Agree - lots of marriage records.
When the government did not issue marriage licenses, the churches were the clearinghouse for marriages. Some states didn't get around to marriage licenses for a very long time - South Carolina didn't have them until after WWII. You can still track down marriages . . . thoughtful genealogists have tabulated marriage records from every church they could find. Of course they missed some . . . but the probate records will usually pick them up when one partner dies.
True. You run into problems during and right after the Revolutionary War, when record keeping was understandably problematic, though. Once you get past that, Colonial records are pretty smooth sailing.
I’m still trying to untangle a couple of ancestors whose records are missing during the war. For generations, they named their first two sons John William and William John. And they always married women named Sarah or Elizabeth, so it was already tedious. Aargh!
Yes, probate records are so helpful. And land records.