The wedding season now seems to last year-round (much to the chagrin of the unhappily un-wed!) but the archetype of the “June bride” persists. This June was extra special for hundreds of gay and lesbian couples in California, when more than 1,500 partners wed on June 17 after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.

California is only the second state (Massachusetts was first) to legalize same-sex marriage. But the battle continues, with 48 states to go. Additionally, an initiative on California’s November ballot could supersede the law by amending the state’s Constitution so it recognizes only marriages between opposite sex partners as valid.

Arguments against same-sex marriages are impassioned on both sides. Marriage is one way to pledge your undying love to your spouse, and also show the world that you are a team: united in love, committed partners.

Engaged couples often hear people say, “Everything changes when you get married.” In my experience, and from what I’ve heard from friends, this isn’t true—and yet, it is!

Marriage will not fix problems in a relationship, and it can make existing problems seem even larger. The toad doesn’t turn into Prince Charming. Many couples who have lived together prior to marriage, however, do notice a subtle shift in their lives and their ways of thinking.

I don’t want to say that co-habitating couples aren’t committed to each other. I was committed to my now-husband for five excellent years before we decided to tie the knot. But it is different. Only those who’ve been there can understand.

Why shouldn’t same sex couples be allowed to experience this same “wedded bliss” (for lack of a better term?) There are religious arguments, and I don’t want to minimize their impact, although I may point to the constitutional amendment that separates church (religious beliefs) from state.

Marriage is a function of the government and state; that’s why marriages can be performed by a judge at city hall. Couples aren’t required to marry in a church—that’s a choice—but couples must have a government-issued marriage license.

Unfortunately, there’s more to it than religious beliefs. And marriage is about a lot more than the mushy stuff I mentioned earlier. It comes down to, as a mentor of mine once said, “following the money trail.”

Marriage is about love, passion and commitment. Sadly, (and unromantically), it’s also about health care, social security benefits and tax breaks.

In spite of dozens of reports claiming “there is no social security crisis,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently admitted in a CNNmoney.com article that Social Security is “financially unsustainable.”

What happens when you take a system already on the brink of bankruptcy and add thousands more people, now eligible for spousal benefits, into the mix?

I am not implying that same-sex marriages occur purely for the financial benefits. I know straight couples who got married because it was a sound financial decision when one partner was without health care. I know many more couples, gay and straight, who have married for more conventional reasons—love, commitment, raising children.

Call me naïve, idealistic, or a hopeless romantic, but I think it’s a shame that the beauty and sanctity of marriage has to be sullied by financial concerns, and that same-sex couples should be denied a beautiful way to demonstrate their undying love and commitment. Take that to the bank.