What to Expect at a French Wedding: A Play By Play Guide

FranceSouth of FranceDestination Weddings

7 Dec

Whether you’ve been invited to a wedding in France or are hosting one yourself, they do things a little differently to us Brits over there. Just small tweaks here and there to the usual flow of the wedding day, but some fun and interesting little traditions to be aware of. If you are choosing to have a destination wedding in France, it might be cool to do as the French do and embrace these twists!

Below we’ve listed out a play-by-play guide on how things roll, starting from the ceremony right through to the farewell French Onion Soup at the end of the night… more on that later!

Ceremony

Two ceremonies over the course of two days

Typically the French host two ceremonies in quick succession over the course of the two days. The first one is the civil ceremony and it’s really important as it’s the only ceremony of the two that makes the marriage legally binding. This usually happens the day before the wedding celebrations and is only attended by close family and the witnesses. The second ceremony, which takes place on the wedding day itself, is the symbolic ceremony and tends to hold more meaning. It can be held in either a church or a venue.

Le Cortège

Le Cotège is when the groom escorts his mother down the aisle before the bride arrives. Whilst French people are typically shy and don’t like to draw attention, this is a well-loved tradition and many mothers would be sad if their sons decided to buck the trend.

Témoins instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen

Rather than bridesmaids and groomsmen, the French keep things low key and instead have Témoins, otherwise known as witnesses. These chosen few will stand next to them during the ceremony, will sign the wedding registry and will typically wear what they like.

Having said this, as French couples are increasingly embracing more westernised traditions, having bridesmaids and groomsmen are increasingly becoming a popular choice at weddings.

Livret de Famille

Once the couple are married, they’ll be given a civil registry called Livret de Famille by the mayor. This is used for legal purposes and contains within it the marriage certificates, passports and other documents. This document legalises the marriage and is a mandatory required to essentially show you’ve created your own family. The document will be used for the whole of the couple’s life, with all their children’s names and identities added to it.

Reception

Le Vin D’honneur

The reception portion of the wedding kicks off with the well-loved cocktail hour! In France, this typically lasts 2-3 hours in comparison to the UK where it’s usually 1 and a half hours. It’s a really important part of the wedding for the French and gives the guests plenty of time to mingle and say their hellos. Traditionally at the end of the cocktail hour, the newlyweds will make their appearance usually in a horse-drawn carriage or in a vintage car.

Champagne tower

A tradition many weddings across the globe have taken on, the ‘Fountaine de Champagne’ is a glamorous and popular choice at many a French wedding. The tower consists of champagne flutes or coupes arranged into a pyramid shape by a professional, and then champagne is poured into the top glass, allowing it to flow into the lower ones.

Local food and wine

The French are very proud of their cuisine and rightly so! Therefore a wedding is the perfect opportunity to celebrate their delicacies through their three course evening meal. Expect foie gras, lobster, chicken liver paté and creme brûlée to be on the menu! Hot tip, be sure to fill up on canapés during the cocktail hour, as typically dinner won’t be served until around 9pm. Check out our blog post on 13 Things to Expect on a Typical French Wedding Menu for more inspiration.

Croquembouche

Instead of the traditional wedding cake you see in other European countries, in France the centrepiece is a beautiful Croquembouche. Consisting of a wonderful pyramid of caramel covered, cream-filled profiteroles, the height of the Croquembouche depends on the size of the wedding and how many guests need to be fed. They can get to quite extravagant heights, with the couple taking a puff from the top and feeding it to one another in celebration.

Dancing until the early hours

The evening can often see lots of guests in attendance, sometimes between 200 to 300, with the dancing starting at midnight and going well into the early hours, with some reaching 7am the next day! Traditionally the Father-Daughter dance kicks off this portion of the wedding, with the father giving the bride away to the groom during the dance, with the couple finishing off the song together.

Evening entertainment

In French culture, boredom at a wedding is not allowed. For this reason, they fill the day with myriad of entertainment to carry the guests from from day to night. From musicians and magicians to fireworks, it’s also quite common for some close friends and family to perform a skit at the wedding for the couple.

Late-night French onion soup!

When the night comes to an end in the UK, it’s fair to say most of us are craving chips, pizza or just a comfy bed. However in France, it is traditional to serve French onion soup as the farewell meal! Don’t ask us why, but we kind of love it as a way to catch your guests off guard at the end of the evening!

If you'd like to learn more about French weddings, why not check out our articles on 10 French Wedding Traditions You Might Want to Embrace and 12 Most Asked Questions About Planning a Wedding in the South of France. You can read all our France blog posts here too.

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