In my social circle, it's not all that uncommon for it to be a purely financial decision. One pair of friends, I didn't find out they got legally married until

In my social circle, it's not all that uncommon for it to be a purely financial decision. One pair of friends, I didn't find out they got legally married until much later, when it came up incidentally in a conversation about filing taxes. And I was no more offended about it than I'd be about them not keeping me up to date on whether they itemize or take the standard deduction, or deciding not to invite me along for a mortgage refinance. I don't know if it's boomers treating divorce as a recreational sport, or if it's the whole 90's/00's DOMA subplot in the story of marriage in the US, or something else entirely, or all of the above. But, at some point, the idea that "love == government licensure" just stopped seeming reasonable.