By Yvonne Hannah, Fuze Celebrant
The beauty of a Humanist wedding ceremony is that your story is at the heart of it. Your ceremony is as unique as you are so we’ll want to know about how you met, how you fell in love, how you got engaged and any funny, quirky or emotional stories that you have as a couple.
It’s important you don’t forget about the legal side of getting married!! A Humanist marriage is legal in Scotland, and all of our Fuze wedding celebrants are fully licensed with the National Records of Scotland to marry you literally anywhere your heart desires. It’s one ceremony with Fuze.
There are three things that we must do to legally marry you.
- You say your legal vows
- We declare you as married
- You sign the marriage schedule
Everything else is up to you, and we work with you to tailor your perfect ceremony.
The Legal Paperwork
The marriage schedule that you sign on your big day is the most important document. This document is filed with the National Registers of Scotland, proves that you are legally married, and is used to issue your official marriage certificate.
There are a few steps you need to take to be issued with your marriage schedule.
- You each complete a Marriage Notice form (M10 form) or a CP10 if you are entering into a Civil Partnership.
- This form much be submitted to the registry office closest to your chosen venue. So if you live in Glasgow but are getting married in Inverness, you need to submit your forms to the Inverness registry office.
- You can submit your forms no sooner than 12 weeks before the date of your wedding, but you must submit them no later than 29 days before the date of your wedding. This allows the registry office to issue you with your schedule 7 days before your wedding day.
Following your wedding, you must return the schedule to the same registry office within 3 working days. You can ask someone else to do this for you if you are heading off on honeymoon. It is always a good idea to check with the registry office if they have a post box, or if they need the schedule to be handed back in person.
Supporting Documents
The registry office will ask each of you to submit some supporting documents with your M10 or CP10 forms.
- Birth certificate or, if adopted, adoption certificate
- Evidence of usual residence.
- Decree of Divorce or dissolution: If either of you have been married before or have been in a registered civil partnership and the marriage or civil partnership has been dissolved or annulled, a decree of divorce or dissolution or annulment or a certified copy decree is required along with your form. I’s always best to discuss this with your registry office to ensure you have the correct documentation.
- Valid passport or other document to provide evidence of your nationality
- Death Certificate: If your previous partner has sadly died
- If you are in a qualifying civil partnership, and want to convert this to a marriage, an extract from the entry in the civil partnership register relating to the civil partnership
- If either of you live abroad, a certificate of no impediment issued by the competent authority in your country to the effect that you are free to marry is required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who collects the marriage schedule before the wedding?
You must both collect your Marriage Schedule together from the Registry office local to your wedding venue seven days before the big day.
Who is in charge of the marriage schedule during the service?
The Marriage Schedule is a legal document and must be handed to your Celebrant before the wedding ceremony starts. We’ll check that all the information is correct. It must be with us before they start the ceremony in order for us to be in position to ‘solemnise’ the marriage and ensure that this legal document is signed correctly.
At what point in the ceremony do we sign the marriage schedule and is there anything we need to know about this?
The Marriage Schedule is signed after you have said your legal vows. The Schedule is signed by each of you as the couple being married, your two witnesses who must be over the age of 16, and your Celebrant.
When does the marriage schedule need to be returned and by whom?
The Marriage Schedule must be returned to the Registry office local to the wedding venue within three days of the ceremony and can be returned by either yourselves or anyone else, the key thing is the timing of its return.
Why do we need witnesses?
In Scotland, legally binding agreements need to be have 2 witnesses and marriages are legally binding agreements too.
How do we choose our witnesses?
Your witnesses can be anyone over the age of 16 on the day of the ceremony and capable of understanding what is going on. They can be people you don’t know, they just need to witness that what they have seen and heard is a true account.
Is there anything legal we need to say when it comes to our vows?
The only legality to be included within the wedding ceremony are your vows. There is a very strict form of words for the legal vows, but we have 4 versions that you can choose from. You will typically repeat the legal words after your celebrant. One thing to note is that your names must be said as they appear on your birth certificate. If you have middle names, be sure to let your celebrant know what they are, we’ll remind you thought, so don’t worry.
Useful links
Information about getting married in Scotland
This is an M10 form along with the guidance
Marriage in Scotland – Guidance Notes to help You Complete Form 10 (nrscotland.gov.uk)
Information about entering into a Civil Partnership in Scotland
This is an CP10 form along with the guidance
Civil Partnership Notice Form and Guidance Notes (Form CP10) (nrscotland.gov.uk)
This is the witness and celebrant information form
National Records of Scotland – Celebrant and witness details Form (M10) (nrscotland.gov.uk)
Yvonne Hannah
Celebrant at Fuze Ceremonies
