It seems like the law only provides for Church of England marriages. This is a problem for me, since the characters in the story that I need this for are very definitely not CoE (lapsed Jewish, Ukrainian Orthodox).
So, keeping in mind that the story is set in Scotland, I did a google search ("marriage banns scotland") and found the General Register Office for Scotland, whose website seems to imply that if you aren't CoE you have to get a civil marriage.
So, here are the questions:
- what is a marriage banns and how does it work?
- what do non-CoE couples do?
- what do civil marriages entail?
- is there a banns requirement for a civil marriage?
- are "civil-union" banns required for same-sex couples?
- it seems like there is an exception of some sort on the marriage-banns-caused waiting period. how common is this exception and what are the pros/cons of getting it?
Thanks in advance!