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Things they never told you about marriage:

The State is a third party to the contract. Ignore that at your peril.
The State asserts that their role supersedes any moral or religious aspect you brought to the marriage.
The State is financially incentivized to have the contract broken.

The wife is incentivized to break the contract.

The State is a third party to the contract. Ignore that at your peril.

The State is the first party to a pair of marriage contracts. One between husband and state, and the other between wife and state. What we think of the "marriage" is merely a dotted-line between husband and wife. This is why for the most part we are "married" from the moment of paying for the "marriage license". This gives the state the powers of taxation marriage statutes, and power on divorces.

Before "marriage licenses", marriages were documented in a family bible and then recorded in the local county registry, and that was it.

Alabama and perhaps a few other places are on to this scam:

2. What’s the difference between a marriage license and a marriage certificate? A marriage license is a legal document issued by a government office in charge of marriages in the county or state in which a ceremony is held. Marriage certificates can be either legal documents (official) or non-legal keepsakes (commemorative).

An official marriage certificate, or certified certificate of marriage, is a form filed with a government office to record a legal marriage. A commemorative certificate is not a legal document -- these are decorative mementos celebrating the union, and are often framed and displayed by the couple.