People were getting married long before states got into the act.
Yes they have, and their marriages were either legal, or not legal.
And the states have existed since the beginning of our nation, and in the states, you either had a marriage that was legal, or not legal.
Plymouth Colony - before the USA even existed
marriage was a civil affair for the Puritans or whatever that group was. The church had nothing to do with marriage. It was just part of society, something totally normal and not religious at all.
In a place where going to church was pretty close to mandatory!