Also note the “wedding called off during (or minutes before) the ceremony” is mostly a Hollywood thing.
I looked up the Roman Catholic order of marriage and it doesn’t include this line, presumably because the banns would have been published. I wonder where, though, because it’s not like I see them in the bulletin for a few weeks preceding a wedding at our church (which is what I remember from when I was a kid).
It’s happened at every church wedding I’ve been to in the UK, as far as I recall. Registry office weddings just seem to require the couple themselves to declare “I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I (your full name) may not be joined in matrimony to (full name of partner)” or similar.
I’m still wondering about whether a promise to marry A would be a legal impediment to marrying B. IIRC, in the middle ages they took this betrothing stuff a lot more seriously than today. As I recall, even up to the 30’s or the 50’s, a woman could sue for failure to follow through on a promise of marriage, and alienation of affection was a valid lawsuit against someone who broke up a marriage.
Well, my ex-BIL called off his wedding the morning of the ceremony. He “wasn’t ready”. They lost the money paid to the caterer, band, hall, etc. A month later he “was ready” and they married in front of a JP.
It’s still part of the Anglican marriage service (in the Declarations section)
Not all Christian denominations actually include a kiss between the bride & groom as part of the service. IIRC it isn’t part of an Orthodox wedding or very, very traditional Anglican weddings (neither Charles & Diana or William & Kate kissed during their services).
In order to avoid having to pay for a pre-wedding blood test, my wife and I were civilly married a week before we were religiously married. We were in a room with a justice of the peace (or whatever he was called), and he opened his book of scripts and went through his spiel. He said the part asking if anyone objected . . . and then waited about 30 seconds before he continued. There were only three of us in the room (me, my wife, and him), so I’m not sure whom he thought was going to object.
As stated above, the awesome warning used to be part of the ritual, usually left out , unless there’s a rigorous following of text. I heard once of someone voicing the objection, and the service stopped until the problem was solved. Signing the papers does not constitute the legal marriage, since none of the 7 states I’ve conducted weddings in required it. The form containing signatures of the WITNESSES & oficiant is required.I never saw ritual that included a kiss, although about everyone adds it. Some want “I introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. X Y” is requested, altho it is redundant following “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
I’m not doubting you, but I should :)–this sounds like pure farce, a bit in a comedy.
From previous threads on marriage procedures, I recall that there’s some variation on this point in the US. In some states, signing the licence is the key point, but in others, the ceremony is what makes the marriage.
Do you mean no one at all had to sign the papers, or that the people getting married (wow, it used to be easier to type “bride and groom”, but I’m so glad that’s not accurate anymore!) didn’t have to sign the paper? I’ve not found a place that doesn’t require the Officiant to sign the paper. Many places don’t require the people getting married to sign the Marriage License, because they already signed the paperwork to get the Marriage License in the first place.
Most states require witnesses to sign, but not all. It really depends. There are no witnesses or bride and groom signatures on the marriage license in Lake County, Illinois, for example - only room for the Officiant. I believe Cook County is the same (although it’s been a while since I married anyone in this county.)
It’s possible. There are even a few states which still have consummation laws on the books, which boggles my brain!
Definitely, if you’re getting married or acting as Officiant in a wedding, you want to check your local laws first. 
Um, “love honour and obey” hasn’t lost the “obey” part. It’s just optional nowadays. There are ‘traditional’ forms of the Anglican marriage liturgy which include the promise to obey, and there are alternative forms which don’t.
As I said, in the states I was located, the signatures of the witnesses (by custom the maid of honor and best man) and officiant are required. States and counties vary in rules.
Nitpick: The fact that the law requires the spouses and/or the celebrant and/or the witnesses to sign some document doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the signing of the document which constitutes the marriage. There are legal obligations on various people to register births and deaths, but birth and death are still events distinct from registration. The same can be (and often is) true of marriage.
To find out whether a marriage is legally constituted by the signing or filing of the paperwork rather than by the preceding ceremony, you’ll need to look at the text of the marriage law of the relevant jurisdiction.
Our minister mentioned to us that he didn’t like performing the ceremony for people outside his congregation, because it was some kind of crime/civil offense for him personally to sign off on a bigamous marriage.
For us, the wedding was completed by signing the register, with witnesses. But in AUS, “marriage” is also defined by the “Family Court” for property division and care of children, and by a whole bunch of other acts (some of which follow the Family Court), for all other things like tax and social security and discrimination and superannuation and whatever.
For the Family Court and almost everything else, you’re married if you’ve been living together. Or in a relationship and have kids. Or had a wedding. Etc. So although the wedding is certified by the signatures of the witnesses, the marrage is certified by the public actions of the participants.
I attended a wedding in the Kalamazoo, MI, municipal building in August. The Justice read a short and fairly unromantic marriage vow. In it was just that moment. I think it was, " If there is anyone present who knows why these two people should not be married, please let it be known to the court ".
Since there were about 4 of us besides the couple and we were all pretty damned elated at the event, nobody spoke up. The judge was deadly serious as he said that and looked around before he continued.
It was also said at my first wedding.
It isn’t a trope.
ETA: What WhyNot said. In the case of my first marriage, the Rabbi who married us had a very bad back. He was in such terrible pain that he had all signatures - including ours, witnesses and his - in place before the ceremony. He had to marry us, shake our hands, be helped to his car so his wife could drive him back home so he could lay down. As we were doing the paperwork, I remember saying to him, " Aren’t we married as of right now?" He said yeah, but are you really going to go in there and break your Grandmother’s heart by not having this wedding? We all had a little laugh. Then we trooped in and did the ceremony.
My Dearly Beloved™ and I were married in the Episcopal Church. Our Priest, a delightful gentleman of 80, is very very traditional in his approach. But he’s also got a sense of humor.
We both had to agree to love, honor and obey.
Well, a hearing is sort of conducted, if a long-ago schoolfriend’s father is to be believed.
He was a Protestant minister who always included the question in his ceremonies. We once asked him if anybody had ever objected. Surprisingly, once somebody did. In that case, he called a halt to the proceedings and invited the objector to discuss the matter in private. The objector turned out to be a former boyfriend of the bride, who didn’t think she should be marrying anybody else. Since that’s not enough reason to cancel a wedding, the objector was asked to leave and the ceremony went on a few minutes later.
It is still included in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, p. 424: “Into this holy union N.N. and N.N. now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not lawfully be married, speak now; or else for ever hold your peace.”
The priest said it at our 1990 wedding. Nobody spoke up.