re: Random thoughts from an independent (Please move to the Off-Topic Board)

That's fine, if marriage wasn't a legal contract. That's reality now. It's fine being a traditionalist (in fact there is much to respect there), but marriage is no longer a religious institution. It can be a religious ceremony, but the institution is now a governmental procedure. It is a legal state. After all, you can have the ceremony all you want but it doesn't mean anything without the paperwork.