In some jurisdictions during some time periods a couple gets a marriage license, takes it to an officiant, the ceremony is performed, and the officiant returns the license with the details of the actual marriage ceremony to the office that issued the license. It’s all filed and recorded and all is good.
The vast majority of the time, the license is returned and filed. But there may be that rare situation when a couple gets married and the license is not returned. Keep in mind that this is unusual. Typically when the license is not returned it is because the couple did not get married. In those cases, destruction of the license at some point in the process is a distinct possibility.
Remember that the details of what constituted a civil marriage record can vary from one time to another and one place to another. What your parents did in 1967 may be different from what your great-great-great-grandparents did in 1867 even if the location did not change.
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My maternal grandparents were married 11 May 1907 in Pennsylvania. When I began doing genealogy
I sent for their marriage record. The state vital records dept could find no record of their being married. While visiting an uncle in 1981 who still lived on the family farm, I found their original marriage certificate in an old trunk signed by the priest who married them. I sent a copy to the PA state VR dept and they sent me a letter thanking me for registering the marriage. In the FamilySearch.org; Pennsylvania County Marriages 1885-1950 it now lists their marriage as being recorded on 20 August 1981. A clerk must have filled in the information from their certificate as the signature of the priest does not match the signature on their original certificate.
That is quite a story! Thanks for sharing.