Genealogy Chat

What is the difference between marriage by banns and marriage by licence? Thanks Kathryn

I'm not an expert on this, but here's my stab at it: Banns means that the names of the couple are read out at the church for three consecutive Sundays before the date of the wedding. The idea is to make sure that anyone who might have a right to object to the marriage is given fair warning. In order for the banns to go ahead, the couple must be resident in the parish; what 'resident' means depends on how flexible the vicar is feeling! The other way of getting a church wedding is by licence. This costs more money, but can be done at shorter notice. I think the licences are issued on behalf of the bishop, so they give a sort of special approval for a marriage that might not have been acceptable to the Church otherwise.

thanks for that

Hi I think Gary is right. Licences cost money and were issued by the bishop. Bans were displayed at the church as he said but cost nothing. Bye Paul

I'm not Gary! Actually, Gary isn't Gary, either...!