Is there any benefit to eloping to Scotland?

[Softleftpowerstance]

As opposed to doing it in England?

DP and I are thinking of eloping and assumed it would be to Gretna Green. But having actually looked at the law and stuff it turns out you still have to do a chunk of paperwork in advance. As much as I like the history of Gretna the present day seems to be morphing into Disney a bit. The combination has made me wonder if it’s better to do it elsewhere. It will be a secret elopement so somewhere where it’s easy to a) arrange and b) sort witnesses is a high priority.

The other thing about getting married in Scotland is that your mother's job will be recorded on the wedding certificate, unlike in England where it's too hard to change the forms or something.

Yep that will definitely sweeten the pill for DP’s mother when we break it to her!

In the NW of Scotland you need a thick coat for a summer non- wedding

Not fair Orlaith. I still have my tan lines from this summer

It was easy to arrange the date and time we wanted Op no problem at all.

I loved the mother’s job bit also.

Yeah, round the neck of your thermals

Sorry that was to justgiveme

The whole eloping to Gretna thing started because 16 & 17 year olds don't need permission to marry in Scotland!

I'll assume you are above the age of 18?

I used to work in the wedding industry. I've been involved in weddings that have taken place on scots beaches, mountains, farmland, castles, even on a boat in the middle of Loch Lomond!

Tons of stunning locations, just a case of finding a registrar to suit and arrange the rest according to your own tastes.

Graphista - I would say that you don't really find a registrar to suit - if you go for a registrar wedding you are tied to the district in which you are getting married so can't really pick. If you do go for a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant you can chat to them in advance (over Skype if you're not coming up in advance) and get to know them before the ceremony.

"there is no law on venues so you can get married on a beach, top of a munro, beautiful woodland - anywhere you like"

A couple of years ago, we were on an activity day out, we saw a couple being married on a zip wire!!!

They and their Registrar were at quite a height and all rigged up in harness, but still wearing wedding outfits, and loads of people stopped to watch. It was in the paper.

So it seems you really can be married anywhere in Scotland!

The history behind it is seeing "church" as a body of people rather than a physical building. So a minister could marry a couple in a "church" which could be anywhere indoors or outdoors.
It was very common for the minister to marry people in houses my great aunt & uncle were married in her parents house.

It is more recently that registrars and humanists have been able to do the same.

That’s interesting AvoidingDM. And so very different from the English approach - at a recent wedding I was at the couple had to shuffle backwards because they’d drifted out of the permanent structure that was licensed for the wedding!

I live in Scotland and we eloped to Argyll. For the Registrat we had a quick
Phonecall to book the date she e-mailed tgrbforms and we sent them by post. She called to check my mother’s job as I said ‘shop assisrabr’ And she wanted to know what kind of shop. It was just Asda before she retired. Then a week before they called to go through the ceremony details and that was it. My wedding was done here www.weeweddings.co.uk/caiselrag-cottage/

oh make it the East coast....between Dundee and Aberdeen, I have a hat and everything! ...you might not want a wedding, but I do love a hat! :o

DH's cousin got married by a minister in a working men's club. The minister's only specification was that the shutters on the bar remained closed until after the ceremony.