Reddit mentions of The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England

It wasn't all that dissimilar from many marriages today. Two people gathered together with their friends and families, which often constituted their entire village. They gathered at the medieval community center most often, which was usually the local church or chapel. The purpose of meeting here was not only to receive the blessing of God on their marriage, but also to announce their marriage in a public setting with reputable witnesses, of which any official member of the clergy was included. These witnesses legitimized the marriage in the eyes of God and the people, especially important before government records were regularly kept and customs were still largely oral.

Well known modern scholars on the subject are Frances and Joseph Gies, Life in a Medieval Village, here, or Marriage and Family in the Middle Ages, here. Barbara Hanawalt has one of the most respected books on medieval peasantry in the last generation called The Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England, here.

Finally, a duller look of medieval marriage according to canon law can be found in Gratian's Decretum here.

I hope this helps a little. Happy Reading!

One thing which may give you some good information in the non-traditional form is to read/read about the Domesday Book.

Also follow the trail of technology, 3 field system, plough design, etc.

I took a course on medieval peasants in undergrad, but I'm having a hard time recalling the bibliography, it was 15 years ago.

This was one of them:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ties-That-Bound-Families/dp/0195045645

This stuff is probably a bit later though, although you can probably glean some information.

But you may have an easier task if you narrow the time period a bit, you're arguably trying to cover ~ 500 years, as well as a location, Europe is somewhat of a broad area as well.

Judith Bennett’s [A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344] (http://www.amazon.com/Life-English-Manor-Conditions-1150-1400/dp/0521091055/) (1998) is a brief, well-organized view of 14th-century peasant life in England that I always recommend. Though very dated (1937!), H. S. Bennett’s (no relation) [Life on an English Manor: A Study of Peasant Conditions 1150-1400] (http://www.amazon.com/Life-English-Manor-Conditions-1150-1400/dp/0521091055/) covers things in great, entertaining detail. Barbara Hanawalt's [The Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England] (http://www.amazon.com/Ties-That-Bound-Families-Medieval/dp/0195045645) (1988) is very good. For France, the go-to authority is Georges Duby’a [Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West] (http://www.amazon.com/Rural-Economy-Country-Medieval-Middle/dp/0812216741) (1998), though it's more technical than the 2 Bennetts.