Wow, this post is truly interesting. If I could upvote it more than one time, i would probably do.
I think everyone has his own perception of marriage. And it is sometime cultural. For instance, in my Country, Guinea, located in west Africa, most of the people see wedding as mandatory because this is the "lawful"way to have children and make the family grow more. Wealthness in my Country means more children. And children made outside marriage are considered unlawful. Also, some families prefer giving their daughter in marriage to the first guy who come to them and ask her hand even if their daughter don't want to.
In my opinion, people who wants to be married need to be in love first and then know each other well before getting married. Love is what last forever. Maybe I shouldn't do such comparison, but we need to ask why do we continuously love our mom or dad and can't love harder than that our partner ? I think if there is love, true love, then the marriage will last forever.
That's my opinion.