Can we get married??

OBrown1986 · Post by **OBrown1986** » Mon 06 Jun 2016 21:15

Hi

Just wondered if anyone could help with the below:

My fiancé and I are looking at getting married in SW France next year, everything I have read so far goes on about the 40 day residence rule. My fiancés family own a property just outside ceret and have done for the past 8 years, has anyone had any experience with the local mayor making exception the 40 day rule if a property is owned locally by the family?
We really want to avoid having to legally marry in the uk before coming out to France.

Any help/advise etc would be really appreciated.

Thanks

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Mon 06 Jun 2016 22:08

OBrown1986 wrote:Hi

Just wondered if anyone could help with the below:

My fiancé and I are looking at getting married in SW France next year, everything I have read so far goes on about the 40 day residence rule. My fiancés family own a property just outside ceret and have done for the past 8 years, has anyone had any experience with the local mayor making exception the 40 day rule if a property is owned locally by the family?
We really want to avoid having to legally marry in the uk before coming out to France.

Any help/advise etc would be really appreciated.

Thanks

Two very old friends of mine did it in the two different ways over the last couple of years. One had a sort of touchy-feely service in the garden with a "celebrant" which obviously had no legal significance (nor to me any other): when I asked a mutual friend, discreetly, what the hell was going on, I gathered that they had actually been married ten days previously in the UK. It seemed to me an odd way of spoiling what would otherwise have been a perfectly good party.

The other one did it by the book, at the mairie, and if that's what you want I'd be surprised if any maire would bend the residence rules for you. The forty days wasn't an issue for the groom (he's an academic and gets long summer holidays) but even then he scrambled to assemble all the paperwork, duly translated - there's lots of it, so be warned. And the bride spent a good part of the slack organising her hair. But she looked good enough to eat on the day, so it turned out well.

At the risk of stating the obvious, a French civil marriage ceremony is a serious thing, and done in French.

Webdoc · Post by **Webdoc** » Tue 07 Jun 2016 07:33

Until 2013 you used to have to have a medical examination to prove you were healthy (plus a test for venereal disease). What if you were unhealthy or disabled? Sounds like eugenics to me.

Post by **Kate** » Tue 07 Jun 2016 12:39

Hi,
Here's an article with some info that might help altough you've clearly done your research so I may be telling you nothing new.
http://anglophone-direct.com/Getting-married-in-France/
You could contact Anna Warmsley who is a wedding planner here in the PO. I'm sure she would be happy to advise you.
http://www.annawalmsley.com
Best of luck for the future

Sus · Post by **Sus** » Tue 07 Jun 2016 13:18

Hi, I have not heard of any exception to the 40 day rule and I would consider just asking what specific paperwork your mayor wants you to submit, might be able to wing it. As others pointed out just be prepared for the list of docs, similar to the UK, paperwork seems to be an ever increasing pile we all have to deal with!

Good luck and please share how you got on!

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Wed 08 Jun 2016 17:27

Sus wrote:Hi, I have not heard of any exception to the 40 day rule and I would consider just asking what specific paperwork your mayor wants you to submit, might be able to wing it. As others pointed out just be prepared for the list of docs, similar to the UK, paperwork seems to be an ever increasing pile we all have to deal with!

Good luck and please share how you got on!

I am not sure that I would recommend "winging it", but it is certainly worth establishing in advance what documents would be required to show residence in the local commune for the required length of time. It is quite common to be asked for proof of address in France, and it is generally enough to provide eg an electricity bill in your name for the relevant address (I guess for a marriage it would have to be more than 40 days old). Your fiancé might have issues with this if the house belongs to his parents, so all the more reason to check out what might do instead.

As Kate says, best of luck. French civil marriage ceremonies are not quite like the more flamboyant ones that are now possible in the UK, but entirely satisfactory in their own way.

annawalmsley · Post by **annawalmsley** » Sat 11 Jun 2016 16:03

Good afternoon,

Many congratulations on your wedding engagement.

I work as a Wedding and company events planner in the Languedoc Roussillon. The 40 day rule does apply, however some Mairie's do overlook this, if your family have a residence there. However, there are some Mairies that do refuse to overlook the 40 day residency rule.
Bottom line, if someone in the family has a home or holiday home in a village and you'd really like to be married at the Mairie, it's worth going along and asking. I imagine the best way is to go along with the person who owns the property and has the connection.

In addition, I always advice my couples to carry out the Mairie bit in the UK, and the wedding blessing here in France. It's much easier, particularly if the Mairie are insisting on the 40 day rule. You will need to go the Mairie first, as this cannot be done in the church, so why not do this bit in the UK.

All the very best, Anna

martyn94 · Post by **martyn94** » Sat 11 Jun 2016 18:45

annawalmsley wrote:Good afternoon,

Many congratulations on your wedding engagement.

I work as a Wedding and company events planner in the Languedoc Roussillon. The 40 day rule does apply, however some Mairie's do overlook this, if your family have a residence there. However, there are some Mairies that do refuse to overlook the 40 day residency rule.
Bottom line, if someone in the family has a home or holiday home in a village and you'd really like to be married at the Mairie, it's worth going along and asking. I imagine the best way is to go along with the person who owns the property and has the connection.

In addition, I always advice my couples to carry out the Mairie bit in the UK, and the wedding blessing here in France. It's much easier, particularly if the Mairie are insisting on the 40 day rule. You will need to go the Mairie first, as this cannot be done in the church, so why not do this bit in the UK.

All the very best, Anna

I appreciate that you have a living to make. But I have to say that I found it quite bizarre, when I first encountered it, to find that there are is now both a "mairie bit" - ie actually getting married, whether in the UK or France - and a Facebook/showbiz/"blessing"/photo-opportunity/conspicuous consumption bit. I can understand that you might want a proper nuptial mass (or the alternative for your faith) if you are both sincerely religious, and wish to be genuinely married according to the rites of your religion as well as civilly. But for the rest, it just seems like play-acting.

As I said above, that is no reason not to have a party, with frocks and booze and cakes and speeches if you want. But don't call it a wedding (and save yourself at least a few bob on the wedding-planner's fees).

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