On page 199 of George Ryskamp's book, "Finding your Hispanic Roots" he says:

"Another important and commonly found phrase is case y vele
(married and blessed) or case, despose, y vele, (married, wed, and
blessed), indicating the two different marriage actions that took place
within the Catholic Church. One was the actual marriage ceremony (case
or case y despose). This could take place at any time and was performed
by a priest. The second, velar, was a special blessing given by the
priest upon the marriage. There were two periods during the year when
such velaciones (blessings) could not be given: the forty days prior to
Christmas, known as adviento (Advent), and the forty days prior to
Easter, known as cuaresma (Lent). Records of marriages that took place
during one of those two periods frequently have a note in the margin
indicating that the velaciones were done on a separate date from the
marriage ceremony. In such a case, the newly married couple returned to
the church at the end of the the forty-day period for the special
blessings, and the priest then noted in the margin that the blessings
had been given.
Sometimes these velaciones were not recorded in the margins but
rather in natural order within the marriage book or in a separate book
called El Libro de Velados, which listed all o f the velaciones---those
that were done concurrently with the marriage and those that were done
afterward. The recording of velaciones and marriages in the same book
can be confusing. A velacion may be found in the marriage book several
pages after the record of the marriage. Both entries may be nearly
identical, except the record of the actual ceremony will say 'case.'
When this happens you should be careful to record the correct marriage
date (the earlier of the two). In other cases the marriage might have
taken place in the bride's parish, but the velacion was performed and
recorded in the parish of the groom"

thank you very much for asking this question as I just learned the
difference myself. I've seen those marriage records that looked
identical to the previous and couldn't figure out why there were two
records of the same thing but separated by some time. . .now I know. .
.thanks,

joseph

Arturo Ramos wrote:

>Lavaniya:
>
>I have seen this double marriage date phenomenon as well especially in earlier (17th Century) marriage films. I know that sometimes it is a seperate casamiento and velacion. I am not certain what the velacion part is. It seems that the act of marriage, for whatever reason was seperated into two ceremonies...
>
>Anybody have more information about this?
>
>=====================
>From: chula801
>Date: 2006/07/31 Mon PM 12:26:16 CDT
>To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
>Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] discrepancy in marriage dates
>
>
>I went through some films looking for the marriage dates of my husband's grandparents in Mascota, Jalisco, and came across two different dates. The first date was in April 1900 and the other in January of 1901. I don't know if they had to go to the church first and do something before marrying, or if they came back months later to sign something or what. I looked at another couple who got married the same month. The first date was at the beginning of Paril and the other was a few days later. I don't know if anyone may know why the dates don't match? Is there any way to knkow which is the correct date? Thanks!
>Lavaniya Jimenez

Lavaniya,

I'm glad that worked out for you, here's wishing you continued success in your family search.

Alicia Avelar Olmos de Carrillo
San Jose, Ca

----- Original Message ----
From: lavaniya sutton
To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 8:40:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] discrepancy in marriage dates

Thanks you were right, the two films were labeled
differently, so i should go by the date not on the
informacion matrimonial film, but in the matrimonios
film, right? Thanks so much,
Lavaniya

--- Alicia Carrillo wrote:

> Lavaniya,
>
> Are you looking at marriage films or is it
> Informacion Matrimonial, there is a difference.
> Informacion matrimonial does the marriage
> investigation of the bride and the groom. The
> parents submit the request for their children's
> marriage to the church. Along with this request 3 or
> 4 witnesses for each come forth to say they know
> either the bride or the groom. Once the
> investigation is complete, it could be a few months
> or it could take up to a year, they post the
> marriage date. Sometimes it's in the same film and
> other times in different films for different years,
> depending on the location or municipality. If there
> were many marriage petitions that year it will split
> into several years' films, fewer marriage petitions,
> chances are you would find all the marriage info
> within the one roll of film from the date they
> petitioned to be married until the day they are
> actually married.
>
> Marriage films only show the date they married, not
> the investigation.
>
> Alicia
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: chula801
> To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
> Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 10:26:16 AM
> Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] discrepancy in marriage
> dates
>
>
> I went through some films looking for the marriage
> dates of my husband's grandparents in Mascota,
> Jalisco, and came across two different dates. The
> first date was in April 1900 and the other in
> January of 1901. I don't know if they had to go to
> the church first and do something before marrying,
> or if they came back months later to sign something
> or what. I looked at another couple who got married
> the same month. The first date was at the beginning
> of Paril and the other was a few days later. I
> don't know if anyone may know why the dates don't
> match? Is there any way to knkow which is the
> correct date? Thanks!
> Lavaniya Jimenez