• The Legal Requirements
• Civil Marriages Outwith Registration Offices
• Religious Marriage Ceremony
• Legal Documents

The Legal Requirements

In Moray there are a wide variety of suitable venues for conducting marriage ceremonies.  A civil marriage ceremony is a non-religious ceremony conducted by a District Registrar.  All of Moray's registration offices have marriage rooms set aside for this purpose.

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Civil Marriages Outwith Registration Offices

The Marriage (Scotland) Act 2002 allows authorised Registrars to conduct civil marriage ceremonies at locations other than registration offices, which have been licensed for this purpose.  A list of   approved venues is available.

The licensing of venues is the responsibility of the Chief Legal Officer who will issue an application form guidance notes and a list of charges.

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Religious Marriage Ceremony

A religious marriage ceremony may be conducted by a Minister, Clergyman, Priest, Pastor or any such person entitled to do so under the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977.  In addition to consulting with the Minister etc, couples must also contact the Registrar.

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Legal Documents

The forms (form M10) required to submit for marriage in Scotland may be collected or sent to you from any registration office in Scotland.  Alternatively the marriage notice form can be viewed and printed off together with accompanying notes from the   Registrar General for Scotland .  The relevant Registrar will provide information on fees payable and supply a form for notifying the names and addresses of witnesses.

The minimum period for lodging marriage notice forms is 15 days before the date of our marriage.  The maximum period is 3 months.  However, it is recommended that the marriage notice forms be returned to the registration office of the District in which you are to be married, about 4-6 weeks before the date.

Along with the marriage notice forms, you should enclose
your birth certificate; 

• if you were married before and the marriage was dissolved a certificate of divorce or annulment or a certified copy decree.  A decree of divorce granted outwith Scotland must be absolute or final - a decree nisi is not acceptable;  
• if you are a widow or widower, the death certificate of your former spouse; 
• if you are domiciled in another country, outside the United Kingdom, a Certificate of No Impediment issued by the competent authority, to the affect that you are free to marry; and 
• if any of these documents is in a language other than English, a certified translation in English must also be provided.

Do not delay giving notice simply because you are waiting for any of the documents mentioned above to come to hand.  The documents may be supplied later but it is critical that they are made available to the Registrar before the marriage.

All certificates must be originals, not photocopied, and all documents, apart from the Certificates of No Impediment will be returned to you.  The relevant fees should also accompany the marriage notice forms.  In most cases these forms, documents and fees will be handed personally to the registrar but arrangements can be made for postal delivery.

Further information is available from any of the Registrars offices in Scotland and in the information leaflet Marriage in Scotland (RM1) which is issued with the marriage notice forms.

More detailed information on the Regulations covering getting married in Scotland are available from the   Registrar General for Scotland