If we set aside religious and cultural reasons, there are often good legal and financial reasons to get married.
I'm not familiar with UK law, but in the U.S. the main advantage is that the legal system is predisposed to offer spouses a whole raft of rights and powers that, absent marriage, need to be individually constructed via some complex legal maneuvering.
You don't need to tell anyone you're married. Just schedule time at city hall and grab a couple of bystanders (or close friends) as witnesses.
3) Dude! I've been with a fantastic sexy woman I love for more than 17 years! She presumably quite likes me too. If you think for a second that I'm going to do anything that has the slightest chance of messing that up you are sadly mistaken ;-)
Sorry, I addressed your last question as more of a general question--why should "anyone" get married, if they don't care about all the trappings.
I don't really think that you should get married. My default on these sorts of personal issues is always "you should do whatever you want and believe in." :-)
Thanks for the link; I'll take a look. In the U.S. there are some legal rights that are only available to spouses. (Which is why the fight for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage is so important.)
I'm not familiar with UK law, but in the U.S. the main advantage is that the legal system is predisposed to offer spouses a whole raft of rights and powers that, absent marriage, need to be individually constructed via some complex legal maneuvering.
You don't need to tell anyone you're married. Just schedule time at city hall and grab a couple of bystanders (or close friends) as witnesses.