Marriage is definitely not a joke, but it has been rounded up in a mushi act by all "eternal love" books and romantic art. What marriage is planned to be is an economic union and to guarantee the rights of each side in the family. If the husband and wife love each other - great, if not - well there can never be a full happiness. 
Marriage is an act for the society. It is meant to protect the rights of the couple, not to take away the right of the woman to say no.
Marriage is a method that God developed, and gave to us so that we could joyfully make more people for God. Of course, we mess everything up that we do, and so some of us don't want the joy of children as God would have for us.
