A somewhat different approach

Dear Jonathan 
 
There is an old joke in management education that says, "when you are up to your [rear] fighting the alligators, it's hard to remember that your original mission was to drain the swamp".  
 
Over the years, I've followed the arguments over the years from the courtship movement, and looked at your contributions arguing the case for betrothal. But I wonder if along the way we have got bogged down in the process (courtship/betrothal), by taking Scripture's teachings on the matter and applying them in such a way that diminishing returns have set in. That is, I wonder if we have got so concerned with the 'right' procedure, that it has got to the point that godly and otherwise perfectly viable Christian marriages are being stopped from happening. That was surely not the intention. 
 
I respect your convictions about betrothal, but I wonder in this case if trying to apply 'every jot and tittle of the law' will do more harm than good. There are many more single women than single men in the Christian community; this is a function of how our evangelism works much better with adult women than adult men. The net effect is that your correspondent has some significant challenges to getting married, no matter how she goes about it.  
 
I think in the case above, I would concur with the advice that she take Christian counsel, but I would not be *quite* so legally-minded as to how she negotiates the path to marriage.