I'm with Naive. We attach a lot of meaning to the concept of marriage, being married, having a spouse, etc. We attach a lot of feeling to that meaning too. And we have a lot of emotional and practical expectations of our spouses. We let those feelings and expectations run our lives, dictate our feelings, and make our decisions for us. When, in fact, marriage is a legal obligation, IMO, more than anything else. It means YOU are legally and financially responsible for the other person and not the state. It also means you hand over your authority for making your own financial decisions within and about this partnership (the marriage) TO the state.
I've never met anyone who has expressed to me that their expectations about marriage or their expectations of their spouses have ever been met. The expectations of marriage have only ever made the people I have talked to disappointed at best, devastated at worst. Not sure if it is marriage itself that does it or expectations.
Sorry if I seem cynical.