So I'm going to be heading off to college soon, and I know I'm going to be making a lot in the future if all goes as planned (going to MIT, then grad school, trying to get a job at intel afterwards as a hardware engineer.)

Of course all the confusion in my life comes down to this girl I've been dating for a year and a half. She's going to college to study bioengineering far away. We both know we love each other, have seen all the good and bad parts of each others' families, and are confident we want to stay together through college, and get together after we both finish grad school (both want to get PhDs in our fields).

The tricky part happens here... She wants to get married to me in the future, I truly don't see the point. I've heard too many stories and I know for almost certain that I'll be earning more in the relationship, so if we do get married and I fall on the wrong end of the 50% statistic, I know where the money would be flowing. She said herself that she doesn't care about the money, and wouldn't do that (we all know how money changes people, even the best of us). For her it's about the vows and the commitment and presenting both of us to our families. (I personally think that nothing would change given marriage, but I can respect her opinion here a bit.)

My question is, is there a way to have the ceremony, have the whole thing with a priest or whatnot, but not have the actual marriage license? A way to be bonded together as she wishes but without the financial ties and risks for me?

I talked to her about it and she'd be fine if that's an option (religious / not legal). She's a great gal and her views side on the humanist-mra side of the scale from what I gather while talking to her, if this helps in the discussion.

TL;DR: Can you get a ceremonial marriage but not a marriage license so that you can be together but not worry about alimony if something happens?