Why get married?

CW over at Witt and Wisdom posts about being asked "Why He Got Married" and how he couldn't come up with an answer right away. Not specifically why he got married, but a more general why get married at all.

My response is: Getting married proclaims publicly to all who witness it, and to all who see the rings, and to God, that you have devoted yourself to this woman (and this woman alone) and your love will last a lifetime. Just living together without a public proclamation recognized by God and Country isn't good enough.


CW's response, once he had a chance to think about it and blog about it, is:
"I got married because it means something to me and it means something to every person who knows us. It's not a piece of paper and a priest. It's a statement.

I knew the moment that I met her that I wanted to look into her jewel-clear eyes and see her smile and hear her laugh every day. Every day. For the rest of our lives. The only future that I have, the only future that I want, is forever with her. "

That's why I'm married. And that's why no date on a calendar matters, because it's just another day on the road to ever after.

Why get married?