Also known as: marriage ceremonies · ceremony of marriage
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A formal act of solemnization in which the parties exchange consent to marry before an authorized officiant. Capacity to understand the act and agree to it is determined at the precise moment the ceremony takes place.
Musa Mensah consumed hard cider and marijuana throughout the afternoon before his scheduled wedding. At the ceremony he laughed inappropriately and required repeated prompting to recite his lines. The officiant pronounced the couple married anyway. A court later declared the marriage invalid because Musa lacked capacity at the exact time of the ceremony.
Miguel Mendoza participated in a second marriage ceremony authorized by his church leaders. The ceremony followed the same formal steps used for his first marriage. Prosecutors charged him with bigamy. The court upheld the conviction because the religious ceremony did not shield the second union from criminal law.
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Michael Miller and his partner went through a marriage ceremony that would have been valid but for a legal impediment. After his death the child sought survivor benefits. The court treated the child as the decedent's offspring because the ceremony satisfied the statutory test even though the marriage itself was invalid.
Meredith Maxwell and her partner raised children together without ever participating in a marriage ceremony. After her death the state sought to remove the children from the surviving father. The court held that the absence of a ceremony did not destroy the protected family relationship under the Constitution.
Mariam Mansour and her same-sex partner obtained a marriage license and participated in a ceremony in one state. When they moved, the new state refused to recognize the marriage for benefit purposes. The court required equal recognition because the ceremony created the same marital status as opposite-sex unions.
Melanie Morris, an inmate, authorized a proxy to stand in for her at a marriage ceremony conducted outside the prison. Prison rules required approval for such ceremonies. The court struck down a near-total ban because the ceremony implicated fundamental marital rights that could not be restricted without sufficient justification.
No. Most states require both a marriage license issued by a civil authority and a subsequent ceremony of solemnization. A ceremony without the prior license fails to satisfy the statutory prerequisites even if performed by an ordained officiant before witnesses.
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Capacity is measured at the precise moment of the ceremony. A party who is intoxicated or under the influence of drugs at that instant lacks the mental capacity to understand the act and consent to it, rendering the marriage invalid.
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Yes, in jurisdictions that expressly authorize proxy marriage. The absent party must supply written authorization for the proxy, and the ceremony must otherwise meet all formal requirements including issuance of a license.
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Only if the prior ceremony created a marriage recognized under civil law that remains undissolved. A purely religious or unregistered ceremony may not constitute a legal impediment, and the clerk must determine whether satisfactory proof shows no prohibited existing marriage.
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…479, 496 (1965) (Goldberg, J., concurring). Nor has the law refused to recognize those family relationships unlegitimized by a marriage ceremony. The Court has declared unconstitutional a state statute denying natural, but illegitimate, children a wrongful-death action for the death of their mother, emphasizing that such children…