ToBE #25 : Did you attend the marriage?

Marriage is the lasting union between two people. It does not signify a point in time or a particular event.

Wedding is the ceremony that joins two people as 'husband and wife' (at least in India, that is the practice!). That is when the two people are acknowledged as married to each other. This is what people attend. It would be correct to ask, "Did you attend the wedding?"

Here are examples of sentences with correct usage:

• The wedding rituals lasted four hours.
• Their marriage lasted four years before they filed for a divorce. => They were 'husband and wife' for four years before they filed for divorce.