Brits getting married in France - advice sought plse

[Hamish]

Having had a maisone secondaire in Var for a few years, our daughter is so taken with la vie francaise that she and her fiance want to get married in Var somewhere!  This sounds a great idea but I am wondering about the legalities and logistics.

Does anyone have any experience, contacts or can point me to any Forum posts on this subject, please?

[Tourangelle]

I looked into getting married in France, although not very seriously. However I did find out a few basics. You get married either at your local mairie or that of your intended, unlike Britain you can't go somewhere else because it is nicer, or there is somewhere good for the photos. I also seemed to remember that there was a certificate required from the British embassy to do with the other person not automatically taking French nationality, or something along those lines... but perhaps that would not be necessary in this case.

I remember a British girl I once worked with telling me that when she got married here the biggest headache was that they have birth certificates with dates on here and she was required to have a 'recent' copy, bizarrely which is obviously just not a concept we get. Unfortunately the French don't get that we don't get it!! She did manage to get married in the end, but apparently the admin was a bit stressful. Also a blood test is required.

We got married in Britain in the end, but it was not because of the admin, but because we did not want to get married either where we were living or where my family in law live. If I were you I would go to the Mairie and see what they require, after all they will be the ones to publish the banns and do the wedding, so you just have to follow what they say. Another point, if they want a church wedding then it has to take place after the one in the Mairie otherwise the vicar gets into trouble!! A church wedding in France has no legal value

[Battypuss]

The Marie will give you a list of forms to collect as long as your arms (all four of them) and you will need to prove that you live in Var. Most of these forms, as previously mentioned are a concept alien to the British. Try googling the British Consualte; I am sure they have all the info required.

 

I know I gave up.

[Tourangelle]

I just found the link, we already discussed a similar topic here,

http://forums.livingfrance.com/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=287&messageid=103317#bm103323

[Hamish]

Tourangelle and Battypuss...

 

Thanks for your comments which were very helpful.  Also the link to the other forum has produced some other valuable (if disconcerting  ) info.  The journey begins...!

Any further thoughts always welcome.

 

Hamish

 

PS - great names, you have...

[Quantum]

Hi there,

We got married in our village 5 years ago and I believe that you have to be resident for at least 3 months prior to the ceremony. the Mairie give you a little booklet containing all the forms (certificat de célibataire, blood test froms...), then you'll have to get Birth certificates translated by an official translator. Twas easy-peasy!  

There's nothing to stop you doing the deal in the UK, then having a church blessing here in France (from one of the "floating" Anglican vicars).

Regards

Quantum

[Hamish]

Quantum

Thanks for your useful reply.  The "resident for three months" bit for our daughter and her fiance may be a  challenge as they are definitely not residents (though maybe we could blag it!).  The Mairie may be flexible on this though, and we are testing that right now.

So your idea of getting a British marriage (Registry office, I guess) and then having a church blessing from a floating Anglican Vicar in France might fit the bill well.  A "floating vicar" conjures up quite an image!  How does one trap these guys, please?

Hamish

[Battypuss]

Most larger towns and as far I as I know, all cities, will have an Anglican Church, so you ought to be able to snare a vicar quite easily. Look in your Pages Jaunes under eglise culte protestant. And good luck. If it is a blessing, then I would imagine the residency bit would not apply anyway!

[champdoeuf]

Hi we're getting married in our village in France this July, there is a huge amount of paperwork to sort out, we are nearly there, I hope!!! apart from some documents lost in the French mail system! if you want some more information please email me separately and I will be pleased to assist.

[chateaud<P>chateaud<P><P> <P>]

We got married in Feb at our local Mairie.  It took me 1.5months to get the paperwork sorted. Honestly there is not that much.  It is really easy once you get going.  Yes you do have to apply for a birth certificate with a date on and then get it translated, but how difficult is that really?  The doctors visit is pretty easy and so are the blood tests.  The marie in your local town will tell you what you need as it does vary from town to town.

 

Candice

[Tourangelle]

[quote]We got married in Feb at our local Mairie. It took me 1.5months to get the paperwork sorted. Honestly there is not that much. It is really easy once you get going. Yes you do have to apply for a bi...[/quote]

One and a half months seems ages when you consider that in the UK you just have to go with passport/birth certificate and proof of address and that is the case even if one of you is foreign. I suppose it comes down to how much you really want to get married in France.

[Kittycat]

We got married about 18 months ago in our then local Marie and I agree it was pretty easy as residents.  We didn't need to apply to the British Consulate for anything; all relevant forms/info were in the booklet provided by the Mairie which seems to be pretty standard.  The longest delay was getting the updated bc from the UK for my OH which we then took in person to one of the official prefecture-approved translators and she did them while we waited. My bc doesn't have a date of issue so I didn't need to get another one. The blood test is easy to arrange, although pricey - we went to the local doctor who wrote us out a 'prescription' which we took to the clinic.  The doctor had actually signed the medical certifcate prior to our getting the results so we must have looked healthy!

bon courage!

[Quantum]

Hamish

Your view on 'blagging' the residency bit for your daughters marriage, this actually came up in our village yesterday.

An English couple (who's parents have been here about 5 years now) wish to tie the knot here in France as their mother is now too ill to travel back to UK.

The couple approaced the Mairie, the secretary said no, impossible, the couple retire to the local bar to drown their sorrows, tell the café owner of their woes, she promptly calls the maire herself, who grants permission, pas de problème!

One lesson we have learnt from our time out here is that if you give up at the 1st obstacle, you'd never get anything done.

As for the blood test, if you are insistant that you dont want children, then they stamp it as Ok anyway.

Keep on trying, you won't regret it!

Regards

Quantum

[Maxime]

I am also getting married, well i hope, and it is a headache.  It is still not confirmed as the secretary in the mairies office can't understand why my name has changed, as its not the same as what is marked on my birth cert.  Thats another story!

 We are getting married at the local mairies office and we needed to have been living in the village for 1month before the wedding date, translate any documents such as birth certs, divorce certs etc into french.  Then applied to British Embassy for certificate of law ( certificate de cotume) which was 55€ plus p + p.  The embassy had no problems and sent the certificate back within 1 week. I needed to send them my passport and birth certificate.  Theres a form in format PDF on the british embassy website that says what you need . Then its blood tests and thats all.

Hope this helps!!

[Geranium]

I like the bit about blagging as it is us who will be living in France but not our daughter. However, as passports do not get stamped how would they know that she hadn't been around since her last visit? She's going to be popping over organising things so what do you think they will demand to see as 40 days residency?

And to think you can fly off to the Bahamas and get sorted so quickly!! 

[Teamedup]

I think it would Bluebee, only have to give a day's notice to get married in the Bahamas.

[DeekayEss]

Hi! I know this may be a blast from the past for you, but we also want to get married in our adopted french village. We have had our maison secondaire for nearly 3 years. We vist for all the village 'dos', and more, and we know the Mayor fairly well. We spoke to him at his New Year's bash about possibly marrying in Sept 06, and he suggested I go and speak to him when we go over in Feb, but did indicate lots of translation. We are not French residents, but have lots of Taxe Fonciere, Taxe D'Habitation, EdF. Genearal Des Eaux etc. bills to prove that we are paying our way there! Also, I have just reached 50, and will be retiring there in the next couple of years, although my partner is a little younger, and we have always made it clear that this is our intention.

Any advice about what I should be doing here in England, and what I should take over to the Mayor when we go on the 2nd Feb?

[zeb]

I think you have to prove permanent residency in your commune for a month beforehand. You'd better check on one of the websites given.

[Soleil]

Hello,

Been there, done that and I have the tee-shirts.

Timing is important. You should first check, at the Mairie, that the date you wish to be married is available and if it is get your name down for the date and time.

I presume that you are both British. You will both need a Certificate de Coutume from the British Embassy  . This is an expensive piece of paper which includes your details and that you are free to marry.

An officially translated copy of any divorce papers, if relevant.

An officially translated and certified copy of your birth certificate which must be no more than 6 months old on the day you marry.

A copy of your passports.

At least one of you is supposed to live in the commune, where the marriage is to take place, for at least a month whilst the forthcoming marriage is published.

Details of your witnesses ( a minimum of 1 each and a maximum of 2 each) with copies of their passports.

Obtain a copy of "Guide des futurs époux" at the Mairie as it has other forms which you need to complete, including the medical form "Certificat Prenuptial" which has to be completed by a doctor within 2 months of the marriage. You may have to have a blood test although we got out of that one as the doctor said it was from the middle ages.

Plenty of money for the three days of celebrations including the aperitifs for everyone

and their uncles.

Good luck,

Sol

[Berlioz]

'Plenty of money for the three days of celebrations including the aperitifs for everyone'

I am interested in French Wedding customs (we are hoping to get married in October) and would like to include some French and English customs as the wedding will be the first visit to France for some of the guests.

What goes on during the 3 days? 

I have heard something about onion soup?  what are traditional foods?  We were thinking of a late morning wedding, 5 course sit down for 50, in Hotel Resturant, break then Evening Reception + buffet in function room of hotel. Or afternoon wedding and sit down only. Also meal the day before (or rehersal dinner) for early arrivals.  Anything else we could/should do?

Replies from those 'with the T-Shirt' very welcome!

Donna

 

[Mistral]

My wedding was ages ago and the french part was very low key (we got married at the town hall in france and then did the religious ceremony in the Uk 6 months later) but from going to other weddings in France here are a few things that a brit possibly wouldn't think of;

-the vin d'honneur. This is the sort of apero just after the ceremony. Some people get invited just to the mairie/church, most (but not necessarily all) then get invited to the vin d'honneur which is sometimes in the grounds of the church or nearby and sometimes in the grounds of the hotel doing the reception. These people then drift (stagger) off leaving just those invited to the actual meal. this can make the invitations difficult. you send just a faire part to those you don't really expect to come and a faire part with either an invite to vin d'honneur or to the vin + meal

-a lot of wedding receptions go on for ever. with a course follwed by dancing or entertainement. Personally I'm not keen as I have bad memories of a wedding on ile d'yeu where we were at table from 3pm until 10pm and being pregnant and too short to actually put my feet on the ground, it was a bit tiring;

-onion soup. I have never done this, but according to the other half, the tradition seems to be to wake the "happy couple" at 3 in the morning or whatever chucking out time is  for the recpetion and then everybody goes and eats onion soup. I prefer the version where you go and watch the sun rise over the mont saint michel.

-retour de mariage. This is lunch the day after, you don't have to invite as many people but you are expected to feed those who have travelled far.

I wouldn't worry about three day celebrations. they don't seem to be as common with people coming in from afar. the ile d'yeu wedding had a meal/celebration the night before, the civil wedding followed by a procession through the town to the church. Another procession from the church (round the tour de norvege-don't ask) to the reception. The looong meal with entertainement. of to a 'boite' for dancing. the next day there was a tour of the island and a trip on the tourist train the retour de mariage. there may have been other things but when you're stuck on an island with only 2 ferries a day, you need to organise lots of things.

 

[zeb]

The first one we went to in France was very rowdy! We all met up after the civil ceremony in the garden of the church, thought it was to toast the happy couple before the festivities later, but no. Everyone got into cars, onto motorbikes, into horse/tractor drawn carts, a hot air balloon (yes, really) and a microlite, and careered around the village and surrounding communes hooting, shouting and generally disturbing the peace!

The next day before lunch, the previous day's shinanigans began again. Church service apres midi then more driving around hooting before the evening entertainment which lasted until dawn.

Great fun but scared the life out of us, so we chickened out and did the deed in the UK then got £1 Easyjet ticket to Nice, honeymooned in Antibes and drove home slowly to 16 in hire car. This was better for us as ma could sort out everything and get the food arranged, and also many of our loved ones wouldn't have forked out for such a binge in France!!