Medieval weddings

Only yesterday did I learn that in medieval times the weddings were conducted not inside the church but at the Church doorstep!  Among the other reasons I'm yet to discover, the main reason I'm told that this was the case was because marriage in those times was still a social contract.  The notion of it being a sacrament was not yet formulated or thought about. (Only baptism and holy Eucharist were considered as sacraments).  So it was basically the couple making the vow to one another, in public, with the priest merely as a witness.  

Another reason was that there be not any malpractice.  So the weddings were held in broad daylight, out in the open.  Even later when weddings were conducted inside the Church, they were meant to be done with doors open.  Not behind closed doors!  Even today, here in England, weddings are not conducted at night!!  Just so that there is no 'substitute' bride or bridegroom!  

Though the wordings, rituals and the position of the bride and groom (according to the altar) remain the same from the medieval times, the deeper sacramental theology of it has developed much.  Also interesting to know that then - as in some parts of the world, even today - marriage was basically a formal consent.  What mattered most and important was that the couple live a married life - even if without the formal rite!  Am told that for long in Scotland, if a couple lived a good married life, they were as good as married, even if they did not have a formal ceremony or public rite.  The fact that they were living together as good people was sufficient for them to claim any benefits of a married couple (for example succession or name rights for children, widows...).  It was only when the European Union asked for its formal wording in the constitution or public policy did people realise that there wasn't any!  It was by common consent practiced and never formally written!