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Archiver > LONDON > 2000-10 > 0971913297


From: Eve McLaughlin <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] Christmas weddings
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 00:54:57 +0100
In-Reply-To: <003401c037ae$f2fedcc0$a906bc3e@colin>


In message <003401c037ae$f2fedcc0$>, Don McQueen
<> writes
>My g-grandparents were married on Christmas Day 1856 in St Pancras Parish
>Church. Looking at the parish register, I was amazed at the number of weddings
>on that day in the same parish. It seems most improbable that each one would
>have had a full length ceremony of the type we are nowadays familiar with. It
>made me wonder whether cut-price weddings were available on days such as
>Christmas. They could certainly have economised by combining the wedding
>reception with a Christmas party! Does anyone have an explanation?

There was known to be a cheap and cheerful ceremony offered by parish
churches on Xmas Day, to encourage those who were living toegther to tie
the knot officially. Maybe they did a two chairs no waiting system,
maybe read the main bulk of the ceremony to everyone and then did
individual 'askings' for each pair. After all, they could scarcely go
'Do you John, Willie, Tom, Dick, Harry, Fred, Joe, Jim, Charlie,
Algernon take you Lizzie, Mary, Annie, Jane, Sarah, Fanny, Martha,
Hannah, Kezia, Sophonisba???' - could have ended up with the wrong pair
leaving together.

--
Eve McLaughlin

Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians
Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

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