Salam
I think the topic has gone off-course.
that said, I think that there is a problem asking about beauty in a person. As i saw mentioned at least once in the thread, beauty is a personal thing. Think of parents - if a mother gives birth to a baby with a birth defect, that baby still is beautiful to the mother and father; they will see their loving child as beautiful their whole lives. And what is beautiful in one culture may not be in another (for instance, I am pasty white, and when I am home in America, most people pity me for being so pale and white; when I am in kuwait, I get so many compliments on my white skin - so, is my white skin beautiful or not?). And what is beautiful at one point in time may not be considered beautiful a few years later (in the past, many times having a large-fat wife was considered beautiful and a sign of the prosperity of the husband; nowadays, if you are fat, people think you are a lazy slob).
I think that yes, you have to be attracted to the person that you will marry, but seriously, I have a friend who married a guy that she cannot say enough about (for his looks) and I wouldn't have given him a second glance. Every single person interprets beauty differently; the size and shape of nose, the color of skin, height and weight, body shape/build - all completely subjective, so the answers are too arbitrary anyway. Also, let's say you married THE most handsome man or most beautiful lady, and after a few years of marriage, after you loved the person a whole bunch, they got in a terrible car accident and their face was disfigured...if beauty is so important, would you leave your spouse because they are now no longer considered beautiful by society?
I voted NO that beauty isn't important to me - but my husband is the most handsome man in the world anyway, mashaAllah, so I don't have to worry! ;-)