Marriage Vows

[tell-me-more]

Apparently, the statutory declaration for marriage is:

I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, [your name], may not be joined in matrimony to [your partner's name]."

then

I call upon these persons here present to witness that I, __do take thee, __, to be my lawful wedded husband/wife.

What if I'm ignorant of the lawful impediments? Can I find an exhaustive list of them somewhere?

And what am I asking everyone to witness exactly?

[Whickerman]

If you're ignorant of them, you can honestly say "I declare that i know not of any" etc etc.

And as for the 2nd part of the question, you've asked that the people there witness your union as a couple, that you are willingley entering a legal partnership known as marriage.

[jenstar]

Lawful impediments would be: one or both partners are already married (bigamy); they are related (as brother and sister for example); they are of the same sex (go get a civil partnership); one or other is underage.

[bednobs]

as far as i can remember, ther is no requirement to say the words you've suggested