How to plan a wedding in Paris in 2022

The romantic image of the French capital, which has evolved over centuries, makes almost every couple think about holding a ceremony in this city. The temptation to place wedding photos in your album against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower or Versailles is very great, but not everyone decides to take such a step, fearing that unforeseen little things could ruin the holiday. To make a wedding in Paris a colorful and pleasant start to your life together, you need to pay maximum attention to its preparation.

Why choose Paris for your wedding?

Paris is a mecca for lovers and romantics. People come to this city to have a holiday for two and remember this day for the rest of their lives.

There are many reasons why you should choose a Parisian wedding:

The city itself is a magnificent backdrop for wedding photo shoots. There are many examples of ancient architecture, castles, beautiful parks and gardens, elegant streets and graceful bridges.
Throughout its history, Paris has been a city of kings, lavish balls, intrigue and exciting love stories. All this was reflected in his atmosphere.
Organizing a wedding in France is one of the most popular areas handled by intermediary firms. Finding these won't be difficult.
Newlyweds can combine the wedding ceremony and honeymoon by spending a vacation in Paris or at some French resort.
Territorial proximity to the Russian Federation - the flight will not require a large budget or a lot of time.
Unique French cuisine and fine wines will be the best addition to a French vacation.

Wedding tourism in the heart of France is well developed. Therefore, here you can find a wide variety of ideas for a wedding ceremony and celebration decoration, from a carriage ride to a wedding in a Gothic church.

Climb the Eiffel Tower

The symbol of Paris is very popular among newlyweds. Many restaurants with French cuisine, excellent French wines, an observation deck from which the whole of Paris is at your fingertips... The best time to visit the Eiffel Tower is in the evening. The tower itself is illuminated in a special way at this time, the flickering lights give Eiffel’s creation additional magic. The entrance ticket to the tower costs about 14 euros. You can also order a romantic lunch or dinner on the tower itself - you can read more about this here.

Wedding preparations

The easiest way to organize a festive event is to entrust this issue to a marriage agency: it will take care of all the worries, starting from meeting the couple at the airport. But even with this option, the participation of the bride and groom in preparation cannot be relegated to the background.

The first step is to decide whether you will undergo official registration with the participation of local authorities or whether a symbolic wedding in France is right for you. The fact is that obtaining a marriage certificate comes with some rules. One of them concerns staying in the city.

The couple will be officially signed only after they have been in Paris for at least 40 days, and this will require a certain budget.

If this option suits you, you need to prepare the following documents:

Foreign and civil passports.
Birth certificates.
Certificates that can confirm that neither the groom nor the bride are in another marital relationship.
If such events as divorce, death of a spouse or change of personal data took place in the lives of the spouses, it is necessary to attach the relevant certificates and certificates.

The advantage of a symbolic ceremony is that all these papers will not be needed to carry it out, and in terms of solemnity it is in no way inferior to official registration. If you take the easy route, you can get married at home and fly to Paris to celebrate your wedding with French charm.

Next, we will talk specifically about the French traditions of celebration, each of which foreign guests can either accept or ignore.

At the preparation stage, you need to consider the following details:

location of the ceremony;
wedding script and concept;
wedding dresses for the bride and groom;
flowers, transport, champagne and other paraphernalia;
guests;
places for a photo shoot;
video shooting;
restaurant.

The bride's dress is usually sewn in a special bridal salon. French women approach this issue with special trepidation, because this outfit remains in their wardrobe forever. Russian women usually take this tradition not so seriously. But men of all nationalities prefer to rent tailcoats or suits.

If you plan to invite guests, you need to think about where they will spend the night. Speaking of invitations: they must be original, in festive envelopes. In response to an invitation, guests must inform the bride and groom or their parents if they can attend the wedding.

The list of gifts also requires prior approval. Future spouses prepare in advance a list of wedding gifts (sometimes even indicating in which store they can be purchased), which are distributed among the invited guests.

The best places for a wedding

The choice of location for the ceremony will largely determine the concept of the entire wedding. Most often, couples prefer popular locations on the map of Paris:

Champ de Mars is located at the very foot of the Eiffel Tower. People come here for photo sessions with one of the main symbols of Paris.
Tuileries Garden – located near the Louvre. This green oasis of the French capital is famous for its well-groomed ponds, varied landscape areas, bright flower beds, and lawns with lush, neatly trimmed grass. A special atmosphere of France reigns here, because once upon a time French bohemia gathered here, and Edouard Manet painted his famous painting “Music in the Tuileries Garden.” From the park you can exit onto one of the authentic Parisian streets.
Luxembourg Palace - once the residence of kings, today it welcomes guests of the city and offers amazing scenery for a wedding ceremony. In front of the palace there is a huge park, conducive to celebrating the occasion in the open air.
Square Ver-Galan is one of the romantic places in Paris, right in the middle of the Seine. From here you can see both the Louvre and the Tuileries Garden. This is a place of solitude for lovers, and therefore holding a wedding here will be very symbolic.
Versailles - this palace and park ensemble is another majestic symbol of Paris.

A wedding in France in a castle will be shrouded in special charm. They can be found in large numbers on the outskirts of the city.

Those who prefer a wedding can conduct the ceremony according to the canons of the Russian Orthodox Church. For this purpose, you can choose the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which was built in the 19th century with money donated by Russian emigrants.

In order for the wedding to take place, you need to prepare birth certificates, baptism certificates and secular marriage certificates.

Kiss under the Marie Bridge

The ancient arch bridge, built back in the 17th century, is named after the engineer Christophe Marie who built it. There is a local legend about the bridge: if lovers kiss under the bridge, they will never part, and their love will only grow stronger year after year. To kiss under the bridge, you can rent a boat. Another romantic option is to ride a river tram along the Seine, and kiss as the tram passes under the bridge. Or just go down under the bridge and kiss on the embankment.

How the ceremony goes

The French tend to pay great attention to detail. This means that every wedding ceremony in Paris is planned in the most careful way. The entire marriage process consists of several stages:

Engagement. After the proposal is made, the newly minted bride and groom will have to announce this event. Once upon a time, a separate celebration was held on this occasion with many guests. Today it is customary to invite only parents to the cafe, in whose presence the groom gives the bride a ring.
Marriage registration and wedding. An application is submitted to the mayor's office one month before the celebration. The application must be accompanied by a certificate from the hospital stating that the bride and groom do not have dangerous diseases. The ceremony itself does not take much time. The mayor reads out their rights and responsibilities to the couple and presents them with a marriage certificate. After this, the entire procession can go to church.
Banquet. This stage is carried out according to etiquette. All dishes are served in a specific order. There is no strong alcohol at French weddings: only wine and champagne are served. Guests make toasts, witnesses make a presentation of the newlyweds' life before the wedding.
Completion of the wedding. The finale of the celebration is the serving of a large multi-tiered cake. Around midnight, the newlyweds and their parents dance the wedding waltz. This is a signal that the older guests can go home, while the younger generation stays to party all night at the wedding ball.

The next day, the newlyweds traditionally leave for their honeymoon.

The grave of Heloise and Abelard in the Père Lachaise cemetery

This love story is no less famous than the story of Romeo and Jellyette. Eloise, a 17-year-old beauty, smart and kind, met the famous philosopher Abelard at her lesson. He was amazed by her abilities, and she by his knowledge. Mutual feeling arose instantly, but the difference in class did not allow the lovers to be together. Then they fled to Brittany, where they secretly got married. After some time, Eloise, under duress from her uncle, became a nun, and Abelard lost his title and entered the service as an ordinary monk. Their love story has come to us thanks to surviving letters.

In the 19th century, the French moved the joint grave of lovers to the Père Lachaise cemetery. Today, notes are left in the crypt of Abelard and Heloise asking for eternal love. And we will do the same!

Parisian cuisine

The wedding reception begins with cocktails. For a couple of hours, guests with glasses in their hands engage in small talk and congratulate the newlyweds.

When the feast begins, everyone sits down at round tables of several people. Seats can be assigned in advance, as indicated by signs placed on the tables. A plan is posted at the entrance to the hall so that guests can immediately find their seats.

The bride and groom personally thank each person who came, giving him a small souvenir (usually a jelly bean in a box).

In France, it is not customary to organize a banquet based on the buffet principle. Each guest is served a separate portion in a certain order. First, appetizers are served, then soup and the main course, complemented by salads and cheeses, and dessert. You won’t find a wide variety of dishes here, but the champagne will flow like a river.

As for the menu, everything depends on the wedding style, financial capabilities, and the wishes of the newlyweds. Often served at French weddings:

various pates;
sauces;
cheeses;
potatoes stewed with some kind of meat;
flambé (pizza-like pie);
quiche (open pie);
onion soup;
rooster in wine;
ratatouille (roasted vegetables);
cassoulet (a dish of white beans with meat);
niçoise (salad with a lot of vegetables).

Desserts deserve special attention: meringues and mousses, blancmange (sweet jelly made from milk), grillage (nuts fried in sugar), canele (something like cupcakes with a crispy caramel crust) and so on.

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame Cathedral is familiar to everyone thanks to Hugo's novel of the same name. They even say that the hunchback of Notre Dame existed in reality, but who will check now. The main Gothic building of the city amazes with its beauty and grandeur; it is worth visiting next to it. Surprisingly, the best photographs are taken not in front of the entrance to the cathedral, but in a small garden on the opposite side of it. You can camp on the nearest bridge:

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Expenses

How much a Parisian-style wedding will cost will depend on the complexity of the organization and how full the ceremony is with various ideas and attributes. As an example, here are prices for some types of celebrations:

600–800 euros – a wedding for two. It does not involve frills, it is suitable for those who want to quickly leave the official part and devote the remaining time to Paris. This amount will cover only the basic package of services: the ceremony itself, transportation, bridal bouquet, photo shoot, champagne.
1,000–2,000 euros - for this money, the marriage agency, in addition to the basic package, will offer the services of a stylist and makeup artist, a tour of the picturesque places of the city, a ceremony plan, and dinner in a restaurant.
2,000–3,000 euros - this amount (except for what is listed above) includes the creation of a unique celebration scenario, decoration of the ceremony site, musical accompaniment, assistance in choosing a dress, refreshments and alcoholic drinks, photo and video sessions.

Hotel Plaza Athenee

The mansion is located in the very center of Paris, on Avenue Montaigne, where the most famous fashion houses are located. The six floors of the Hotel Plaza Athenee are exquisite classics from the times of Louis XIV: antiques, carved furniture, frescoes. The interiors of the two upper floors are in a light, elegant Art Deco style. The hotel's restaurant of the same name was awarded three stars by the prestigious Michelin guide. The unique dishes of the master of culinary arts Alain Ducasse are so famous and popular that appointments for him are scheduled months in advance.

Additional services

Future newlyweds can always choose additional services, for example:

night photo session – about 100 euros;
video recording of the bride and groom getting ready – about 100 euros;
decorating the place of celebration with flowers – from 100 euros;
live music – 50–150 euros for 1 hour;
festive menu - the price depends on the range of dishes and drinks, as well as on the number of guests. On average, you need to count on 50–100 euros per person.

Le Meurice

The legendary Hotel Le Meurice is located between the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre on Rue Rivolli. Completely renovated in 2000, the 160 rooms and suites perfectly combine the splendor of 18th-century architecture, modern technology and impeccable service. On the seventh floor there is the Royal Suite Belle Etoile with an area of 500 square meters. m. with an extraordinary view of the whole of Paris. The luxurious palace traditionally maintains a high level of its restaurants. Guests can choose the gastronomic restaurant Le Meris, the Dali restaurant or the cozy bar 228. And the Spa Valmont hotel's spa center is entirely dedicated to the art of relaxation.

Modern wedding traditions

A wedding ceremony in Paris is filled with many traditions that you need to know about if you plan to do everything exactly in French:

The list of guests is always divided into two parts: those who will be present only at the official part, and those who are invited to celebrate with the newlyweds in the restaurant. Both groups receive the same invitations. But those who go to the restaurant will have a carte d'invitation enclosed in the envelope indicating the address and name of the restaurant.
Making your own holiday decor. The tradition is that on some day women and girls gather in one place and make bows, boutonnieres, and other decorations, which will then be attached to cars, furniture, and distributed to guests.
During the ceremony, the newlyweds are presented with rings by young children who are chosen in advance for this important mission. In France they are called “children of happiness.”
When registering a marriage at the city hall, the bride must be on the left hand of the groom. This tradition dates back to the era of the musketeers: the cavalier's right hand had to be free in case he had to draw his sword.
The wish-list or list of gifts is given to the guests by the future newlyweds during the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Giving something that is not on this list is not accepted.

Balconies

When choosing a hotel before a photo shoot in Paris, check for a balcony. Not the most obvious filming location, but one of the most atmospheric:

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Images of newlyweds and guests

French girls are distinguished by femininity, sophistication and impeccable taste. In the bride's image, everything should be chosen harmoniously, there should be no unnecessary or provocative details. The dress must be floor-length; you can choose a model with a train. A straight style or a narrow top with a full skirt is allowed. It is advisable that there are no prints on the outfit, but you can make a bright accent, for example, at the waist. The back can be open or open, short lace gloves are also allowed.

The hairstyle should be simple but elegant; straight, styled hair is suitable. It is better to replace the veil with a small hat or veil, and if you wish, you can completely abandon headdresses and decorate your hair with a large bud or a decorative hairpin.

Makeup should be done natural, there should be no bright accents either on the lips or on the eyes. It is allowed to apply pastel shades and pale pink matte lipstick. The manicure should be in a classic French style or a plain chocolate or burgundy shade.

The groom must also choose an outfit that suits his style. This can be a classic two-piece, three-piece suit or tailcoat. The shade should be one of the classic ones - black, gray or blue; some men will suit white. You can complement the image of a French youth with a decorative cane and a hat. The boutonniere should be made from the same flower as the bride's bouquet.

Guests also need to choose appropriate outfits. Women can wear knee-length or floor-length dresses in pastel or chocolate shades. You can complement the look with elegant hats, clutches and gloves. There are no special requirements for men - any classic suits are appropriate.