Both the bride and groom in question are the only Muslims in their immediate families. They both have Muslim friends, but the all live far away now. They want to have a simple and low-cost wedding. To give a better picture of how simple, if it weren't for the religious aspect they would've gone to the courthouse already and been married there. They both practice according to the Ja'fari school of jurisprudence. The biggest problems I see are that the bride has no one who can serve as her wali and the pair do not have anyone who can serve as witnesses. What should they do?

To me it seems like a waste. Get engaged, and then get married within 6 months sounds reasonable. But not 2-3 years.... So why do people do this? I know someone who is 27, so it's not like they're young...

Newly engaged and I started brainstorming about venues and color schemes. I wanted my parents and my fiances parent to compile a list of majority of our family members and we will pick who we want there. My family did it without a problem whereas my fiances parent questioned my reasoning. This really irritated me. Upon talking to my fiance he explained that it was too early to start planning but I informed him that I was brainstorming to get an idea of what size venue would be needed and to start saving for it. The conversation ended very badly and the whole wedding talk won't happen until he gets his dream income. I was so excited about thinking of different ideas that now I feel like I am being robbed of being able to think about my wedding and honestly no longer excited nor looking forward to others having an influence on our wedding. Opinions? TIA When wedding brainstorming goes wrong... Thanks to all the replies. The issue has been resolved! It was a simple case of bad communication and others assuming. Asking for a list of people WAS NOT seen as being rude.