Members had to appear before the Monthly Meeting and publicly state their marriage intentions at two Monthly Meetings in a row. Following the first appearance, a committee would be appointed to investigate the "clearness" of the individuals to marry. If an impediment was found, the couple were not permitted to marry. Usually a couple would be privately advised not to make the attempt to "pass the meeting" if the impediment was well known or obvious. In this instance they would quietly get married by a magistrate then come & condemn their misconduct of "marriage contrary to discipline" (mcd). Following the 2nd declaration of intentions, if no impediments were found, the couple would be "liberated to marry" or allowed their freedom to accomplish the marriage.

The actual marriage ceremony was solemnized in either a public or private Meeting. According to Discipline, the gathering together of at least 12 Friends was sufficient to constitute a legal Meeting. One thus finds that document, peculiar to Quaker weddings, the marriage certificate signed by AT LEAST 12 witnesses. The signatures are usually arranged in 3 columns with the place of honor reserved for the fathers of the bride & groom at the top of the rightmost column, immediately beneath the signatures of the groom & the bride.

One should assume that, without better information, the majority of marriage ceremonies were held the same day or the day following the liberation with some held within, at most, the week following. The marriage certificates were recorded in a separate book kept by the Monthly Meeting. Additionally, the fact that the marriage occurred was recorded in the minutes at the next Monthly Meeting.

Some impediments to marriage:

Intended spouse was a non-member

Previous engagement to marry another individual

Moral turpitude (which may include being pregnant at the time of contemplating marriage)

Close relationship (1st cousins forbidden to marry)

Less than one year since death of previous spouse With the high mortality rate, particularly in childbirth, there were many second marriages in the early years. If a man lost his wife and had a brood of young children to raise, some perhaps still babies, waiting a year was not always practical. Even amongst the families that were deeply devoted Quakers, the majority of second marriages were performed by a Justice of the Peace. For those in their middle years that remarried in Meeting, waiting two years or more appeared to be the norm. Having seen a number of situations in which a marriage occurred as close as possible to the 2 year anniversary of the previous spouse's decease, the Discipline may have called for a 2 year wait in some areas for a time