Writers 
When Love Alone Wasn't Enough
And honestly, religion isn't the only thing couples need to talk about before getting married.
How many children do you both want?
What happens if one person wants two children while the other wants five?
What kind of parenting style do you both believe in? What happens when one person is very strict and the other is more relaxed? How will discipline be handled? What values do you both want your children to grow up with?
These things may seem like conversations that can be postponed, but they can become serious problems when two people eventually realise that they have completely different expectations.
There are also questions about where to live, money, careers, family responsibilities, and the kind of life each person wants to build.
Love can make people overlook these things in the beginning, but marriage has a way of bringing them back to the surface.
And that was exactly what happened with Mary and Ahmed.
When Mary was asked if she was willing to convert to Ahmed's religion, she vehemently refused. Ahmed also refused when he was asked.
Neither of them had anything against the other's religion, but neither of them was willing to leave the faith they had known all their lives.
At that point, it was clear that they were genuinely in love, but love alone wasn't enough to solve the problem.
There were important conversations about sacrifices, compromises and expectations that they should have had much earlier. Unfortunately, they had waited until the relationship had gotten to this point.
They realised that they were not compatible on something that neither of them was willing to compromise on, and they had to go their separate ways that evening.
I stayed behind with Mary that night, trying to comfort her. But beyond the heartbreak, I couldn't stop thinking about the lesson in everything that had happened.
They had spent years together. They had grown together. They had loved each other through so many stages of their lives.
Yet, one conversation revealed something they had never properly discussed.
That is the part that stayed with me.
Sometimes, we assume that because someone loves us, they must see the future the same way we do. We assume that the things we haven't discussed will somehow work themselves out when the time comes.
But that isn't always how life works.
People can love each other deeply and still want completely different things.
One person may want children while the other doesn't. One may want to live close to family while the other wants to move away. One may want their children raised in a particular religion while the other has completely different expectations.
None of these conversations are particularly romantic. They may even feel uncomfortable.
But they are important.
Talk about the things that matter before they become problems.
Talk about your faith. Talk about children. Talk about money. Talk about family. Talk about parenting. Talk about the kind of home you both want to build.
Talk about the things you are willing to compromise on and, perhaps more importantly, the things you are not willing to compromise on.
Don't assume that love will automatically make everything work out.
Love is important, but marriage is also about expectations, values, choices and compromises.
Mary and Ahmed loved each other. I don't think that was ever the problem.
The problem was that they had left some very important conversations for too late.
And by the time they finally had them, they discovered that love couldn't make the decision for them.
Because sometimes, saying “I love you” is simply not enough.