I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend! I find it hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone! It seems like just yesterday it was June 1st, when it was raining buckets and we were picking up Lucie, our French intern, from the airport! Lucie was here for 5 months and over her time here she was able to see the differences between Oregon weddings and French weddings. Below you’ll find a post Lucie wrote about French weddings and a few pictures! It was such a pleasure to have Lucie with us and since she headed home to France on Halloween, the house hasn’t been the same! Thank you Lucie for being a part of our team this summer and for all your hard work! Enjoy!

Hi everyone! This is Lucie, Champagne’s intern from France!
Today I want to talk to you about French weddings and how different they are from what I have experienced here in Oregon…
A few things to know about French weddings are that there is a maid of honor and a best man, called “witnesses”, but there are no bridesmaids or groomsmen.
A French wedding usually starts like an American wedding. Everyone gets pretty and ready; the bride gets her hair and make-up done and gets nervous and excited about seeing her future husband. Then it gets a little different as comes the formal moment when all family and friends join the bride and groom at the city hall for the signage of their marriage license in front of the mayor. From now on, they are legally recognized as husband and wife.

The couple can choose to have a more romantic ceremony at church after going to the city hall, which is more traditional. I am not 100% sure, but I think having a ceremony in a different location is not an option. I do not know anyone who got married on the beach or in a vineyard, nor have I heard about people doing so.
After the ceremony, guests invited to the reception stick around while formal family pictures are taken (since the reception and the ceremony are hosted in two different places, every guest to the ceremony is not necessarily invited to the reception, which is nice to narrow down the guest list!). Formal photos of the couple alone are usually taken a few days before the wedding or earlier that day, so guests don’t have to wait forever between the ceremony and the party.

As guests go from place to place (city hall to church to reception site), a “procession” forms following the bride and groom. This procession is usually very noticeable to outside people as it is either a parade of guests walking the streets or a parade of decorated cars honking like crazy. This is a very fun and memorable part of the French wedding.
Once everyone gets to the reception, the cocktail hour begins, which is a full hour that the bride and groom enjoy with their guests, and that we call “the honor wine” (“vin d’honneur”). Then comes dinner, which is usually plated and takes about three hours. Games are initiated by the DJ or family and friends in between courses, keeping everyone entertained. One of my aunts is really good with words and she likes to write poems or put new words to a song for a special occasion. Therefore, at my sister’s wedding, my family and I sang my sister’s favorite song only with words that addressed her and her husband. That, along with other activities set up by other guests, added a special touch to their wedding and created unique memories.

The French wedding cake is quite different from the American 3-tier cake. It is a mountain of cream puffs put together with caramel. It is very yummy, and it looks like this:
http://www.lepapillonpatisserie.com/images/larger/wedding_croquembouche1.jpg

After dinner, first dances happen, and the dance floor is open to everyone. Since reception venues are usually rented for the weekend, the party can go on until 5 am or later for the unweary ones, and the bride and groom are one of the last to leave. It is quite common that everyone comes back the next day to enjoy a brunch with the bride and groom, allowing everyone to get together, remember the wedding, tell funny stories from the night before, play games and have some more fun!

Now, my favorite thing about weddings is something that applies to every wedding: the moment before the bride and groom see each other for the first time on their wedding day. Seeing the beautiful bride in her beautiful dress get all nervous and excited to see her groom and spend the rest of her life with him, and then witness that sparkle when they actually see each other is priceless. To me it is a very magical moment that shows all the love two people can have for each other, and it’s beautiful.
Do you know any other way to celebrate weddings?

Happy planning,
Lucie

Cheers,
Mandi, Rachelle & the Champagne Team