Living together outside of marriage? What's the big deal?

Thus far in ministry, majority of couples that wanted to get married were living together outside of marriage. Surprising? Not really. Why wouldn't they? Almost all TV shows and movies tell them too, we value financial stability above God's Word, and why not get our freak on before marriage? All the signs point to the convenience of living together first and then marriage. But that begs the question, "Why get married at all?" It is the logical next step and is one that is being entertained by many people today. Why go through the money, the hassel, and financial messiness if we get a divorce?

We are in a marriage crisis. The interesting idea is that if we live together first it will help lower the amount of divorce? So why is divorce 50% now and growing? Why is it that people have less meaningful marriages when first living together? Why?

My argument is that when we go counter God's design (Genesis 2, Ephesians 5), things get messy and we pay the consequences. Although there are no guarantees for couples who do not live together to NEVER get a divorce, the chances are stacked against you when one does.