What does marriage mean to you?

Question

What are your reasons for wanting marriage if you had to choose one? Is it the religious aspect, legal , or just a display of commitment & love to your partner?

Answer

Kind of all the above.   It's a promise to one another to stick together in sickness and health.  Richer or poorer. Good times and bad.

Answer

For me it’s a legal commitment and a symbol of love. I used to be against marriage for awhile cuz I didnt see why it was necessary to prove to someone you love them that way. But now for me getting married is an opportunity to celebrate my love for my partner with family and friends.

Answer

This may be unpopular opinion but to me it’s not much more than legal commitment. We have been together for 10 years now and only got married just over a year ago mainly because we wanted the legal side to be sorted (I.e. if anything was to happen to me I want my husband to have the right to make decisions on my behalf and the other way round, also I want the same surname as our kids will have etc. ). Other than that I really don’t think it matters too much, I’ve loved him just as much before we got married and we have lived together for many many years now and have been in a committed relationship. He’s never made me feel insecure about anything and I’ve never made him feel insecure, we’ve always known this was a forever relationship paper or no paper and we promised each other long time ago that we would always fight for each other no matter what. It was nice to have a wedding reception though and be celebrated by everybody on one day (we didn’t do a church wedding just a civil ceremony as we are not religious). Of course we both know divorce is not an option for us but breaking up was never an option before getting married anyway and neither of us has ever considered it.

Answer

All of the above.

Answer

Religious, legal, and emotional.
Religiously speaking I wanted marriage because it is a comanded of we want sex and children. I waited till marriage  for sex. partly for this reason  partly for my own reasons. 
Legally  I wanted to be bound to my husband and he to me. I want a say in his life and to have him have a say in mine. 
Emotionally  I wanted a life partner that I could be secure in the fact he isn't going to leave( i definitely have abandonment problemsand needed a stonger bond the just a boyfriend). (I know divorce is a thing but it doesn't  exist in our vocabulary except for in the instance of assault or abuse or infidelity)

Answer

All of the above

Answer

At this point in our relationship, it'd be legal benefits. 
We've already had a handfast for religious purposes and was our declaration of love and commitment, so all we have is the legal recognition and I honestly don't know if or when that's going to happen due to tax disincentives for our situation.

Answer

I used to think marriage was a piece of paper and that’s it. 
A lot of people feel that way. 
I believe those people are afraid of a real legal commitment so they say stuff like that to not ever be expected to get married. 
Me and my man said that for 7 years. Realized we were running from real commitment. I mean, why get married if you’re giving your boyfriend everything a husband would get? Shared finances, sex when ever, cooking for him.. it makes marriage not desirable because you’re already playing house and acting as a married couple. 
Getting married is the ultimate commitment. You make these promises and vows not only to your spouse, but in front of both of your families. The commitment is real because now you are one. His finances are yours-his assets are yours-he is yours. None of that is official until it’s legally official.
It’s like someone who thinks they don’t need a license. Yeah they can still get around-but not legally. They’ll never feel secure and 100% until they are legally licensed. It’s just how it goes. No matter how much you believe you’re licensed and don’t need a real license- you’re wrong and it won’t make you have a real license. You’re just a driver.

What does marriage mean to you?

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