A Reminder To The Chassan

Have you any idea why our sages chose to have the chassan say at the moment of taking a wife, ‘You are sanctified unto me’? The Gemara does list other possible statements, such as, ‘You are engaged to me’, ‘you are a wife unto me', and so forth. They chose this phrase to remind the chassan that marriage must be entered into with holiness and purity. Should he think otherwise, even the deepest inferno is insufficient for him.

(Kotzker Rebbe)