Elopement

To elope, most literally, merely means to run away. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married. In England, a legal prerequisite of marriage was the "reading of the banns" — for the three Sundays prior to the intended date of the ceremony, the names ... more

To elope, most literally, merely means to run away. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married. In England, a legal prerequisite of marriage was the "reading of the banns" — for the three Sundays prior to the intended date of the ceremony, the names of every couple intending marriage had to be read aloud by the priest(s) of their parish(es) of residence. The intention of this was to prevent bigamy or other unlawful marriages by giving fair warning to anybody who might have a legal right to object. In practice, however, it also gave warning to the couples' parents, who sometimes objected on purely personal grounds. To contravene this law, it was necessary to get a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury — or to flee somewhere the law did not apply, across the border to Gretna... less