Notice must be given in the three-month period prior to the date of the marriage and not later than 15 days before that date. A civil marriage may be solemnised only by a registrar or an assistant registrar who has been authorised by the Registrar General for that purpose. You can each obtain a marriage notice form, and information about fees, from any registrar of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland. In most cases you can get the addresses of your local registrar from the telephone directory. Each of you must complete and submit a marriage notice, along with the required documents and the appropriate fee, to the registrar for the district in which the marriage is to take place.
Timing is important.
The notices must be submitted early enough to enable the registrar to satisfy himself that you are free to marry one another. Normally notices should be in his hands about four weeks before the marriage but if either of you has been married before, the notices should be with the registrar six weeks beforehand. The minimum period is 15 days before the date of the proposed marriage, but if you leave things as late as this you could be faced with the need to postpone your marriage. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Registrar General authorise a marriage to take place if 15 days' notice has not been given. A decree of divorce granted outwith Scotland must be absolute or final - a decree nisi is not acceptable.