Getting married in France
Please see our article GET MARRIED IN FRANCE if you want practical information about marriages for expats and holidaymakers in France. This blog entry drifts off subject a bit…
For a lot of people, getting married is a one-off special occasion. For many people nowadays it is a two-off special occasion, and for some it is a regular event. Be that as it may, people like to make a nice day of it.
It used to be that people would get married and then set off on honeymoon for a week or two to escape distant relatives and avoid having to clean up after the wedding. Nowadays it is more common to combine the two – the wedding and the honeymoon – and many people choose a destination where they can get married in the sunshine, save money on champagne, and be sure that only the most dedicated relatives will come along.
Why not? We went to a wedding in Kenya many years ago – not because we thought it was worth the trouble to travel so far, but because we met a couple in Kenya (also there on holiday) who were getting married and needed a couple of witnesses. A very nice time was had by all four of us!
Funnily enough we were also invited to a wedding when we were doing our own Hippybackpacking – backpacking travel around India – we didn’t know the people at all, they just stopped us in the street – we were a bit lost in a Delhi back street at the time – and asked if we’d like to go. Apparently it would have made the marriage a bit more exotic for them to have a couple of Brits along.
On that occasion we declined because it was a pretty poverty-stricken part of town and we had the equivalent of several years salary for an average Indian in our pockets – and it seemed conceivable that we’d wake up in a pool of hot curry with our vital organs removed (this was a city where mothers were intentionally mutilating their babies so they got more money from begging, so the possibility of violence seemed pretty real. If you’ll gash your own baby for a few rupees I don’t like to think what you’d do do a backpacking Brit).
Anyway, back to happy weddings. The south-west of France is a popular place for weddings nowadays. Not with young French, of course, who disappear to the big cities before they get entwined in happy matrimony and a life of trudging the soil, but with Brits aiming for the exotic. Or perhaps those who have parents that have retired here, but who will only pay for the wedding if it’s in their own garden.
This plan works very well 99% of the time. Lovely settings are easily found, there’s plenty of space to erect a marquee, and good value food and wine are on hand. Off season cheap flights are usually available. the whole wedding will probably cost less than a ‘stay at home’ wedding’.
Unfortunately we heard of one wedding that took place last week in the ‘monsoon season’ that was with us. Apparently getting hold of a piece of cake and a glass of champagne involved wading through thick mud, where only days before a newly mown lawn had stood. The bread sticks were blowing through the air like javelins. And the speeches were inaudible because of the howling gale whistling through the tent. Not a day for posh hats I’m sorry to report.
But don’t let me put you off – getting married in France is a lovely, romantic, idea. I’d perhaps even do it myself if I hadn’t already been happily married for what seems like an eternity.
Come to think of it we’ve got just the perfect location ourselves. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get Mrs B started on the vol-au-vents.
Please can you give any advice on getting married in France? We are hoping to get married in May 2009 hopefully in one of the southern regions but I am not finding it that easy to find the right venue at the moment and seem to be running out of options. As you can imagine it is very difficult with only the internet as my source.
Any help would be very much appreciated?
Thank you
Hello – my family are all gathering in france this May for a short holiday and my partner and I think it would be the ideal time to finally get married – we would like to have a civil ceremony but can you please confirm if that would be possible – neither one of us are residence in France – we dont want to have a “blessing” we want to have the actual ceremony there…
Please help me clarify if this would be possible….
Many thanks. Sam
Hello there
I run a wedding planning company for South West France. Feel free to visit http://www.getmarriedinfrance.co.uk – we may well be able to help.
Just drop us an email and we can send brochures or provide help with home wedding.
Best wishes
Beth
HI
My fiance and I are thinking about getting married in France. We are wondering if it is possible to have a legal English marriage in France without having to go to the registrar in England first and then to France for a blessing. We would be grateful if you could shed some light on this for us.
Regards
Lucy
hi ermm me and my lesbian partner Aisha are thinking of coming to france to get married….
As mentioned at the top of this article we now have a guest article (from Beth just above) that you can see at http://www.francethisway.com/married-in-france.php
and covers some of the practicalities. Thanks Beth!!
Hi,
I, too, am a wedding planner- but in the Paris/Ile-de-France region. My agency is called “parisian events” and we specialize in combining American and French culture and traditions to create unique, intimate celebrations. Take a look at our site here: http://www.parisianevents.com.
I also write a blog called “parisian party: tales of an american wedding planner in paris” which may give you some insight into planning your wedding in Paris. Check it out at: http://www.parisianevents.com/parisianparty/
Best of Luck,
Kim
Hello,
I’m a wedding consultant in the south of France (Aix en Provence). If you need any help in organizing your wedding day in the south, I can hold it for you. You can have a look to my website : http://www.unpasa2.fr
My agency can take care of this wonderful day and fulfill a unique and personalized wedding.
Regards,
Ahn-Eva
Wherever you marry in France, a nice wedding-reception idea is to rent a boat on the seine near Paris (in Boulogne-Billancourt) with view on the Eiffel tower. The company that owns the boat takes care of all the details, food, music, even security. My company rented the boat for a business meeting with our subsidiaries and it was a success, so I suugest it also to people looking for a wedding-reception place. We had this cruise feeling during the evening, relaxing under the cool breeze on the roof deck from time to time. This place beats all the other special-event rentals we’ve been through in Paris.
http://www.location-salle-de-reception.com/
I visited Paris and fell in love with France! It’s so beautiful. I have a friend who has a house near Cannes France and said that area is gorgeous. My fiance and I are looking into getting married in Southern France along the Mediterranean coast. We are having a lot of trouble finding websites that show us what the area has to offer for venues and an outdoor wedding. We have contacted some people and haven’t gotten a response. Anything that anyone knows about places in Marsielle or near Cannes France that would be great or anything south of there. We want to try to avoid the St. Tropez area as much as we can. Thank you!
I have the same question as many others on this blog. We are thinking of getting married in Provence but I have read that there is the issue having to be resident of the region for minimum of 30 days in order to be able to have the civil ceremony in France. I have French nationality but reside and have done so most of my life in the UK. It seems strange that so many foreigners get married in France- is there a way around this ?
Thank you
Sophie
Ths situation in France seems to be that no one, French or otherwise, can get married in a church in France unless the ‘legal’ wedding has already taken place. For residents this would be usually be in their own commune, for non-residents it would be in the country where they now live, perhaps in a registry office etc.
To actually complete the legal wedding in France requires one of the couple to actually live in the relevant commune for at least 40 days beforehand.
So the usual course of action is to get married first in the UK or wherever you live, and then to have a church or other wedding to bless the marriage in France – but the second part is without legal consequences.
So when overseas people talk about getting married in France I think they will have already completed the formalities before arriving.
i’m pakistani national and living in france illegally since 3 year.While i enter in france legally with schegen visa but it has been expired since long time ago.here in france i already had been married with a girl by religious but it is not official in france and it’s nothing here.so i went to Mairi in france with my future wife for to be officially marry while the Mairi demand to see the orignal passport .when i been there at Mairi with my future wife by law,the Mairi called police and the police arrested me,after my future wife and her parents had got an advocate for me then the 1st judge decided to leave me but there was Cour d’pell.In the 3rd time the Cour d’pell the judge also decided to leave me and he given me 7 days to be live in france and said if i want to do marriage here then i must find how it is possible.please help me and tell me how can i do while in pakistan i have non of my family.i have all my family here (my future wife parents and her family) please help me about it,i will be thankful to you.
my Email Address is : muhammad_ishaq at hotmail.co.uk (change at for @)
Hello Muhammad, I would have thought your local maire or notaire must already know exactly if and how you can get married in France. If not you could try your prefecture or sous-prefecture instead.
Sorry I don’t know the answers myself, I hope someone else can help and wish you very best of luck