I don't know how things went in times past, but I married my wife in a parish church a few miles from her home, where the 'parish church' was Llandaff Cathedral, rather bigger than we wanted. In order to become 'of that parish' she had to deposit a suitcase for three weeks (the period of the banns) with a friend of the rector. Her sister did the same a couple of years later.
While researching I have also come across marriage records where I am pretty certain that the groom was not 'of' the parish concerned, although that had been recorded. I think it was up to the incumbent to apply the regulations as he saw fit. My daughter could not be married in her nearest church because she lived just across the parish boundary, and the vicar wouldn't play ball.
