12 Most Asked Questions About Planning a Wedding in the South of France
Chateau D’Aleny / Source: Oliver’s Travels
If you’re wanting to amp up the romance on your wedding day, it often doesn’t get much better than the South of France. There are so many great reasons to get married in France (which we’ll go into in a moment!) and with it being so close to the UK, it’s always such a good option for a destination wedding that is easily accessible for all your guests.
To keep this blog post simple and easy to digest, we’ve laid it out a bit like a FAQs section so you can get to whichever bit is most useful to you!
What are the perks of planning a wedding in the South of France?
Breathtaking and romantic scenery and architecture. From chateaus to vineyards and gorgeous boutique hotels all set within beautiful surrounding, the South of France has romance filled wedding venues in abundance.
They are world renowned for their delicious food. If you want to impress your guests with your wedding menu and ensure it’s a talking point of the wedding day, then choosing a wedding in France will always be a good idea.
Easy and affordable travel from the UK. With the option of driving and using the Eurotunnel, taking a flight or travelling by train, France is a very accessible location for guests both travelling from the UK and further afield.
Good value for money without compromise. Weddings in Europe are generally known to be more reasonable than the equivalent in the UK, meaning your budget will likely stretch further in the South of France without you having to sacrifice on things.
English speaking wedding planners. A large number of the wedding planners in France can speak good English, meaning you won’t have to worry about language barriers and can ensure you’re both on the same page.
What are the main differences between UK and French weddings?
Traditional bridal parties aren’t really a thing in France. They don’t tend to have roles like maid of honour, bridesmaids, best men or groomsmen and keep things pretty simple.
Croquembouche is their version of a wedding cake. Instead of a three-tiered number, they favour a croquembouche. To those not in the know, this is a tall cone-shaped stack of cream puffs coated with caramelised sugar.
They don’t have rehearsal dinners. Although most of us Brits don’t do this either, it’s worth flagging that they don’t do rehearsal dinners.
Welcome dinners don’t tend to happen either. The French don’t generally do a welcome dinner for guests coming from afar the night before, so make sure you mention this to your venue if it’s something you want to do.
You can learn more about some of the French wedding traditions might fancy embracing here.
How much does it cost to get married in France?
Much like in the UK, the price of getting married in France will vary entirely based on what sort of venue you’re looking for and where within the South of France. Whilst many of their venues may look very grand, it’s always worth emailing or calling them to see what their prices are, as you might be in for a pleasant surprise! It’s good to bear in mind that choosing off-season date and holding mid week weddings will always impact the price too.
Should I get legally married in the UK or in France?
Generally most people tend to conduct the legal aspect of their ceremony in the UK to avoid worrying about French marriage laws and having all the paperwork translated. It takes a lot of the stress away and also helps give you more free rein on where you have your ceremony or blessing in France.
What logistics should I consider when choosing the venue?
Whilst it’s easy to get wowed by a particular venue, it’s still important that you think about the logistics of people getting there. Consider how close it is located to airports and transport, where the further accommodation is and how much there is to do in the local area. In some places taxis can be few and far between and will need to be booked in advance.
If you’d like to learn more about some of the best wedding venues in France, we’ve got lots of blog posts dedicated to the very best chateau, barn, vineyard, intimate and coastal wedding venues, along with those nice and close to the UK too! You can read them all here.
Should I hire a wedding planner?
The simple answer is yes. Unless you’re fairly fluent in the language, hiring a wedding planner is really important to help ensure everything is communicated accurately and nothing gets lost in translation. It also means they can handle any French documentation which is quite a nice task to not have to do!
With wedding planners in France typically working on destination weddings, they will speak good English and will be well versed in what you need to do. They will also help you save time and money as they’ll know the best suppliers and be able to assist in negotiating you the best price.
If your budget doesn’t quite stretch to a wedding planner or you’re really keen to just take it all on yourself, you can hire a wedding coordinator who will be there to just assist you on the day with the running of things.
Should I use UK suppliers?
Ideally we recommend that your main suppliers are based within France to avoid any issues with them getting stuck or delayed getting over from the UK. However if there’s some UK suppliers that you’d love to have there, then this is definitely doable - you’ll just need to plan it out carefully and ensure you have a plan B in case things go a little haywire.
If you’re on the look out for a florists, here’s our top tips on how to find them and some of our favourites.
What are the legal requirements for getting married in France?
The good news is you don’t need to have French residency to be able to get legally married in France. However the bad news is there is a lot of paperwork involved, which is often why many couples choose to get legally married in the UK.
If you are still really keen to get legally married in France, here’s what you need to know:
In France, the civil ceremony is mandatory and is performed within the ‘Mairie’ local to you.
You can get married in a church but you’ll need to show documentation from the Mairie to prove that you are already legally married. In France only a civil wedding is legally binding, so before you have a religious ceremony you need to show proof of marriage.
Lots of churches in France actually let you have your own priest in the UK complete the service in France.
The French law also states that at least one of the couple needs to have resided in France for over 40 days immediately prior to the civil ceremony.
As you can see it’s not overly straight forward and does still involve a legal element of the wedding being completed before the actually ceremony, so for this reason we recommend doing the legalities in the UK. However you can still learn more about the legalities of doing it in France here.
When’s the best time to get married in France?
Due to the lovely weather, the wedding season in the South of France runs from April until October.
Generally April and May are the cooler months, between 20-25 degrees at the beginning and in the later 20’s by the end of March.
June, July and August are hotter and can reach levels between 30 to 40 degrees. Thereafter you can expect lovely warm temps between 25-35 degrees until the end of October.
If the weather however doesn’t happen to be on your side, many of these venues have pretty indoor locations you can move into as a plan B.
When should I aim to have my wedding venue booked by?
If you’d like to get married in France, it’s important to plan fairly far ahead. Most of the best wedding venues tend to get booked up to two years in advance, so you’ll need to start planning between 18-24 months in advance to ensure you get the widest range of choice.
What’s the best way to find venues and suppliers?
From our findings, a large portion of venues and suppliers won’t have particularly slick websites or in fact any website at all, despite being beautiful! Often they’ll appear predominantly on wedding venue and supplier listing websites, and venues will often have recommended lists for the best suppliers in the area. For this reason, don’t be afraid to do a mix of calling, emailing and ideally try and take some time over there to explore the various options.
Wedding planners will usually know suppliers that aren’t listed online or in directories, so they’ll be able to help you find those hidden gems and suggest the best options for your taste.
How many times should I visit prior to getting married there?
In an ideal world, you’ll want to visit the venue and area at least twice prior to the wedding. The first visit will be to scout out the venue options, take a look at the area, the available accommodation and tour the venue you end up choosing. Thereafter, the second and any further trips will be to meet with suppliers and do any pre-wedding appointments that are required such as food tastings, choosing wedding flowers/styling and any hair and make up trials.
