It will reflect on how a very private and emotional ceremony for many has been entangled into stringent legal and religious regulations, and how these regulations have shaped what, in the past was viewed as marriage and what is now considered to be marriage. The questions requires an in depth analysis of the history of marriage and how over time the contemporary view of marriage has changed. It is important to note from the onset that it will not be an essay answering whether or not marriage is important , but an essay that evaluates the connection between the person and the states regulation of the institution and whether there is a significant degree of separation between a public commitment of love and romance and the legal and religious regulations that surround these notions