I'm afraid I can't help, David, but you raise some intriguing questions.

What looks to be a usefully scrupulous online presentation of the 1662 
Book of Common Prayer appears at 
http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/, but of course that is too late 
for Pocahontas.  The 1662 wedding ceremony is at 
http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/occasion/marriage.html.  I'll 
poke around the Web a little further to see if I can find an earlier 
Anglican marriage rite (1552?  1559?).   If not, I'd urge you to 
contact the librarians at the Virginia Theological Seminary Library in 
Alexandria (http://www.vts.edu/library/welcome/) to see if they have a 
copy of the relevant prayer book, or know who does.

One of your assumptions, though, is very probably incorrect, judging by 
the text at 
http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/occasion/marriage.html :  there 
would not have been an exchange of rings.  At least in the period 
during which the 1662 rite was in use (as it was, I believe, until the 
late 20th century), only the woman received a ring.  I assume this was 
the norm in all 17th- , 18th- , 19th- , and early-20th-century 
Anglican/Episcopal marriages in Virginia, therefore, though I'd welcome 
information from those who know better.  (Is there any record of men 
having worn wedding rings in colonial Virginia, for instance?  My 
impression is that there is not.)

Thanks again for an interesting topic.  I'll be glad to learn more from 
others.

--Jurretta


On Feb 27, 2007, at 4:49 PM, David Kiracofe wrote:

> I'm doing some research on Pocahontas and am curious about her wedding
> to John Rolfe.  I assume the liturgy of the wedding was prescribed in
> the Book of Common Prayer then in use, but I'm wondering about little
> details that I assume would have been included as early seventeenth
> century English wedding customs.   Would there be an exchange of rings?
> would a bride have carried flowers?   I really can't imagine the 
> English
> adapting any native Virginian customs in an Anglican ritual; does that
> seem reasonable?
>
> Any leads or other information will be joyously received.
>
> David Kiracofe
>

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