How should dreams before a marriage be understood if they seem not to come true?

Often the mistake lies in the interpretation, not in the dream. Perhaps a warning was read as good news, or the dream applied to only one of the two sides, so it is wise to ask knowledgeable people for advice.

Before a marriage many people pray for guidance and pay attention to their dreams. Sometimes someone sees a dream that seems like a clear yes, and later the marriage turns out quite differently from what they hoped. Then they wonder whether the dream was wrong.

Often the problem lies in the interpretation. Someone who strongly wants a marriage easily reads a dream the way they would like it to be. Yet the message may have been a warning rather than good news. The wish colours the interpretation.

Besides, a marriage always involves two people. What is good for one need not be good for the other. It happens that before a proposed marriage the man sees troubling dreams and the woman sees good ones. This is not a contradiction. It can mean that he is a blessing for her, but she is not for him. So all the dreams of both sides have to be considered together.

Interpreting dreams is difficult. Their symbolic language is sometimes so delicate that the message is easily missed. As the verse above shows, even the advisers of a king took a meaningful dream for nonsense. Anyone without experience in this should therefore ask knowledgeable people for advice instead of relying on their own reading alone.

Finally, no dream replaces careful thought, conversation with the family and prayer. A dream can be a pointer, but the responsibility for the decision stays with the person.