Marriages

Discovering the details of a marriage can be one of the most rewarding experiences you have as you build your family tree, as well as one that will provide you with vital clues to tracing your ancestry.

As well as information about the names and dates of the bride and groom, you'll also be able to discover parents' names, location of the wedding (usually the parish where the bride was from - allowing you to research that side of the family more easily), and you'll also have an approximate date from which to begin looking for birth records of any potential children from the marriage.

Naturally, the course of true love hasn't always run smooth, and you may also begin to uncover details of the past that were kept hidden even, perhaps, by your closest relatives. Was there a divorce in the family? Were children born out of wedlock? Whilst these may be commonplace events in modern day society they were very much frowned upon just a generation ago.

If you are lucky, you may also discover further details surrounding the marriage you have found in The British Newspaper Archive. Often times of such celebration were the subject of a family notice in the local or national newspapers, with some articles even carrying an image of the happy couple!