Marriage à la Francais
Yesterday, our courtyard proved a suitable back drop for wedding photos.
Jean-Philippe the groom is a local Chaudenaysian and the bride Subhashini, is from Mauritius.
They held their French civil law wedding here at la Mairie in Chaudenay, and will have a church wedding in Mauritius in two weeks time.
I was amused that the groom, bride and photographer arrived for the photos prior to the wedding ceremony.
Presumably the French don’t follow the superstition of the groom and bride not sighting each other on the day until they reach the altar!
Comme habitude, post the marriage ceremony, we were subjected to the traditional parade of cars blasting away on their horns!
A Bientot, Bruce.
August 1st, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Hi, Bruce.
France is a a country where “laïcité” (state and church are NOT legally intertwined) is a very important factor. I do not know French law, but I would be very surprised if the French did not have the same rules with respect to weddings as the Dutch have. In the Netherlands you can have a wedding in a church as well as in the town hall. However, the only wedding that has legal status is the town hall wedding. When you assume that a wedding certificate would give you a tax benefit (wishful thinking nowadays), or subsidy for a “famille numereuse”, which still exists as far as I know in France, you can wave with your “certificate” signed by your local priest, reverend or imam as much as you like, but it does not give you any benefits. Show your piece of paper signed by the mayor however, and Bob is your uncle. If bride and groom are not supposed to see each other but at the altar, they have to walk around blind folded for quite a while, because more often than not church weddings are not on the same day as the official wedding.
August 1st, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Hi Cees, yes my understanding in France it is the cermony in the Town hall that carries the validity of marriage, purely undertaking a church ceremony is insufficient.
Do you have the ‘livret de famille’ system in Holland? We don’t in NZ and Australia, we have lost count of the number of times we have been asked for ours!!
August 1st, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Yes, Dutch marriages are registered in a “book of marriage”, as are the children born from this marriage. It also has space for registration of deaths!
It always tickles me pink, when I see English movies or hea stories about friends of my (British) better half about church weddings. Heathens, pagans, christias, reborn Christians, everybody hurries to get to the church in time. In the Netherlands, and possibly in France as well, having a church wedding is making a statement. As an atheist I would not be seen marrying in church (I don’t mind attending church weddings though, if only for the theatrical aspect of them…)!
August 1st, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Interesting Cees. And in addition to the church weddings you like to attend there is the vin de marriage!!
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Taking the photos at a separate session is becoming more popular, because it means the photographer can take the time to get the shot right instead of depending on “candid” shots or trying to organize a shot when everyone else is trying to get to the reception or otherwise do anything except be photographed.
Where this fits in with the groom not seeing the bride’s dress ahead of the ceremoney I know not…
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:40 am
In NZL/AUS the photo sessions are usually between the service and the reception, thus preserving the tradition (old wives tale?) of not seeing each other on the day prior to being at the altar. But of course it may well be quite different in these ‘modern’ days! I commented to a French guest what a beautiful sunny day it is for the wedding; he said we have a saying in French, if it rains the marriage will be a happy one. Voila!!
August 6th, 2010 at 5:16 am
Hello Bruce
We never did achieve a French wedding….pity, setting looks great…..had to resort to Gretna Green. You might have heard from Jeremy (the MC)that we had a wonderful son’s wedding in Queesntown in March.
Your versatility grows by the blog…..author, chauffeur, wine connoisseur, bon vivant, wedding planner…….whatever will be next…rugby tour director perhaps!!