Ok so I wanted to get married to Ysolda in Whiterun because she gives me 100 gold sometimes and a free house. So I went and got her mammoth tusk for her which completed the quest. THEN my friend told me you needed the Amulet of Mara to marry people. So I went and did the "Book Of Love" (all 3 parts) and received the Amulet of Mara. I then went back to Whiterun to Ysolda, and when I spoke to her it only gave me the two standard options of chatting to her, no "So, interested in me are you?" option. I thought it was maybe because I gave her the mammoth tusk without the amulet of Mara. So I loaded up the save when I had just killed the mammoth, took the mammoth tusk and didn't go to Ysolda. I went straight to Riften to redo the "Book Of Love". Once again I had finished it so I returned to Whiterun. When I got there I gave Ysolda the mammoth tusk and still had no option to ask her if she liked me! I was thinking the only other option was to load up a really old save and start the quest WITH the Amulet of Mara by doing the "Book Of Love" beforehand, instead of doing it after I agree to the Ysolda's quest. And yes I did have the Amulet of Mara on every time I spoke to her. I really do not want to go through having to do Ysolda's quest and the "Book Of Love" and go back to a really early level, just to discover that this is a simple glitch, or I'm doing something wrong that can be fixed. So please help and thanks for taking the time to read this, and please get back to me.

And remember:

FUS-RO-DAH

The book of Love quest is not a necessary prerequisite.

Talk to Maramal about marriage. After the dialogue, you can buy an Amulet of Mara from him (200 gold) or use one you already have.

Wear the amulet and speak to Ysolda.

If there's no entry in your journal then the quest *isn't* active.