Cambios

The guests and neighbours who visited the home of the bride or the groom would be offered breakfast or refreshments. This custom still continues in the countryside of offering the neighbours and guests refreshments several hours before the ceremony.

In the southern Basque Country (lying within Spain), the Sacrament of Matrimony was celebrated according to the Toledo Manual<ref>The Toldeo Manual was a liturgical book issued by the Episcopal See of Toledo. Even though it was written in Latin, the 1582 edition contained in the vernacular language (Spanish) the instructions for the faithful and their responses. This book was embraced as a "manual" by many dioceses in Spain and The Americas and in the 17th century, it was included as an appendix to the Roman Ritual Published by Pope Paul V in 1614 after the liturgical reform of the Council of Trent. Editions in Basque of this manual have been used. Así ''Manuale Sacramentorum''. ''Euskeraz. Bateoa ta Ezkontza''. Zornotza: 1934.</ref> while the Roman Rite was followed in the northern Basque Country. The greatest different between both rituals is that the latter does not include the blessing and handing over of the ''arras'' (wedding coins). The marriage service is in three parts:

In the following decades, even though the photographer would go to the church and the wedding reception, the newlyweds usually went immediately after the ceremony and before the reception to a studio for a photograph to be taken on the very day of the marriage. Well-off families would contract a photographer to go to the bride’s home and take her photo in the lounge.

There were three situations to be considered in the southern Basque Country during the 20^th century. During the II Republic (1931-1936), the couple had to enter into a civil marriage before the judge in charge of the Civil Register for the marriage to be legally valid, regardless of whether they wanted also to marry in a religious ceremony. During Franco’s regime (1939-1975), religious marriages were legally valid for civil purposes and were nearly the only type held. The couple had to provide proof that they were non-Catholic in order to be able to have a civil marriage, something that was extremely difficult in practice. A new period started in 1981 with the Divorce Act that established two types of marriage, civil and religious.