Yes they can, under the common law-by meeting a few simple criteria-and that is perfectly okay with me-if I were going to marry again, I’d do it with a priest, just like before, but this time, no government license/involvement.
The only reason we got the license was because the military requires it for a spouse to be eligible for any benefits like Tricare, commissary, etc-MrT5 was also Catholic, and we shared the same beliefs regarding marriage-we originally intended to just get our attorney to do a contract for the civil part of it.
Why didn’t you just skip making it legal?
In 1800, in 1900, and in 2000, and even in Mayberry, USA in 1950, and in 2015, you don’t have to seek to make your marriage legal if you don’t want to.
Thomas Jefferson didn’t have to get a marriage license, but he wanted to.