How about some wedding pictures!

[hollydolly]

Thanks for the explanations.. In the UK, you need to register your intention to marry at least 28 days in advance, for either civil or religious marriages. Until 2006, under Scots Law, you could be married "By habit and repute" - ie you lived together and were to all intents and purposes, married. In years gone past, people from outside Scotland would elope to Gretna Green which was the first village over the Scottish border. There they were married in the Blacksmith's shop.

This is still a popular venue for civil weddings, although the requirements for marriage in Scotland are now similar to the rest of the UK.

Also in Scotland you could marry at 16 without parental consent, but 18 elsewhere in the Uk..hence a lot of Elopements to Gretna Green Scotland.

 

[Capt Lightning]

The Old Blacksmith's shop in Gretna Green. Still one of the world's favourite wedding venues.

 

[jujube]

Thanks for the explanations.. In the UK, you need to register your intention to marry at least 28 days in advance, for either civil or religious marriages. Until 2006, under Scots Law, you could be married "By habit and repute" - ie you lived together and were to all intents and purposes, married.

.

Fifteen US states and the District of Columbia still recognize what is called "Common-Law" marriages, although several that do will only recognize those that were in effect before a certain date.

Arizona, Arkansas and Louisiana have an interesting little arrangement called a "covenant marriage" where the couple has to go to a certain amount of marriage counseling and in case of a divorce, if it is not because of infidelity, incarceration, drug abuse, physical abuse or a couple of other things, must have a one-year waiting period living apart before the marriage can be dissolved. At first, there was quite a bit of interest on the part of couples who wanted to show that they intended the marriage to last and that it wasn't just a "trial marriage" that could be dissolved by a no-fault divorce. Apparently the covenant marriage isn't very popular any more.

My own great-grandparents couldn't marry legally in their state because of miscegenation laws and had to cross over into another state to be married by a sympathetic minister (not that it was really legal in that state either, but at least they found a minister who would perform the ceremony).