BSD In memory of Sultana bat Eliyahu
Two things have to happen for a Jewish marriage to take place:
1) Kiddushin (mistakenly translated as “betrothal”) in which the woman receives either money or a Kiddushin document (attention: this is not a ketubah!)
2) Chuppah, in which the couple stand under one canopy or enter one room alone, symbolizing their new life together.
In the period between these two stages, the woman has the status of an Eishes Ish (a fully married woman) yet the couple don’t live together and have no mutual financial obligations. Only by the completion of the second stage they are fully married.
But what happens if they choose to start the Kiddushin process through intimate relations?