Pregnant bride, 1600's

[coombs]

No sex before marriage. How many people really took notice of that?

I have had several pregnant brides in my family tree. They may even had a trial marriage before finally tying the knot.

[Mowsehowse]

Sorry, yes I added that afterwards. That's a real love story with them isn't it?

    Anya Seton's book "Katherine" is one of my all time faves.

     
   I've recently read that and also The Scandalous Duchess by Anne O'Brien.

Don't know it.  Thanks. I will check it out. 

[Maiden Stone]

To many being betrothed was the important fact, the wedding was the social nicety. Remember it's not that long ago that you could end up in court if you broke your engagement, it was called breach of promise.

A betrothal was a contract to marry, made between representatives of both families.
King Henry 8th used evidence of a previous betrothal (a pre-contract) to get rid of at least one  of his wives.
Henry's grandfather, Edward 4th, as a young man, made a bit of a habit of going through clandestine betrothal or hand-fasting ceremonies to young ladies he fancied, if they wouldn't succumb merely to his good-looks and charm. Being king he got away with it. After his death, his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester had the account of one such ceremony made public, thereby claiming that Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, his Queen was invalid and their children illegitimate.

"Fornication" was punished in England until early 18thC.  Whipping at the cart's tail was a sentence carried out publicly for the offence at one time. This would have acted as a strong deterrent on people having illegitimate babies. Illegitimacy rates increased during Industrial Revolution.
As others have said, pregnant brides seemed to be very common. It's been suggested that a contributory factor to the rising rate of illegitimate births in towns in late 18th-19thC Britain was naivety of country-raised girls who thought pregnancy guaranteed marriage.