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Renewal of vows


newbiee
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Does anybody have any experience/knowledge of renewal of wedding vows in France?  Is it a common practice here as it is in the UK?

Can one have a wedding ceremony in France (secular) if one is already married?  (to the same person  [;-)]  )

Would the fact that we are already legally married (in the UK) mean that we wouldn't have to have the mass of paperwork/blood test done?

I'd be most grateful for any information   [:D]

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Newbiee ...........

The only contribution I can make is that 2 out of the 3 weddings here in our small Commune this year have been 'renewals'. 

I suspect that it's all down to the Priest and how he feels about it. Certainly here, he's very positive and will go for anything, but that may not always be the case. Start with him, I'd say.

Re the paperwork / blood test etc, my guess is that it would irrelevant, but as said, start with him. He'll tell you.

All this presumes a Church ceremony, which on reading back, you may not necessarily want. If not, what?  

 

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[quote user="Polremy"] So nice that someone wants to get married for a second time but to the same person!!![/quote]

Sorry... off topic I know but just wanted to say me and OH got married twice (to each other)... once in secret and the second time in the church with all the trimmings...[:$]

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Bear in mind that in France the legal part of the marriage is the civil ceremony, usually conducted by your maire. Any church services are merely a religious blessing for the civil marriage, so presumably you can have as many of these as you want, and at any time, subject to the priest's agreement. I'd personally love to have something like that, but as protestants who have both been married before and divorced, we are both persona non grata as far as the French Roman Catholic church is concerned.
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This depends very much on where you live. I know of some people who were 'married' in our local RC church by a C of E vicar thanks to the kind permission of the local priest.  You would need to ask locally.

 

Hoddy

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No, no, no ... not a church wedding, I'm not a Christian. 

I want a secular ceremony as mentioned in my original post.  The civil ceremony that would be carried for all weddings in France (or similar), prior to any religious one. 

Is it the Marie who would carry out the ceremony?  (I live in a largish town if that makes any difference.)  

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Is asking why a dumb question ?

At the moment it seems like buying a house and a few years later going back and asking the notaire to go all though it again to confirm that you have bought it.........

If you want to renew your vows why not have a gathering (party) of friends and family and make a renewing of vows a feature of it.?

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It isn't a dumb question, but it's a pretty personal question.

I'm just looking for practical information of having a civil marraige ceremony for an already married couple, not personal opinions on whether it's a good idea.

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[quote user="newbiee"]

Does anybody have any experience/knowledge of renewal of wedding vows in France?  Is it a common practice here as it is in the UK?

Can one have a wedding ceremony in France (secular) if one is already married?  (to the same person  [;-)]  )

Would the fact that we are already legally married (in the UK) mean that we wouldn't have to have the mass of paperwork/blood test done?

I'd be most grateful for any information   [:D]

[/quote]

 

For starters you cannot have a civil marriage in France if you are already married,even if you want to marry the same person to whom you are already married as you have to make a declaration that you are not married and are entitled to marry.

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[quote user="newbiee"]

It isn't a dumb question, but it's a pretty personal question.

I'm just looking for practical information of having a civil marriage ceremony for an already married couple, not personal opinions on whether it's a good idea.

[/quote]Newbiee

Simple answer: You cannot have another official ceremony if you are already married.

You could do as Russethouse suggested and organise your own thing - you might even rope the Maire into doing it too but it would not in any way change your marital status or have any legal bearing whatsoever.

It might be more common in the UK but it has no legal status there either.

Danny

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Thanks for the replies folks.

I'm not looking for anything which will change my legal marital status, obviously I'm already married and want to remain so - renewal of vows is a personal thing to do and has no legal ramifications.   

I'm interested in having a dignified, official-ish ceremony, the type of which are common in the UK.  Perhaps it's not something that is done in France ... I can kind of imagine how the conversation would go "but Madam, you are already married!!". 

I could go to the UK to do it, but it would have been nice to do something fairly formal in our home-town followed by a knees up at our home.

If anybody has done, or heard of, something similar in France, please do let me know  [:)]

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It is not unusual for couples in France to renew their vows on key anniversaries for instance, but this cannot not involve any official or official-ish ceremony.

They renew their vows in church and recreate their wedding ceremony, usually with the original guests and their own children (and grand-children if it's a really big anniversary!).

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It isn't a dumb question, but it's a pretty personal question.

It could just have been an anniversary....[:)]

My children were not baptized, we had a 'blessing' ceremony at our home for the first one, and at my parents home for the second. In our case my godfather officiated (he was a lay preacher) but it could easily have been secular.....

(An advantage with having a lay preacher was that he was used to public speaking)

 

If you have a member of your family or friend who could act as 'Master of ceremonies' I imagine you could easily work out something suitable.

.

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Yes you could have a confirmation of your love and committment to each other  then a party. Marriage vows are sacred so they cannot be taken again but certainly confirmed. I am a priest and have certainly done something similar here in a couples home, they also wanted their home blessed too.

Well done, it's very good to hear someone wants to do this . Marriage is a good institution. I live in 79 if you want any advice let me know.

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I went to a really nice ceremony in Milton Keynes the other week that was a family and friends affair prior to the legal ceremomy which was being held with the bare minimum legal requirement the following Monday. It was a humanist ceremomy with most of the "script" agreed between the humanist celebrant and the couple involved. . It worked very well. Is there a humanist movement in France ?
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My mother's brother had a humanist wedding about 12 years ago ... it was the  nicest wedding ceremony I've ever seen (apart from my own of course!)  I think it's lovely when those getting married write their own vows and promises, rather than just following what others have said before them just for the sake of it.

 

 

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We got married (after the mairie) in the Eglise Reforme de France where the priest was originally from New Zealand.  He let us more or less write our own ceremony but had lots of helpful suggestions such as both my mum and my dad, 'gave me away' ie he asked them both for their blessing, and he also asked all the congregation to affirm that they would all give us their help and support in maintaining our marriage vows.

And this is despite the fact that when we went for our first meeting, my husband to be told him straight away that he had no interest whatsoever in getting married in church, it was only because it meant a lot to me.  Lovely man, churches would be a lot busier if there were more pastors like him.

 

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