Background <p>While marriage is the most common relationship arrangement across the globe, its meaning can vary between individuals, countries, and also within a country. Indonesia is a culturally diverse country, so the current study aims to explore whether this diversity is reflected in different views on marriage or whether a culturally diverse of Indonesians has similar views on marriage and family.</p> Methods <p>We conducted a descriptive exploratory qualitative study using online structured interviews lasting 60–90&#xa0;min. The data from the structured interviews were processed using thematic analysis. We obtained data from 20 married participants from diverse cultural backgrounds, aged 25–50 years, with various lengths of marriage, educational backgrounds, occupations, and places of residence.</p> Results <p>It showed that the meaning of marriage is that the family becomes one and has the same vision or goal. Most participants mentioned the meaning of family as having blood or marriage ties and family as a source of strength that can provide positive energy for its members. Participants also mentioned love, care, protection, help, sharing and support for each family member as the function of the family.</p> Conclusion <p>The findings highlighted several consistent themes with regard to the meaning of marriage as well as the meaning and function of family. As one of the first studies using a qualitative approach among a diverse sample in Indonesia, the current findings suggest that Indonesians from different cultures and backgrounds share similar views on the meaning of marriage, the meaning of family, and the function of family. As compared to previous studies in other cultures, there were some unique views and opinions that seemed to reflect the inherent collectivist culture participants are embedded in. We discuss the implications of our findings for the study of marriage and family in Indonesia as well as the broader implications of the current findings.</p>