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A marriage is usually formalized at a wedding or marriage ceremony. The ceremony may be officiated either by a religious official, by a government official or by a state approved celebrant. In various European and Latin American countries, any religious ceremony must be held separately from the required civil ceremony.
Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple; a presentation of a gift (e.g., an offering, rings, a symbolic item, flowers, money, or a dress); and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception.
As a rule, ministers of religion (e.g. rabbis or Christian pastors) are authorized in law to perform marriages; various state or local officials, such as a mayor, judge, deputy marriage commissioner, or justice of the peace, are also empowered to conduct civil wedding ceremonies, which may take place in public offices.
The type, functions, and characteristics of marriage vary from culture to culture, and can change over time. In general there are two types: civil marriage and religious marriage, and typically marriages employ a combination of both (religious marriages must often be licensed and recognized by the state, and conversely civil marriages, while not sanctioned under religious law, are nevertheless ...
Marriage in the United States is a legal, social, and religious institution. The marriage age is set by each state and territory, either by statute or the common law applies. . An individual may marry without parental consent or other authorization on reaching 18 years of age in all states except in Nebraska (where the general marriage age is 19) and Mississippi (where the general marriage age ...
Ceremonial marriage is a common form of marriage in which a couple follows laws and procedures specified by the state in order to gain recognition of their marriage (ex. buying a marriage license, participating in a ceremony led by an authorized official, having witnesses at a ceremony).
Marriage in the Catholic Church, also known as holy matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized". [1]
A marriage officiant or marriage celebrant is a person who officiates at a wedding ceremony. Religious weddings, such as Christian ones, are officiated by a pastor, such as a priest or vicar. [1] Similarly, Jewish weddings are presided over by a rabbi, and in Islamic weddings, an imam is the marriage officiant.