Getting Married in France

Types or weddings

French law only recognises civil marriage. Hence, you need to be legally married before holding a religious ceremony. Here, you have two options:

• Legally marry in France and then hold a religious ceremony (you can either do that the same days or later)
• Legally marry in the Uk through a civil ceremony, and then come to France to have a religious ceremony

If you’re having a French wedding, some churches will allow your English-speaking priest to carry out the service.

If you wish to get married in France, you must get in touch directly with the mayor's office of the town in which you wish to marry.
We would also strongly advise you to get in touch with your Consulate in France.

French Consulate www.consulfrance-londres.org (External link)

Conditions to get married in France:

• Minimum age of 18 years old.
• The future husband and wife must not have any close family relationship or ties with each other.

Documents Required

• At least one member of the couple must have proof of residency for at least 30 days prior to the application
• Valid passports
• Original birth certificates (less than 3 months old): It will be necessary to provide the "certified copy of an entry" (the full version with the names of the parents) with a translation. It is necessary to go through a British translator then with the Legalisation Office of The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
• Certificate of celibacy for (proof that you are not already married): This certificate is also known as "certificate of non-impediment". It can be obtained from the town hall of the place of residence of the would-be British spouse.
• Divorce or death certificate (if you were already married)
• Affidavit of law stating that you are free to marry and that the marriage will be recognised in your home country
• Prenuptial agreement (optional)

However, you can also get married in a civil ceremony in your home country first and bring those documents with you when you come to France to have a wedding - You can indeed have a religious or symbolic ceremony in France after having gotten married in their home country.

Additional information

Organising a wedding can be very difficult, especially abroad.
Here are a couple of institutions that can help you with that:

• Fête in France
  Organising a wedding abroad can be challenging... let the bilingual staff at Fête in France help you create a wedding that reflects your personality. They'll take care of all the details - so you can enjoy a truly memorable day: www.feteinfrance.com (External link)

• Histoires d'envies
  www.histoiresdenvies.com (External link) - Histoires d'envies can orchestrate the entire management of your wedding: from advices to the planning, from the handling of every service provider (caterer,placeholder, cars driver, travel agency manager, hostel handler, animators, photographers, video...) to the interior design. To let everything get started, you just need to choose what kind of wedding you dreamt of.
  www.histoiresdenvies.com (External link)

• Haute weddings - Dream destinations, France
  Based in Chamonix, France Haute Weddings specialises in destination weddings in the French Alps, Provence, Loire Valley & the French Riviera. If you wish to share your special day with loved ones in a magical setting with spectacular mountain scenery, quaint medieval villages, grandiose chateaux, or gorgeous beaches our in-depth knowledge and local expertise will help make your wedding abroad a flawless and memorable event.
  www.hautewedding.co.uk (External link)