Ceremonies Similar to Marriage

[SM-Dreamer]

Honestly, there's really no limit to the number of possibilities. Almost any ceremony which involves: a) witnesses; b) the prospective spouses symbolically being united; and c) [optional] not being forced into it, will do. The 'uniting' can be all sorts of things: physically being tied together, crossing a bridge, moving from one group of people to another, having matching tattoos, entering a house together... If it has political significance, then you'd probably want paperwork, or some physical proof. Otherwise, almost anything goes.

I have one book where the couple stand either side of a stone arch on the village green. The one providing the home has to entice the other through the arch with gifts. When he/she is satisfied with the gifts, he/she walks through the arch and - voila! Married.

That is actually really cool. I agree with you that there are innumerable ways to have a pair unite themselves, and that there only needs to be a physical representation if it matters in their society. Usually, as long as people have agreed to be together, and are living together, then they're a couple; witnesses and all the rest of it are just symbols and rituals.

One of my cultures, a flying race that worship the night, moon, and sky, has as their joining ceremony a sky dance that both pairs perform, and it ends with them uniting their breath (sacred in their culture) in a vial that is presented to their deity. Whether it's witnessed or not, or more drawn out, depends entirely on those uniting.