Marriage in the USA...

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is secular in the eyes of the law and always has been. Religious ceremonies, including marriages, have no legal standing in the US. This has always been the case. You are not married in the eyes of the law in the US because of a church service. Only from a secular marriage lisence.

Correct.

Thank you. Thing is, the people who want to defend what they call so called "traditional marriage" in the US do so based entirely on their religion, and marriage in the US has never been religious in the eyes of the law.

It was Martin Luther, who, doubting that marriage was actually a sacrament, endorsed the notion that marriage be considered a civil arrangement.

Yes, that's true.

But most people have a church/synagogue/mosque/whatever wedding, anyway.

I believe the civil aspect is essential. This represents, well, the separation of church and state which is one of the hallmarks of the USA.

My wife and I certainly had a church wedding.

Yeah seems one thing that is done right you can have any religious/spiritual ceremony you please but as for the state you have to go get a lawful certificate.....for it to be recognized, don't really see the issue there.

If me and my boyfriend got married we'd probably just go get the certificate and then do something fun with just the two of us, neither of us are interested in a big ceremony for it. That would be awkward anyways.

In Poland it used to be separate – my parents attended two separate ceremonies, one civil and then a religious one.
Catholics – the religion with vast majority here – as a rule required a couple to be already married by the law to prevent irregularities.
It is still an option, as well as you can have a civil marriage only.

When I was getting married, another option had become possible – a joined ceremony. A list of religious groups have made agreements with the state, resulting in fulfilling all the religious and state requirements in one ceremony. It's conducted in a temple and registered by the temple's local registry. The difference between a joined ceremony I had and a catholic ceremony my parents had was only a bit more paperwork in the backstage and one additional "yes" in the formula (Do you want your marriage to be valid by the law of the state of Poland? or something like this).

In the US, people get a marriage license, then usually have a wedding in a house of worship, then have a reception.

Is getting a marriage license just a paperwork without any vows or something? Because even pure civil marriage here is a kind of a ceremony.

Yep. The license itself is mere paperwork.

We do have civil ceremonies; but one must get the license first, and wait 24 hours (at least in New York State. Other states might have different rules).

The ceremony is performed by a "Justice of the Peace." Most people dress up even for the civil ceremony here.