The latest statistics have confirmed that secular Humanist marriages are now Scotland's third most popular form of wedding. Steve Chinn of the Humanist Society of Scotland believes this shows a 'healthy open-mindedness' about one of our strongest institutions

Social institutions always reflect trends and changes in the ways we live, and marriage is one area where the deep changes in Scottish society are showing through. Not that this should cause you to have any sleepless nights, unless of course you feel uncomfortable with progress.

The changes we're seeing in the way people choose to get married in Scotland indicate a healthy open-mindedness and acceptance of doing things differently.

When would-be grooms would ask prospective fathers-in-law for their permission, fathers gave daughters away at the altar, and religious celebrants approached every wedding the same way, Scotland was at another point in its history. But there seems to have been something of a 21st century Enlightenment in the way we look at getting married.

New data released on Thursday by the Registrar General shows that religious marriages are continuing to see a long term decline in Scotland – while civil and humanist ones are on the rise, and in our case rising sharply. In fact, in 1971, only 1 Scottish wedding in 3 was non-religious. Today, it's just over 1 in 2. And half of those didn't take place in civil registrars' offices at all, but in a place of the couple's choosing.

Since humanist marriages became legal in Scotland in 2005, given the same status as a traditional church wedding or one in a registry office, celebrants of the Humanist Society Scotland have married couples up hills and mountains, by lochsides, on beaches in the Isles, on boats, in back gardens, and in wedding venues in spectacular locations across the land. Each venue has to be safe and dignified – the Registrar General requires that - and as long as it is, it can be a place that really means something special to the couple.

There were fewer than 100 humanist weddings in 2005. But in the last year, just five years after their introduction, humanist celebrants have married 2,846 couples – confirming that our form of marriages the third most popular in Scotland, if we include civil ceremonies. To put that in perspective, 1,729 couples chose the Catholic Church to marry them last year, and 5,557 chose the Church of Scotland.

The society now has over 100 (and growing) celebrants, all of whom train to conduct funerals first, and then apply to go on to wedding training. Some things never change, of course. Traditional dress features in humanist weddings, as do posies, confetti and the swapping of rings.

But couples chose to 'go humanist' because they want a ceremony that celebrates their love and commitment in a way that's built around them and their lives, not around a system of beliefs they have outgrown. That's why humanist celebrants spend a lot of time and effort with the couple beforehand, and write and agree a script for each wedding.

Brian Hawkins is in charge for the Humanist Society's training programme, and he sums it up nicely when he says:

We never do the same ceremony twice

Humanist celebrants run their own blogs that bring it all to life: getting married is meant to be a romantic, beautiful and deeply personal experience – and that's what humanist weddings can provide.

Of course, it's also got a lot to do with the decline in religious affiliation and the increasingly prevalent view that all we know for certain is that we're here, now, and ought to look after this life, in this world, rather than worry about what might or might not be to come.

With the Scottish government's recent decision to introduce same sex marriage, Scotland is taking another step forward in redefining marriage. The traditionally-minded object, as they do to progress in many forms, but Humanists take the view that love is love, and commitments deserve to be honoured as marriages whatever genders the couple are.

Only six countries allow humanist weddings, Scotland included. They have exactly the same legal status as civil and religious ones, as long as they are conducted by a Humanist Society celebrant authorised by the Registrar General. That makes Scotland one of the most progressive countries in the world – in this area, at least.