And the real secret that Republicans don't want you to know is that ALL marriages in the US are civil ceremonies, authorized by the separate States. The only difference is that the State can choose to delegate the authority to perform the ceremony to a religious minister, rabbi, or other clergy person. As can a Justice of the Peace, a Judge, or anyone else the State shall authorize. Hell, as a Commissioned US Federal Officer (now honorably retired), even *I* can administer oaths, to include marriage in some State jurisdictions.
But a marriage is legally meaningless, and not valid, without a State-issued marriage license. All a minister does is sign that 2 people have confirmed their wish to marry in his/her presence. He/she doesn't actually "marry" anyone, nor does the church. Without a State-issued marriage license, all the mumbo-jumbo in a church means nothing, marries no one, has no legal standing.
But that's the Big Lie that Republicans and Christians are selling us, that marriage in the US is solely a religious rite, that only churches can define. So that according to them, by inference, all those couples married by a judge outside a church, whether straight or gay, aren't really married at all.