Frequently asked questions

If they are conducted by an authorised person or organisation, and if the appropriate paperwork has been completed and lodged, they are legal.

Your wedding membership gives you access to our wedding-related Facebook page, and support from our admin team with your wedding booking.

Your wedding membership allows us to offer the Humanist Society Scotland Promise, which guarantees that your ceremony will be covered by one of our network of 140+ celebrants, should your chosen celebrant be incapacitated on your wedding day.

We are a registered charity and act as the voice of humanists and non-religious people in civic and political life, contribute to the global humanist movement through our membership of Humanists International, and campaign for a better Scotland and world. A portion of your membership fee supports our campaign work focussing on areas like freedom of belief, a right to bodily autonomy, and redressing inequality.

Your membership also includes:

• Free copy of our Humanitie magazine which covers our news, campaigns, and events
• Regular updates about our campaign work
• Regular updates about our events, and free or reduced-price tickets to our events
• Access to the members’ area of our website

Your ceremony will go ahead and one of our network of 140+ celebrants will take their place. The celebrant will have access to your ceremony and there should be minimal disruption to your day.

Celebrants can be booked up more than a year in advance during popular summer dates and bank holiday weekends, so we advise booking your chosen/local celebrant as soon as possible. Mid-week or quieter winter month weddings are usually easier to book closer to the time – but we still always advise booking as soon as you have set your date to avoid disappointment and to give you as much time as possible to create your perfect wedding ceremony.

You can browse celebrant profiles on our website. Their profiles give you a flavour of their personality and if they would be a good fit for your ceremony. Their profiles also have links to an enquiry form, phone number, and social pages so that you can contact them directly.

As long as your ceremony is at least six months away you can use our simple Secure Your Date booking system to book your humanist wedding or civil partnership.

There are three booking options to choose from:

• Book the date and we will assign you a celebrant.
• Book the date now and choose from all available celebrants at a later date.
• Book the date and the celebrant that you would like to perform your humanist ceremony.

If your wedding is due to happen in the next six months you can either:

• Contact us directly and we will create a list of all available celebrants on your wedding date for you to choose from.
• If you’ve already spoken directly with your chosen celebrant and just need to confirm your ceremony, select option three on the sign up page and select your celebrant from the drop down menu.

You can expect to pay in the region of £483 for your ceremony. This fee covers the cost of your celebrant and your two-year membership of Humanist Society Scotland. Other fees such as travel expenses and rehearsal fees should be agreed directly with your celebrant.

Secure your date with a membership fee of £93 (plus a £5 admin fee). The balance is paid once you have confirmed your celebrant.

If you would like us to allocate you a celebrant the fee will be £483 and include the celebrant fee, membership, an initial meeting, and ceremony-related expenses. Please note that this option is not available for weddings in remote and Island locations.

Our celebrants always try to have at least one in-person meeting, as well as phone, email, and video call contact. If you’re not based in Scotland and won’t arrive ahead of your ceremony, your celebrant will use phone, email, and video calls to work with you.

Unless your friend or family member is authorised by the Registrar General to perform a legal ceremony they can not. We are a charity and are unable to use our resources to train people for one-off ceremonies. However, there are lots of options for including friends and family in a humanist ceremony and your celebrant will be happy to advise you.

A humanist ceremony is based on the principles of humanism – to lead a good and worthwhile life guided by reason and compassion, and not religion or superstition. Therefore a humanist celebrant would not be able to lead an act of religious worship. There may be ways to include religious family members or other attendees – instrumental versions of religious songs or quiet moments of reflection within your service that can be used for private prayer.

Humanist ceremonies do not follow a set structure and are entirely personal to the couple involved. They contain no religious content, but are not impersonal in the way that registrar ceremonies can be. They can be held almost anywhere (indoors and outdoors) and can be adapted to include friends and loved ones.

Humanist weddings are legal in Scotland and up-to-date information about the paperwork you will need is available on the National Records of Scotland website.

Humanist marriage ceremonies held in Scotland are legal and recognised as such worldwide. The only exception to this is if you are a same-sex couple and same-sex marriage is not recognised in your home country. We continue to support our humanist partner organisations across the world to campaign for this basic human right for all couples.

Registration rules differ from country to country. Please contact the appropriate authority in your home country to check how to register your wedding.

Yes, our celebrants are very happy to conduct non-legal wedding ceremonies. However, there can be no suggestion in the wording of the ceremony that it is legal. Your celebrant will discuss options for amending portions of your ceremony to reflect this.

Yes, our celebrants are very happy to conduct non-legal wedding ceremonies. However, there can be no suggestion in the wording of the ceremony that it is legal. Your celebrant will discuss options for amending portions of your ceremony to reflect this.

If you are using a funeral director let them know that you would like the ceremony to be officiated by a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant and ask them to get in touch on your behalf to make arrangements. If you are making plans yourself you can look at celebrant profiles on our website, or call 0300 302 0682 (Mon-Fri, office hours only).

A humanist ceremony is based on the principles of humanism – to lead a good and worthwhile life guided by reason and compassion, and not religion or superstition. Therefore a humanist celebrant would not be able to lead an act of religious worship. There may be ways to include religious family members or other attendees – instrumental versions of religious songs or quiet moments of reflection within your service that can be used for private prayer.

Our celebrants always try to have at least one in-person meeting, as well as phone, email, and video call contact. If you’re not based in Scotland and can’t meet in person before the funeral, your celebrant will use phone, email, and video calls to plan with you.

The service will go ahead as planned and one of our network of 140+ celebrants will take their place. The celebrant will have access to your planned service and there should be minimal disruption to your day.

You can expect to pay in the region of £195, but please confirm the cost with your chosen celebrant. Our celebrants make no charge for funerals for infants, children, or young people under the age of 16.

We offer an Advanced Wishes Service that you can use to leave written instructions to make planning easier for your loved ones when the time comes. You can plan your whole service, or you can just specify your wishes for specific parts of the service such as the music or the type of burial. This can be done using our Advanced Wishes form, or you can meet with one of our celebrants to discuss your wishes for your service.

If you would prefer to leave the planning of your service to your loved ones but would like to ensure that you have a humanist funeral, you should advise whoever is likely to organise your service (next of kin, friends, solicitor) of your wishes. Or if you have a funeral plan in place, let your provider know.

You can have a humanist burial or cremation, depending on what is available in your area.

Unfortunately we are not able to offer a humanist counselling service at present, but there are some well respected non-religious services available such as Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland, Sands, and CHAS.

No, our celebrants have performed naming ceremonies for a whole range of reasons: welcoming a newborn or older child into a family, incorporated into a wedding service to welcome children into a blended family, to welcome adopted children into their family, and to celebrate a name change for an adult.

We suggest choosing a celebrant first. Head to the celebrant profile page to find a celebrant that best fits your ceremony ideas. You can contact your chosen celebrant through their online booking form on their profile page, or using any of the contact details they list there.

Celebrants can be booked up more than a year in advance during popular summer dates and bank holiday weekends, so we advise booking your chosen/local celebrant as soon as possible. Mid-week or quieter winter months are usually easier to book closer to the time – but we still always advise booking as soon as you have set your date to avoid disappointment.

Our celebrants always try to have at least one in-person meeting, as well as phone, email, and video call contact. If you’re not based in Scotland and can’t meet in person before the ceremony, your celebrant will use phone, email, and video calls to plan with you.

Your ceremony will go ahead and one of our network of 140+ celebrants will take their place. The celebrant will have access to your ceremony and there should be minimal disruption to the day.

A humanist ceremony is based on the principles of humanism – to lead a good and worthwhile life guided by reason and compassion, and not religion or superstition. Therefore a humanist celebrant would not be able to lead an act of religious worship. There may be ways to include religious family members or other attendees – instrumental versions of religious songs or quiet moments of reflection for example.

If you want to involve other people in the naming ceremony that’s your choice. But the term ‘Godparent’ is redundant in a humanist ceremony so people use terms such as ‘guideparent’, ‘goodparent’, or ‘oddparent’ – or create your own alternative!

You can expect to pay in the region of £175-£250, but please confirm the cost with your chosen celebrant.