After a description of gifts and ceremony, Tolkien states the following in the section entitled "Laws and Customs of the Eldar" (HoME, Morgoth's Ring; italics mine):
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But these ceremonies were not rites necessary to marriage; they were only a gracious mode by which the love of the parents was manifested... It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete. In happy days and times of peace it was held ungracious and contemptuous of kin to forgo the ceremonies, but it was at all times lawful for any of the Eldar, both being unwed, to marry thus of free consent one to another without ceremony or witness (save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name*); and the union so joined was alike indissoluble. In days of old, in times of trouble, in flight and exile and wandering, such marriages were often made.
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* The Name named, is, as described in the preceeding paragraph, the name of Eru taken as solemn witness to the marriage.
This, especialy in light of the preceeding paragraphs, shows the genuine sacred purpose of sex-- it is such a sacred act that even for immortal elves it creates and ordains a bond that will last between the two as long as they live ("indissoluble"); for an elf, potentially for as long as the earth remains for Tolkien states that is their potential lifespan.
Hence, "one night" for an elf signals a lasting, permanent and sacred commitment that will last unbroken and unbreakable ("indissoluble") for thousands upon thousands of years.
Now that's real, meaningful sex...
...therefore choose wisely!
[ February 13, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]