1.)Basically, the person officiating the wedding signs the marriage certificate, then it's recognized. I see that as the simplest way to go about it.
2.) I think we have a misunderstanding here. I don't want to rid the marriage contract system, just get government out of the regulation of it. Basically stripping all levels of government from having the right to not legally recognize a marriage but rather compelling them to do so, IOW the woman would keep her house because the government MUST recognize the marriage as legitimate, so she would have the first legal claim on the estate.
3.) IMO my way is the shortest, one simple sentence compels the government to legally recognize marriages, unless it's a child marriage or something else we all could agree is not acceptable, and by all I mean normative behavior; this would exclude pedophiles, bestiality, etc.
4.) That's the beauty of it, government is out except for benefits, they have no choice.
5.)I'll simplify it, all marriages must be recognized equally. Same sex and heterosexual marriages either enjoy the same benefits or benefits are struck, and I would love to see the government try to strike benefits for that many couples, there would be an electoral beating like we've never seen in our lifetimes.
Well, contracts are an individual right barring laws that restrict certain terms so it stands to reason that we strike the government terms and go back to pure marriage contract between consenting individuals.