"I take you to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death us do part."
The merge of two "I" in one "we".
The Ceremony
Nowadays, marriage is a symbolic romantic ceremony between two people in love, to formally assume their relationship to the society.
It can be through an institution, like the church, or just the legal signing of the union contract, for the government.
After that, normally, comes the traditional celebration of the marriage - the wedding. Where both families and friends gather together to celebrate.
And as in every good party, there's always food, drinks, music and dancing.
Today, wedding is a business. An expensive party where people spend money they don't have, to impress people they shouldn't need to.. supposedly their close friends and family.
Then, the couple will celebrate their official union together in the honeymoon. That ideally should be in somewhere paradisiac and expensive.
After going through all these rituals and promising in front of the society: exclusivity, eternal love, companionship, honesty, commitment, obligations, starts the married life.
The Married Life
The newly married will, now, learn to live together, learn each other daily habits, deal with finances, responsibilities, disagreements, adversities, share new experiences, have children, help each other, fight together to achieve their dreams.
Write their own story together.
If they were living already in a non-marital partnership it's more a matter getting the legal rights.
Their reasons
Men marry looking for a second mother to make their food, wash their cloths, make their bed, clean the house, make the shopping and have children. They are taking theirs father's role.
Women marry to live the fairytale with their prince charming. The love story. The happy end.
These two creatures marry together having different perspectives of marriage and looking for different things in marriage.. but it works if the other fulfills their needs.
If the man makes the wife feel like a princess and the woman treats the husband like a baby, it will work. Cause that is what which one is seeking.
For both marriage is symbol of solid connection, stability, safety and comfort.
After years, both will realize that friendship and respect is what will maintain the marriage. Or it will be "I will stay with you till lust do us apart".
