Don,
A lot of information relating to births, deaths and marriages registered in Ireland is available for free on www.familysearch.org .
Always keep in mind that this information was transcribed from orignal documents and as such they will quite frequently contain incorrect details, such as spelling mistakes, incorrect exact dates, spouses may be may be listed as witnesses/sponsors or even parents by mistake etc.
Also, it is possible to have two different dates for a single event. It is possible for a delay of several days, weeks or months between the date an event actually took place and the date it was registered.
For instance, a birth would be registered by the state on the date the birth occured, however, the child's baptism would be registered at a later date, the birth and baptism dates are quite frequently mixed up. Similarly, a marriage could take place on a particular date and be recorded in the church registers as such, however the marriage may not be registered with the state till later on, giving a second date for the same event. I personally have had to deal with these anomalies and let me tell ya, they can cause havoc on research.
As seen from above, Alison understood a marriage took place in 1861, which it did.... see here....
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGCC-7MJ
However, The marriage may not have been registered until 1862 (see Elwyns first post) but that would only usually happen if the event took place near the end of the calender year. Personally, I reckon the correct date is 1862. The only true way to verify this would be to get the certificate. Photocopies cost 4euro and can be e-mailed upon request.
So, basically, don't limit your research to exact dates unless you have definitive proof that the date you have is correct, instead refer to them as estimates until you know otherwise and maintain a search window of 5 years either side of the dates for research purposes.
AnthonyC
