married in church but no certficate

[ccr]

I have found my gt gt grandparents marriage in the records of St David's RC marriages but cannot find any trace in the free BMD site. is this usual. Surname Brien but children vary  : Brien/Brian/Bryan/O'brien
Know it is same because mother's maiden name same also address. Any advice anyone?

CCR

[julianb]

Free BMD is not yet complete - so it is possible that the names haven't been transcribed yet.

This is the link for the charts showing proportion of marriage records transcribed:

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/progressM.shtml

JULIAN

[Tati]

What were their names and when did they marry? 

[ccr]

Patrick Brien and Margaret Hayes April 25 1854 Cardiff St Davids RC .

[colinjohn]

Was the church licensed for marriages at that time? RC churches had to pay to be licensed and so not all were, particularly in the early years - CoE churches were automatically licensed. The ceremony might well have taken place at a different time in the Register office, possibly even in a different Registration district.

Colin

[hartryyrtrah]

I agree with Colin in most respects.

I would add that there have been mistakes, in recent years, over the registration of churches and their clergy.  Some of these have had to be cleared up in Westminster.  If as seems likely there we're mistakes in the 1850s, it is totally possible that the marriage was not legally registered. 

When these problems have been cleared up I don't know what the registered date would be.

Paul

[olinda]

I was thrown for a long time by the wedding of David Phillips and Margaret Bevan in September 1885. There is no reference to this wedding in the BMD records but I have a certificate showing the wedding took place at St John's Church, Waterloo Road, Surrey. Was this church certificate adequate or should the marriage have been registered separately?. David died not long after the wedding so there was a good reason why he might not have registered correctly.

[colinjohn]

The church certificate is not sufficient, the marriage should have been recorded with the GRO too.

Was the church non-conformist? It might be that it was not licensed for marriages. If it is CoE then it should automatically have been registered at the time of the ceremony. It might be just that this was one of those that have slipped through the net, see http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mikefost/

What BMD records have you checked? - if you are referring to FreeBMD remember that it is not yet complete.

Colin

[olinda]

Thanks Colinjohn. I have searched the GRO records at the Family History Centre and found no sign of this wedding. I don't know the type of church - the certificate refers to The Parish Church of St John, Waterloo Road, Surrey and indicates that the wedding was in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of the Established Church.
I suspect that this registration just slipped through the net.