Getting Married in Provence

Getting married in Provence

In all likelihood, you will not actually get married in Provence, you will get married at home and then come to France for a wedding celebration or blessing of your marriage. This is because if you want to get married in France you have to be resident in the commune where you get married for at least 40 consecutive days prior to marriage.

So the most common scenario is that you have a simple, civil marriage at home to get the legalities done, and come to France to celebrate with friends and family. You can then have some form of non-religious ceremony, like a wedding blessing, which would either take place in a house or hotel you are renting or in a beautiful setting that is geared towards marriage celebrations. See below for Provence wedding venue ideas.

The advantages of a wedding blessing in Provence, instead of a real marriage ceremony, are that a wedding blessing can be held anywhere, the ceremony can be in English, and you can choose all the wording, vows and music – basically you have much more freedom to set the tone. You can also choose who leads the ceremony. This can be a friend, or relative, or you may want to look into getting a member of the Humanist Association to officiate – they would also be able to advise on the structure of the service, the wording, music, etc.

The above residency rule for getting married in France does have a little flexibility because ultimately it is up to the mayor of a commune whether you can get married there or not. If, for example, your parents live in Provence permanently, and you are a regular visitor, this may be enough for the mayor.

Only civil marriage ceremonies are recognised in France, so you would get married at the mairie (town hall) by the mayor, in a short ceremony with at least 2 witnesses. If you want a church service this has to take place after the civil marriage (though not necessarily immediately after).

Help with your wedding celebration in Provence

Wedding Planning

Lucy Till French Weddings
English wedding planner based in Aix-en-Provence and Uzes providing a very personalised service for couples wishing to celebrate their marriages in southern France.
www.lucytillfrenchweddings.com

Hair & Make-up

Ylva Langenskiold
Highly experienced in ad and photo shoots. Fluent English.
www.makeup-artist-provence.com

Wedding & Bridal hair

Carol Ray Bonnet
Experienced and friendly wedding hair stylist. Fluent English
www.weddinghairprovence.com

Wedding Flowers

Laetitia C.

Wedding Photography

Tim Perceval
Studio Cabrelli
David Bornais
Encre Noir
M Three Studio (American)

Renting a house for a Provence wedding

If you are planning to hold a wedding celebration in a rented house, you must tell the owner! Bear in mind that if you are renting a house for a week, rentals usually run Saturday-Saturday (though not always), so if you are having your wedding celebration on Saturday, and cannot check in to your accommodation before the afternoon, this is not ideal. You should make sure the house is properly set up for weddings, and this would include a more convenient arrival time than the day of the wedding.

Getting married in Provence