Genealogy Chat

My friend was married in England but the marriage was registered in Scotland is this normal?

I was at the wedding so can confirm where they got married. We all live in Scotland however the groom was English and so wanted to get married closer to home. It was then straight back over the border for the wedding breakfast and evening reception in Edinburgh.

Surely not. Im English, married a scottish guy in England. The cerificate was issued by the vicar in England. I didnt have to register the marriage when i came to live here in Scotland.How do you mean registered? You only get one certificate.


Florence in the hebrides

When searching for the marriage it appears on Scotlands People and not on Find My Past.

Where does the cert say the marriage took place?

it sounds very odd to me - I would have thought a marriage had to be registered where it took place.
After much Googling, can't find anything about it.

EDIT:

someone else asking a similar question here - not sure if this clarifies or confuses even more?

https://tinyurl.com/y9hmaap2


There's also this statement from National Records of Scotland website:

"Only marriages that occur in Scotland can be registered in Scotland."
https://tinyurl.com/y96tldd4

It says North Berwick but I know North Berwick well as I often went there as a girl. It's a seaside town not far from Edinburgh and we definitely were not there.

I suggest asking your local registrar !

I will do. Thank you. :-)

Could the couple have married in North Berwick in a civil ceremony without guests and then just had a blessing in England (perhaps to please the groom's family)?

Marriages are registered where they take place.

Kath. x

In England, a marriage concludes with the signing of an official marriage register.
The vicar or approved person in charge of the register also signs the register.
Technically, they are also a (asst or deputy or some such qualifier) registrar for marriages, so the marr is already registered. The vicar might still have a duty yet to be discharged to inform the local rego office, and there's the matter of sending copies at the end of the quarter to the GRO, but the marr is already legally registered, and would still be legal if the vicar were struck by lightning as he left the church.

I am not familiar with the current post-2006 law in Scotland, but the situation until 2006 was definitely difft, as the responsibility for registering some marrs was with the couple. (I never thought till now, but if a couple were convicted of not rego'ing a marr, would the court then order its registration?).

If this marr happened within the last 10 y, then I wouldn't expect to find it on FMP as the GRO has stopped releasing its index of BMD registrations.

In this event, the most likely explanation of the N Berwick marr is coincidence of names.
Ignoring mid-names, there's only 15 events of all types for my name (forename + surname), in FreeBMD, yet there are two births for "me" in my quarter - coincidences do happen.

Assuming it isn't a name coincidence, I'm in favour of Kath's suggestion or a variation on the theme.

We know of one couple who legally married in a CoE church then later in a RC church- as no Registrar or official attended the RC ceremony it won't appear on the index. In fact only the witnesses were at the 2nd. It could easily have been the other way round. initially they considered a civil marriage for the day before an RC one as the Registrar wasn't available on their preferred date.

Have you checked to see if the marriage is listed in England on any other site

I do find FMP doesn't always have all the bmds that I may find in Freebmd and ancestry

Tawny, have you seen an actual copy of the cert which you've found on SP? (In case it's a name coincidence.)

Have you asked your friends what it says on their copy of their marriage cert?

When did the marriage take place?
If it's a recent English wedding (ie - after 2005) it won't appear on any website yet.
SP, however, shows Scottish marriages right up to 2016.

I have sent a text to ask as the bride is not British born and has a very unusual name so it is highly unlikely to be a different couple with the same names.

In that case, you may have attended the religious wedding, not the state recognised one (or vice versa)
Not all religious marriages are recognised under U.K. Civil Law.

Was the first wedding, (in England ) perhaps carried out according to their faith, but a later ceremony was required to meet the laws of the country.?

If the first marriage was not legally recognised, it would be the later civil ceremony that was recorded and would eventually appear on the marriage index.

Just a thought. "Berwick upon Tweed". Isnt it recognized as the last place between Scotland and England north of the border? I know it is on the border so maybe if you marry there, maybe its registered as Scotland. Depends how you look at it.Travelling from south to north, it's the last place in England.Travelling south from north its the last place in scotland.

I know all sounds a bit Irish...lol but Ive heard this discussed on the TV before whether or not berwick upon Tweed is counted as Scottish or English.Has anyone else heard this talked about before?

Sorry if i confused you even more!

Florence in the hebrides :-S :-S :-S

Ah North Beriwck is in East lothian, therefore if you married there, then it would be registered in scotland. Berwick Upon Tweed is 2 1/2 miles from the border and therefore still in England.

Problem solved...I think

Florence in the hebrides.