As a self-supporting 25 year-old male I have chosen, as my life partner, a compatible, distantly related young woman from our community. While my fiancée’s parents are overjoyed by our impending marriage, my father is displeased. He is upset because he felt that it should have been he who chose my wife for me and that to do so was his right and duty.
Is he correct? The whole family agrees with my choice but feel obliged to defer to the ‘head of the family’. Does a man require his parents consent to marry someone of his own choice?

You do not need the consent of your parents to marry the girl of your choice.
al-hamdu li-Llah, you have chosen an appropriate and compatible partner, so go ahead with your arrangements. There is no need to hesitate. Try to explain this ruling to your father, but you have no responsibility if he insists on maintaining his stance. If you were as wise as you are self-supporting you might have enlisted your father’s support to achieve your objective, rather than present him with a fait accompli. Within Islam, marriage unites families. It is not wise to make more difficult things which are complicated enough in themselves.