age. They have stated she can't get student aid if married (untrue) and most recently that if they don't wait until they (the parents) approve they won't attend their daughter's wedding.
I realize parents want to protect their children, but at some point you have to recognize that they are their own person and have grown up. I was lucky in that both of my parents recognized they were raising a person not a baby and that their goals were to create an independent person able to make their own choices in life and take responsibilities for those choices even if they didn't necessarily approve of those choices.
The couple above has at least outwardly not let this dissuade them from their plans on a life together, but they do have a length of time between today and their wedding date that they will likely have to listen to a large dose of negativity the whole time. While this is a good test of the relationship, families in my opinion should say their piece and then if the choices aren't what they wanted they should move out of the way and support the course the individual is on rather than throwing up roadblocks every step of the way.
Watching this couple and the way they support each other and are facing this first of many challenges in their life, they have a strong relationship and I believe they will have a long and happy life together as long as they know that the only true opinion they have to care about is each others.
Because the couple will likely read this, and their families might I am not giving names, some people will know who I speak of, that's fine, I just ask that in the comments you don't name them and possibly cause more difficulties for them.
