I was married (at 27yrs old) after spending 7 years with a woman, and were divorced after 8 months.
I just proposed to my future wife, been together about 6yrs, but I really doubt that we'll ever really be married, unless by the sea without shoes and with without the legal crap in between. Both of us were scarred pretty bad from previous relationships.
Love is love, life is life, I try to keep the state out of mine at any time that I can, but I still put a rock on her finger already, and she will get a ceremony that we wont forget... Including good people, a Pot luck Din Din, and how about a Target Range off in the distance, to walk out and plink about?
Got married at the ripe old age of 35. We made it 9 years before Lung Cancer took her from me. I'll be 50 in a couple months and I still miss and love her.