THE introduction of same-sex marriages and a disillusionment with established churches is expected to ensure humanist weddings overtake Kirk ceremonies as the most popular way to be wed in Scotland this year.

The Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) made the claim as the charity celebrates 10 years since humanist weddings became legal in Scotland.

It expects to conduct more than 4,200 wedding ceremonies this year and overtake the Church of Scotland as the most popular forum in which to get married. That is over 1000 more than in 2013 when it became the second most popular denominational route for couples to get married.

The Church of Scotland reacted by saying they need to be better at promoting their services, including the fact that ministers do not charge to officiate and that you do not have to be a church member. Celebrants who conduct humanist weddings charge £390 and couples are expected to take out an HSS two-year membership at a cost of £40.

Kirk weddings have undergone a dramatic decline with numbers halving from 10,016 in 2003 to 4,616 in 2013.

In 2010 humanist weddings overtook the number of Roman Catholic weddings in Scotland, and popularity has continued to grow.

Gary McLelland of HSS said: "One of the reasons we expect to see an increase in the number of weddings this year is that we now offer weddings to same-sex couples, something the Church of Scotland has not yet been able to do."

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Scotland since December 31, 2014, and it looks as though the first gay couples to wed in a church could be Episcopalian, although this could still take until 2017.

The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland is opposed to gay marriage, and the Church of Scotland is moving to address the issue of same-sex marriage among ministers as well as examining any future solemnisation of gay Kirk weddings.

"When you look at general attitudes in society, the fact we are embracing and open about our support for same-sex marriages. I think that adds to the general boost of people wanting to celebrate their marriage in a humanist way," said Mr McLelland.

"When you look at what religious organisations seem to spend their time pondering in society it tends to be stuff that the vast majority of us, in terms of equality, have left behind long ago and they look out of date.

"We don't concern ourselves with judging people's lifestyle and a lot of people feel disillusioned with the churches' stances on a lot of equalities issues.

"Religious hierarchies are just so out of step with their own members and I think people see humanists as a grass roots movement that is more inclusive and that's why they are choosing not just to get married with us but to become members and we have 10,000 of them. People are voting with their feet."

The Church of Scotland's acting principal clerk George Whyte said he did not think that the weddings decline was the result of disillusionment.

"The Church of Scotland has not really advertised its services in recent times," he said. "Humanists charge quite substantial fees and ask people who are married by them to join them through paid membership. Their offer of a wedding that is completely tailormade by the customer is clearly something which clearly sells to some people,

"Our ministers are much more flexible than people might think, and do weddings in all sorts of places beyond the church building. They are specifically forbidden from charging a fee for their services.

"They are much more willing than people think to involve in the service friends, family, items of music beyond what the stereotypical seen-in-the-movies church wedding would look and sound like. And you do not have to be a church member.

"We provide a broadly Christian wedding service, so it will have at the heart of it people being asked to take vows before God and friends and family. We can't ditch God.

"We would see our service as putting forward people's relationships and the things of eternity, why we are here and who we are, and we ask people who get married to have respect for that but we don't ask them to join our congregations.

"But we don't advertise that flexibility, adaptability and the fact we don't charge minister's fees and that is partly our fault.

"Maybe we should be clearer of what we can do and what we can offer.

Humanists look to science rather than religion as the best way to understand the world, and stress the need to find meaning in the current life rather than any afterlife.

HSS will be hosting a celebration event at the Mansion House in Edinburgh Zoo on Thursday evening.