Definitions from Black's Law Dictionary: 2nd Edition and Ballentine's Law Dictionary as are available for each term in each dictionary.
  • Ballentine's Law Dictionary

    The solemnization or ceremony essential to a formal lawful marriage.

  • Black's Law Dictionary: 2nd Edition

    The formal act by which a man and woman take each other for husband and wife, according to law; the solemnization of a marriage. The term is usually applied to a marriage ceremony attended with ecelesiastical functions. See Pearson v. Howey, 11 N. J. Law, 19.