Nicola Sturgeon has said up to 20 people will be allowed to attend weddings and funerals as Scotland enters the next phase of the coronavirus lockdown easing.
However the First Minister said the changes would not apply to wedding receptions or wakes.
Attendance at funerals and weddings has been restricted during lockdown, but the Government yesterday confirmed curbs would be lifted next week.
The official routemap said there would be an easing of restrictions on attendance at funerals, marriage ceremonies and civil partnership registrations, subject to physical distancing.
At her daily press briefing, Sturgeon provided more detail: “I can therefore confirm today that from Wednesday onwards a maximum at this stage of 20 people will be able to attend a funeral, marriage, or civil partnership ceremonies, or service, wherever it is taking place.”
She also said restrictions would be removed on the categories of people who could attend funerals, which had in many cases been limited to immediate family only.
Sturgeon added: “These changes apply only to services and ceremonies. Other gatherings associated with them, such as wedding receptions or funeral wakes, are still subject to the rules that apply for all other indoor and outdoor gatherings.”
She also said the new 20 limit for funerals and weddings would be subject to “strict rules” on physical distancing.
Meanwhile, Sturgeon has warned easing lockdown restrictions must not lead to Scots letting down their guard, as she revealed the highest number of new cases of the virus for three weeks.
She said 18 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since Wednesday- taking the total to 18,333.
While the number of new cases remains "very low", she said, the rise is being "looked at very closely" and serves as a reminder the virus has not gone away.
But no new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland for the second day running, she added, and the total remains at 2,490.
Several changes to lockdown measures came into force on Friday, including more people being able to meet up both indoors and out.
The two-metre physical distancing rule can now be relaxed in shops and on public transport, if further mitigation measures are in place, and masks are now mandatory in these areas.
Sturgeon said: "This virus hasn't gone away so life should still not feel totally normal.
"The lifting of restrictions, important and welcome though it undoubtedly is, mustn't mean the dropping of our guard, and that's really important."
