Now I need some help with Información matrimonial. I found a record in FamilySearch for Placido Xavier and Maria Antonia Bernardina De Los Reyes with a marriage date of 4 May 1757 in El Sagragrio. I have looked at all of the records for the month of May 1757 and I cannot see anything.
I will admit that I am a little confused by the different types of documents that I am seeing, so I am asking for help. I have looked at pages 178 - 239. I had the same problem with baptismal certificates until someone explained them, so now I need help with marriages.
Marriage Information
I think you are confusing the "Informacion Matrimonial" books with the "Matrimonios" ones, the information books are rarely index (except when they are mixed with the marriage records) thus the information on them do not appear when searching for individuals, when you find a marriage record on the index (on the search results) is going to be on the "Matrimonios" books. Now from there you can always find the information concerning the marriage that as Ricci mentioned is always days before, (in my experience usually a month, more or less).
As I mentioned before, remember to compare the film numbers, for you to know that you are in the right book/film. for the one in question, check Matrimonios 1750-1769 page 358. reading the record would tell you the actual dates for the pre-marriage information if you desire to check on it. (some times this don't exist anymore) which for for this case it says "siete, veinte y cuatro de Abril also primero de Mayo". Likely you will find it on the last date mentioned.
Marriage Information
You are absolutely right. I was confusing the 2 books. I have been doing this for years, but only recently realized that I could look at the actual records, which has been excellent because there is a lot of information there that doesn't show up in the search indexes. This record, for example, give parents' names which I haven't been able to find anywhere else.
And this also explains why I found the Informacion books so confusing!
Thanks to everyone for your help.
Marriage Information
As a side note, I recommend to always check the "informacion matrimonial" (if available) for each marriage record that you are researching, this is because the information records usually have a better information for all the parties, including names and residence. The workflow is usually like this; Find a individual's marriage on the index, search the actual records, then the record would tell you the dates of when the information for that specific marriage was gathered. finally you can search with those dates in the "information records". both (the marriage and the marriage information records) would give most of the time a much better set of data than the marriage itself.
Información matrimonial
The Información matrimonial record is not always near the date of the marriage. I have found these records to sometimes be two to three months from the date of the marriage.
RARicci.
Información matrimonial
I imagine later? Thank you for your help. I haven't found an actual marriage record yet, but I may spend the day looking for this one.