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The absence of clergy was immediately recognized in proprietary Carolina, and about 1669 a law was enacted providing that:

Any two persons desiring to be joined together in the holy state of matrimony taking three or fower of their Neighbors along with them and repairing to the Governor or any once of the Council before him declareing that they do joyne together in the holy state of Wedlock And doe accept one the other for man and wife; and the said Governor or Councellor before whom such act is performed giving Certificate thereof and the said Certificate being registered in the Secretarys Office or by the Register of the precinct or in such other Office as shall hereafter for that use be provided It shall be demed a Lawful Marriage.

This law was confirmed in 1715, but no appreciable number of records of marriages performed under its provisions have survived.  People married, of course, but the fact was seldom committed to writing.

The inadequacy of the 1715 law occasioned many "clandestine and Unlawful Marriages" and led to the most important marriage legislation of the colonial period.  The General Assembly of April 1741, in "An Act Concerning Marriages," granted the power of performing marriage ceremonies to every clergyman of the Church of England and to all county justices.  A justice, however, could not solemnize marriages without the permission of the minister resident in his parish (if there was one).  Before a couple could be married by either a minister or a magistrate they had to obtain a license or publish the banns.  Licenses were to be issued by the clerk of the county court in the county where the prospective bride resided, but only after the intended groom had posted a bond in the sum of fifty pounds, payable to the King, bearing the conditions "that there is no lawful Cause to obstruct the Marriage for which the License shall be desired...."  Consent of parents or guardians was required if either party was under the age of 21 and not a widow or widower.  Servants could not marry without permission of their masters and mixed-race marriages were prohibited altogether.  After posting the bond and receiving the license, the betrothed pair sought out a minister or magistrate to unite them in marriage.  Those not wishing to bother with bonds and licenses could publish the banns.

The 1741 law, too, was often ignored.  Complaining that "Presbyterian, or Dissenting Clergy have joined Many Persons together in Holy Matrimony, without either License or Publication; whereby the Validity of Marriage may be endangered", the General Assembly passed a law in 1766 validating marriages solemnized by dissenting and Presbyterian clergy before 1 January 1767.  Presbyterian ministers, but not those of other denominations, could thereafter perform marriages on the same basis as magistrates.

Legislation in 1770 stiffened an earlier requirement that all marriage licenses be signed by the governor.  Soon thereafter, the independent state of North Carolina, by ordinance in 1776 and law in 1778, empowered every regular minister of the gospel of every denomination who had the cure of souls to celebrate matrimony.  Justices retained their rights as before, but the penal sum of bonds was increased to 500 pounds.  Further, the law of 1778 decreed "the People called Quakers shall retain their former Riles and Privileges in solemnizing the Rites of Matrimony in their own Church."

In all the procedure of filing marriage bonds, granting marriage licenses, publishing banns, and issuing certificates of banns, only the marriage bond was a public record; only the marriage bond was required to be preserved.  The bonding system was in effect from 1741 to 1868, when the use of bonds was discontinued.  [Source: North Carolina Research; 2nd Edition; Helen F.M. Leary, Editor; Chapter 10; pgs. 151-153]