Getting married in France ???
Discussion
Has anyone done this? I am researching this after having been told that Brits cannot marry in France... it seems that you can and the U.K government website states the following items must be presented to a local council over there:
- Your passport.
- Your full birth certificate (with your parents’ details). This will normally need to be issued in the six months prior to your wedding. If you’re asked for a recent copy, you’ll need to contact the General Registry Office to order one.
- Proof of residence (utility bill, pay slip etc). You or your partner (or in some cases your parents) will need to have been resident in the town for at least 40 days before the ceremony.
- If you are divorced, your decree absolute (or the equivalent if you did not get divorced in the UK.)
- A certificate of custom – we can provide this.
- A certificate of celibacy. We can’t provide this, so you’ll need to download our official note that explains this and take it to the town hall.
- Your passport.
- Your full birth certificate (with your parents’ details). This will normally need to be issued in the six months prior to your wedding. If you’re asked for a recent copy, you’ll need to contact the General Registry Office to order one.
- Proof of residence (utility bill, pay slip etc). You or your partner (or in some cases your parents) will need to have been resident in the town for at least 40 days before the ceremony.
- If you are divorced, your decree absolute (or the equivalent if you did not get divorced in the UK.)
- A certificate of custom – we can provide this.
- A certificate of celibacy. We can’t provide this, so you’ll need to download our official note that explains this and take it to the town hall.
- * where it says proof of residence; I assume this means that we do need a home (or second home) in France (which we have) - but this seems to say that you can ONLY get married in your local town... anywhere else if off limits.?
Bluebarge said:
LDN said:
but this seems to say that you can ONLY get married in your local town... anywhere else if off limits.?
That's my understanding, and I assume it is so that the Mairie can check you are who you say you are against local records before marrying you.We had a civil ceremony in the UK and then a religious ceremony in France to avoid the bureaucratic faff of a civil ceremony in France (at the time you also had to produce a medical certificate to show that you didn't have any communicable diseases/were likely to drop dead in the near future).
If you don't want a religious ceremony in France, get married here and have the party there would be my advice.
Thanks for all of the advice; more food for thought! We are not religious so we'd more likely have the official knot-tie ceremony - and then have an informal thing afterward. We know where we'd like and I really wish my French was better, to better deal with it all. Thanks again for the tips.
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