"Marriage" = two people in a romantic relationship agreeing to a life-long loving commitment to each other? There are two definitions of the word and that is not either of them. A religious marriage is basically a sanction from God to be able to make babies without committing a sin. A legal marriage is basically the government's way of recognizing two otherwise unrelated or distantly related people who live together (or don't) are a family unit, rather than roommates (or nothing), and having various laws apply to you accordingly. Combining either or both of those with the romantic commitment thing is a relatively recent development, and you can of course have the romantic commitment without either kind of marriage.
And someone's reasons for making a romantic commitment are obviously different than their reasons for getting a marriage license.
I want to make a romantic commitment because I really do want just one person to be my romantic partner for the rest of my life. I want a family, and this person will be my partner the family, e.g. raising the kids, winning the bread, securing a residence, etc. It doesn't make sense to trade out a family member when you've gotten bored of him, especially if he's your kids' father. :P
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