The US didn't have separate civil marriage then. You obtained a license from the city and then married in a church. The church then sent the signed marriage license back to the city. The date of the marriage in the city's records would be the same as the date of the ceremony in the church. Now, it may be that the record I see online was in fact their marriage license and not their marriage. but that would not legally be their marriage date then, even civilly. The NYC Municipal Archives has both marriage licenses and marriage certificates on file, so maybe that is the source of the discrepancy. However, it would be unusual to have a marriage license obtained so long before the actual wedding. I'm not sure that they even were valid that long.
Let me clarify my first 2 sentences. You could probably marry legally in the US then without a church ceremony, if say, a justice of the peace performed the ceremony. But Catholics would generally not have done that.
Here are Racalmuto, Sicily Civil and Church Records 1588 - 1942
Re: Here are Racalmuto, Sicily Civil and Church Records 1588 - 1942
I have the church marriage record written in both italian and English. I can tell you that they had a big 50th anniversary party of April 25, 1970. My aunt's husband told the story of their civil wedding on December 7, 1941 (the day Pearl Harbor was bombed). He described it as a wedding, not a license. They married in the church on February 28, 1942 and did not live as husband and wife, until then. I do not have copies of the civil weddings.