Trouble finding marriage records

[mzyvrc1]

I am in the process of compiling the information for a 1948 case for citizenship and I am struggling to find the marriage records for my GGGF/GGGM.

They were both born in 1860 in a tiny hamlet in Molise and I have obtained birth records via the archivo di stato, as the comune records for that time period were lost/destroyed at some point. They have been unable to find a marriage record though.

There are a limited number of records for the time period available via the familysearch library and I have drawn a blank here too, though several of the likely years are unavailable, also presumably lost or destroyed.

What I am wondering is how common was migration within Italy at that time? is there any value in searching other comuni further afield, for example? I would have presumed that it was rare but it is odd that I can also find no evidence of the birth records for their eldest children, born around 1884 in the comune either. Does this mean they could have been married and living elsewhere? They certainly did not emigrate until at least 1890 as their eldest children's birthplace is recorded as Italy on the UK census.

I know that it is sometimes possible to find church records for marriages too. If I am able to find something via this route, is this considered acceptable as evidence for a citizenship application?

In the worst case scenario, if I cannot find anything, is this an insurmountable hurdle or is there any scope to proceed without a marriage record, given that I would be applying via the court anyway? Is there scope to obtain a statement of no record, for example, as with the national archive in this country?

Your experiences of this sort of situation would be much appreciated!

[Italysearcher]

The records you obtained from the State Archives must be certified and accompanied by a letter from the Comune saying that they did not find the records in their offices.
Parish records are acceptable with the same conditions. The death record of the wife will tell you if she was born in a different town and that town is probably where you will find the marriage records.