London, UK - Fewer than half of all marriages in 2007 were religious ceremonies, according to annual figures from the Registrar General.
About 48% of couples opted for religious weddings and about 52% had civil ceremonies, compared with 55% and 45% respectively in 1997.
Almost 8,000 civil marriages were conducted at places other than register offices.
Castles, boats and marquees have been among the venues used since 2002.
The statistics showed that there were 29,866 marriages in Scotland in 2007, almost exactly the same as in 2006, but considerably lower than the typical number of 40,000 in the 1970s.
"Tourist weddings" are still an important feature - just over a quarter of the marriages in 2007 involved couples where neither party lived in Scotland.
Almost half of those marriages took place at Gretna.
The Reverend Angus Morrison, convener of the Kirk's Mission Council, said: "We celebrate the fact that the overall number of marriages conducted each year remains stable - confounding many recent predictions.
"Naturally, we would prefer it if more people married in the church, but to a certain extent the latest figures reflect the larger number of marriage options that are now available."
The figures also revealed that Scotland's population increased for the fifth year running and has now reached 5.14m - its highest level since 1983 - largely due to migration.
There were 1,100 more births than deaths in 2007 but nearly 25,000 people migrated to the country - 8,800 from other parts of the UK and 16,800 from the rest of the world.
Once other adjustments are included, the total increase in the population was 27,300.
Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said: "Records are being broken.
"Gains from migration were higher than in any year since our current records started in 1951.
"Births are at their highest level since 1998-99."
There were 57,781 births last year, almost half to unmarried parents.
The average age of the mother at childbirth was 29.4, compared to 27.4 in 1991, the figures showed.
There were 55,986 deaths in 2007, the third lowest total recorded since the introduction of civil registration in 1855.
The statistics also revealed the total number of suicides and probable suicides last year was 838, a rise of 73 on 2006.