I understand why people want the legal recognition by the state. It does have real-life legal consequences. If someone FULLY KNOWS and understands all the legal consequences of “no legal state recognition of marriage” — and they are perfectly “okay” with all those consequences, then ... sure ... don’t bother with a legal state marriage.
As to whether you have a “church wedding” or not ... that has absolutely NO LEGAL CONSEQUENCES of any kind, if you decide to bypass legal state recognition. A person might as well SKIP a church wedding too!
The church is the most important part to me.