Do Muslims have to have arranged marriage?

what is the islamic view on marriage? because i found from research that Allah has created for everyone a naseeb or soulmate, and that is the person destined for you. ive also found out that mixed-race relationships are fine, providing the person is Muslim the colour of the skin makes no difference. But my dad tries to tell me different, he says that Islamically we are supposed to have arranged marriage and that the person must be of your own kind. but i have never seen islamic evidence to back this up and as far as im concerned this is culture/tradition, not religion. please provide me with some answers and possibly hadiths/islamic literature to assist me with this problem/to show my dad.