Are Navy weddings on public record?

[LorraineJ]

Can't give you his name as he is still alive but it concerns a cousin I have lost touch with. X used to be in the Navy and married his wife while he was in the service, but their marriage does not seem to be on public record. Is it a case of me being mistaken with her name or are service marriages not put on public display?

[Cloggie]

OH's grandfather was in the navy at the time of his marriage in the forties, and I found the marriage in the GRO index. Are you searching the full index (images on Ancestry), or just the transcribed records on FreeBMD?

[LorraineJ]

Looking on ancestry. The difficulty we have got is that his wife is known as X but for all we know she could have been called something else.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Might he have married overseas? Was the bride in the forces too?

Is it that you can't find the surname match you expected, or forename?
Re surname, it could be a spelling variation, or due to a previous marriage,(name married under differs from maiden name.)

Forename - people are sometimes known by their middle name or a nickname.

Jay

[Uncle John]

Have you looked in the Overseas records on Findmypast or familyrelatives? Some of the forces records are relatively recent(ish).

[Guy]

All births, marriages and deaths in the UK are public records and anyone in the world may apply for a certificate for any of them.

All UK marriages must take place in public for it to be a legal marriage any marriage that takes place otherwise than in public is null and void.
Cheers
Guy