Hello, Ellen, Could you or perhaps someone familiar with marriage laws and records help us understand "confidential" marriages where NO record is made? I have one set of grandparents for whom I cannot seem to find a marriage record after trying various churches, both Protestant and Catholic. They would have been married about 1848. Checking in Oberfranken, Bavaria, from which they came, is hampered by the fact that I don't know her village. They were not married in his village. LaVerne