What is the most romantic city in the world? I hear the answers from millions, it is Paris. Indeed, many people find Paris as the most romantic city in the world and want to have a French Wedding in Paris or in other romantic destinations.
It is an obviously unforgettable experience to marry in France.
Best Wine – OK
Best Cheese- OK
Masters of Gastronomy: OK
Art: OK
History – OK
Natural Beauty – OK
So, what are you waiting for? In this article, we tried to give you information.
Table of Contents
French Wedding Traditions
In French, it is needed to go to Town Hall for legal marriages. It is a public event so everyone in the city knows couples are married. After legal marriage, a couple may prefer to have a traditional or religious ceremony.
Although some of the wedding traditions are forgotten in time, there are still lots of wedding traditions in France. We tried the list some of them below. If we forgot the important traditions please contact us, we can happily add suggestions to our article.
Lavender
Lavender is accepted as the sign of love and luck; therefore, it is included in wedding ceremonies in a typical French wedding.
In the past, guests were throwing rice and wheat at the bride and groom. Rice and wheat are currently replaced by lavender.
It is a fact that lavender is more romantic than rice. What do you think?
Lavender is placed under the pillow of a newly married couple and in some places, it is placed to the bridal crown.
Good Weather
Weather cannot be controlled by humans even the bride and groom want to control it. Especially in outdoor marriages, you need to pray for good weather.
Therefore, people pray and offer eggs to the Saints for good weather in the northern part of France. In today’s world, couples donate money to the church and the church prays for them for good weather.
Coupe de Mariage
Coupe de marriage means “loving cup” or “marriage cup”. These cups are made of silver and it symbolizes unity. Other countries such as Celtic have the same tradition but name it “Quaich”. The cups pass from generation to generation.
Croquembouche
Croquembouche is not a wedding cake but its alternative. Croquembouche is a French dessert, made from profiterole with caramel sauce. Many couples prefer Croquembouche to wedding cakes because it is different, and it can be cooked in many forms.
Shivaree
The wedding ceremony is over, and you went home for the first night. When you sleep, you are hearing that people are gathered around your home and hitting metal objects, making as much as noise they can, even shooting a gun.
What would you think?
It is a very common and old tradition. People were thinking that noise will protect couples from evil spirits and evil spirits will go away. The tradition has different forms, but it also exists in America.
As you can imagine, couples know there will be a shivaree therefore they are ready for it. After making a noise, a couple invites guests (if you can call them guests ) inside for food and drink.
The watch and the ring
I feel that the heading is like a name of a movie, but gift exchange exists in French weddings as in other cultures.
When the groom gives a ring to the bride, the bride gives a nice watch to the groom in exchange.
Armoire de mariage
For this tradition, the bride’s father should be Carpenter. Traditionally, the bride’s father cut a tree and make a cabinet from it.
If you want to continue with this tradition, you can buy quality armoire de marriage online . It is unfair to the bride’s father, ask him to carve a tree.
The Champagne Tower and Pyramid
Good champagne is a part of a French wedding, but I admit it the champagne tower or Pyramid is also nice to have.
This tradition is not unique to French people, popping champagne is very common in European weddings.
Dragee mariage or Jordan Almonds
This one is also classic in most weddings. Jordan almond is given in the ceremonies as box, or as tied ribbons or bags. It also exists in Italian weddings, Turkish weddings, Cyprus weddings, and other European weddings.
Onion Soup
Onion Soup or “La Soupe a la Oignon” is another tradition. A wedding day is not easy, it is tough and tiring, and sometimes stressful. On the night of the wedding day, the couple drinks onion soup to be refreshed.
Voiture Balai – Broom Wagon
When going from ceremony to wedding venue, broom wagon or broom car plays an important role. Guest’s cars follow it so they don’t lose their ways.
Voiture Balai is a car attached by accessories – generally broom with “just married” signs etc.
The Umbrella Dance
Did you think the umbrella dance only belongs to New Orleans weddings? Certainly not. In French, the bride and the groom dance with an umbrella or under the umbrella at the end or at the beginning of the ceremony.
French Wedding Cake
The traditional French wedding cake is Croquembouche. It is not a wedding cake, but it is an alternative to classic wedding cakes.
The bride and groom use a sword or a knife to cut the Croquembouche from top to bottom. Croquembouche should not wait like other cakes (they can wait hours), therefore it is served in dessert time.
10 Good Wedding Chateau in France
It is a wedding venue all over the world but when it comes to France it is a chateau, not a venue. Are you kidding?
If you are looking for a dream wedding day, then please look at our list below. We tried to list French wedding venues.
History: 14th Century
Capacity: 15 rooms for 44 guests.
Room Price: 130 EUR – 200 EUR
Address: 37 rue du Calvaire 49270 Saint Sauveur de Landemont
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
Wedding Venue Capacity: From 20 up to 150 guests.
Room Price: Ask
Address: 24500 Serres-et-Montguyard France
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
- Chateau D’Aleny
History: 18th century
Capacity: 34 guests can stay; ceremony capacity is around 200 guests.
Room Price: Ask
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
History: 19th century
Capacity: Ask
Room Price: 350 EUR – 450 EUR
Adress: CHÂTEAU DE CHAMBIERS CHÂTEAU DE CHAMBIERS, D49 49430 – DURTAL
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
History: 16th and 19th century
Capacity: Ask
Room Price: Ask
Adress: 24160 St. Médard d’Excideuil Dordogne France
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
6. Chateau des Marquis
Capacity: 150 guests
Room Price: Ask
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
7. Château de Cas – Tarn-et-Garonne
Capacity: 140 guests
Room Price: Ask
Address: Château de Cas – 82160 Espinas Tarn et Garonne – Occitanie
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
8. Chateau de Fayolle
History: 17th century
Capacity: Ask.
Room Price: Ask
Address: Chateau de Fayolle Villetouriex 24600 Dordogne France
Wedding Ceremony Price: They offer a personal wedding package.
9. Chateau Tour Vaucros
Capacity: 250 guests (sit down meal) , 600 guests (cocktail party)
Room Price: Ask
Address: 2671 chemin de Vaucroze – 84700 Sorgues
Wedding Ceremony Price: Ask
10. Chateau de Lerse
History: The castle was built in the 15th century
Capacity: 200 guests – accommodate 40 guests.
Room Price: Ask
Address: Château de Lerse, 16250 Pèrignac
Wedding Ceremony Price: 14.800 EUR for 3 nights, check on the website for details.
French Wedding Dresses
There are many bridal brands in France, especially Paris, related to different kinds of wedding dresses such as vintage wedding dresses or classic wedding dresses. Some of them are affordable but some of them are not affordable but all of them are adorable
Wedding designers exhibit collections every year, therefore you need to follow them. We are listing some of the greatest designers here, not all of them are French.
Rime Arodaky is a famous French wedding designer. She was born and raised in Paris, yet her ancestors are from Syria.
Oscar de la Rante already exhibited a new collection; you can check out their website. They have also bridal services, beginning with 8.000 USD. They can send products to many countries; it means they are accepting international orders.
Carolina Herrera is known by everyone. Their stores are all over the world.
Monique Lhuillier exhibits the fall collection. Check out their website for new designs.
French Wedding Nails
Your dream day is closing, and you wonder what you will do with your nails? Don’t be stressed. There are lots of pages on the internet related to French manicure ideas and tips. It is not necessary to have French nails because you are marrying in France, but still, we have some pictures for you. If you have your own pictures related to wedding nails, please do not forget to send them to us.
French Wedding Photographer
There are many talented wedding photographers in France. I will not list all of them here but before hiring a photographer, please make sure to check the following items.
- Agree on prices and the services first. If you don’t agree, then there can be additional costs.
- Agree on places.
- Look into photographer’s works. Do you like those works?
- Check references of the photographer.
A Photographer makes you the frog or makes you the princess/prince. Therefore, spend good money for a good photographer.
French Wedding Songs
I personally like French songs. The language is so romantic, so it flies me from the earth to another planet. Here, we tried to list some French wedding songs for your dance. These songs can also be played at the wedding reception.
Edit Piaf – La Vie En Rose
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0feNVUwQA8U%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Charles Trenet – La Mer
https://youtube.com/watch?v=PXQh9jTwwoA%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Jean-Jacques Goldman – Pour que tu m’aimes encore
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YnaOEpsQsso%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Christophe Mae – La Rumeur
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_HXFoOw5mBs%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Charles Aznavour – For Me Formidable
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uL7A94t3lsQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed
French Wedding Invitations
Wedding invitations are almost the same for all countries. There are no specific French wedding invitations. However, French people generally like lavender. If you can use lavender in your wedding invitation, it would be more French style.
French Wedding Packages
There are chateau wedding packages and countryside wedding packages. First, you need to decide on this. Do you want your dream day in the chateau or in the countryside?
Whatever your decision is, you need to investigate packages in detail. Typical French wedding package includes meals, champaign, flowers, wedding reception, etc.
Wedding offers change according to the wedding venues. You may want to hire a local wedding planner, there are plenty of wedding packages or you may want to directly talk to wedding venue and plan yourself.
This decision is related to your budget. If you hire a wedding planner, this will bring you extra cost, but you will not have a headache for all the stuff. If you don’t hire a wedding planner, some avenues – hotels or chateaus have wedding planners themselves.
FAQ
- What food is served at a French wedding?
It depends on the wedding package. There is no specific food for the wedding except for croquembouche, which is very specific to French.
- What do French brides wear?
They wear usual the white dress. The dress code for French weddings is very important.
- Who pays for a French wedding?
Traditionally, a wedding is paid by the bride’s side but come on what century we are living in? Costs are usually divided between two sides.
- What is a traditional wedding cake?
We have already given an answer to this question. It is croquembouche.
- Do French weddings have bridesmaids?
No, there is no word for bridesmaid in French. They don’t have bridesmaids.
- Where are French weddings held?
In French, popular French wedding venues are châteaus. They don’t use hotel venues. However, they are using the French countryside.
- What age can you marry in France?
It is 18 just like the rest of the world.