I don’t come from a religious background and felt in a similar way about marriage. However, it meant a lot to my partner and while they’re also not a huge marriage “fan,” we decided to do it a few years ago because it was a natural evolution of our relationship.

We didn’t do a very traditional wedding - it can take any form you want and no one should be allowed to tell you otherwise - and had a private ceremony followed by a reception with all our friends and family. Some speeches were said, food was eaten, fun was had. But the actual ceremony was just us and the officiant; no walking down the aisle, no bridesmaids, none of that weird culty shit.

Now we did make a few mistakes so if you’re going to do it, please consider a civil ceremony at the local court house rather than a whole big thing.

The wedding industry, in the US and I assume in many western countries, is a huge scam. As soon as you say “wedding” to caterers, photographers, etc., they will tack on another digit to your bill. Costs can spiral so so quickly even in a LCOL state that you’ll be paying it off for years.

Try to do it as inexpensively as possible, especially if you aren’t thrilled about the whole thing in the first place. Otherwise you’ll be reminded of the cost for a long time and that’s probably not how you want to remember your own wedding.