Mating ceremonies vary enormously on this planet. The more primitive they are, the more moving they can be. But if we're talking about standard, vanilla, suburban, American, middle-class weddings, be afraid. Be very afraid.

It's widely understood that "magical thinking" is the attempt to find truth while denying logic. Institutionalized religions often degenerate into mindless superstitions. But there is also a phenomenon that could be called "miraculous acting", namely the attempt to do what's right while ignoring how things work in reality. Attempts to control reality in this way include rituals and ceremonies, and many of these are still accepted as legitimate traditions even though it's understood that they only formalize what has already been previously established. The real question is if they do any harm. Santa Claus doesn't. But some pointless rituals do.

For example, the fact that marriage is now a legal institution fools many people into thinking that "getting married" will cement affairs in a way that consciously working things out didn't. But, once married, a man will no longer think of his girlfriend as Amy. He'll say insensitive things like, "When I get home, I expect my wife to have dinner on the table!" And she'll no longer care about Zac. "When I pay the bills, I expect my husband to have enough money in the bank so my checks won't bounce!"

They are no longer friends, aware that they must tread carefully lest they lose something precious. Now they have God on their side and cannot fail. They have turned the key in the lock, flipped the switch, dotted their i's, crossed their t's, and signed on the dotted line. But none of these empty formalities helps them think about who they are or how they need to change. That takes real work, the kind of work that only adults who are willing to leave magic and miracles behind are capable of. People from my country believe — and rightly so — that the only thing separating man from the animals is mindless superstition and pointless ritual.

— "Latka Gravis," from episode 21 of season 4 of TAXI, "The Wedding of
Latka and Simka", written by Howard Gewirtz and Ian Praiser (3/25/1982)