Renfrewshire Council

Who you can marry in Scotland

Any two people, regardless of where they live, may marry in Scotland provided that:

• both persons are at least 16 years of age on the day of their marriage
• they are not related to one another in a way which would prevent their marrying
• they are unmarried and not in a civil partnership
• any person who has already been married or registered as a civil partner must produce documentary evidence that the marriage or civil partnership registration has been ended by death, divorce, annulment or dissolution
• they are capable of understanding the nature of a marriage ceremony and of consenting to marriage
• the marriage would be regarded as valid in any foreign country to which either party belongs.

How to book a marriage ceremony

You can book a civil partnership registration or ceremony up to one year in advance.

Both parties must be aware of the marriage and independently complete and sign the declaration on the marriage notice forms.

Phone us on 0300 300 0310 to book a marriage ceremony in Renfrewshire. One of our advisors will  take you through the process of booking it.

You will need to 

• pay a £55 deposit when you book your registration or ceremony - this is non-refundable if you to cancel or change your booking
• give us the necessary civil partnership forms, documents and fees before your civil partnership registration or ceremony.
• give us a telephone number and email address for us to contact you.

See the marriage fees page for details of the costs involved.

What documents you must give the registrar

You'll need to make an appointment to give us your forms and documents, at least 8 to 10 weeks before your ceremony.

Phone us on 0300 300 0310 for an appointment to bring us your forms and documents.

You will also need to pay the balance of your fees at the appointment.

Information you need to provide

Each of you must print, complete and submit a marriage notice form (M10) to the registrar.

You can download a marriage notice form from the National Record Scotland website.

You will also need to complete a

• marriage witness form [29KB]
• civil marriage information form (pdf) [11KB]  /  civil marriage information form (word) [35KB] .

Both of you also need to submit:

• your passport
• your proof of residence
• your birth certificate or an abbreviated certificate, a passport and utility bill. 

How to order a copy of a birth certificate.

If you've been married before

If you had a divorce or dissolution, you need to submit a:

• decree of divorce
• decree of dissolution
• decree of annulment
• certified copy decree.

A decree of divorce or dissolution granted outside Scotland must be final and absolute. We can not accept a provisional decree of divorce (decree nisi).

If you had a divorce outside the UK, you need to complete and submit a foreign divorce questionnaire [13KB] .

If you've had a dissolution or annulment outside of the UK, you need to complete and submit a foreign dissolution / annulment questionnaire [15KB] .

If your former partner is deceased

You will need to provide us with a death certificate of your former spouse or civil partner if they are deceased.

You can find more information about other documents you need to provide from the National Record Scotland website.

If you or your partner are a non-UK national

If you or your partner or both of you are a non-UK national, you may need to submit a declaration of status. 

You can find more information for non-UK nationals on the National Record Scotland website.

If your permanent residence is abroad

Both of you will need to provide us with a certificate of no impediment issued by the competent authority to state you are free to marry if your permanent residence (home) is abroad.

Original documents

All documents must be originals. We need to receive the forms and original documents before the ceremony.

If you are waiting for any of the documents listed above, please give notice first and then give the documents to the registrar when you have them.

Documents not in English

A certified translation must be provided if any of these documents are in a language other than English.

After we've received your forms and documents

When you have submitted all the required forms and documents, your forms, we will contact you to take payment for the fees. The marriage notices will then be published.

Once we have all the required documents, the marriage ceremony can go ahead.

The marriage schedule

When the registrar is satisfied that there is no legal impediment to the marriage, they will prepare a marriage schedule from the information you have given. The marriage schedule is a most important document and no marriage can proceed without it.

If you are having a religious marriage (which includes all belief systems), the marriage schedule will be issued to you by the registrar. The schedule cannot be issued more than 7 days before the marriage. 

The registrar will advise you when to call and collect it. The marriage schedule cannot be collected on your behalf by a relative or friend. The registrar will only issue it to either one of the couple being married.