the presence of fathers names does NOT imply they were present (eg some are indicated as decd and bodies not last long in acidic Manx soils) - the names were a requirement of the Act but relied on the veracity of the couple

The choice of witnesses was very parish dependent (if you have my MNB CD you can see all witnesses from 1757(when the Marriage Act required witnesses) to 1800 for all parishes and the variation) in some the Parish clerk was there near 100% of time, in others both witnesses were probably family or friends (there had to be 2 witnesses but there could be more) - in the 19th C it would appear more common for all witnesses to be family or friends rather than the Pparish clerk + ANO