The civil service: In France, the only legally recognised wedding is a civil

ceremony which is held at the town hall closest to either one of the couples place
of residence. An application should turned into the town hall anything up to 12
months before the desired wedding date. The mayors office will then reply
confirming the date and alloted time for your wedding. The number of people
invited to the civil ceremony depends on the number of seats available, big families
can overflow outside into the corridor. Generally however only close family and
friends participate in the civil ceremony.

The religious ceremony: Catholicism is the number one religion in France. Even if a family
are not particularly big church goers, they will more often than not expect their children to have
a church ceremony to accompany the civil ceremony. It is common to have different
witnesses for the civil and religious ceremonies depending on their religious persuasion.
Le Lancer de riz: The French traditionally throw rice (le riz) over the newly weds as they
leave either the town hall, the church / synagogue / temple / mosque etc. The act of throwing rice
or any other confetti in France is, as in other occidental cultures, to promote fertility and to warn
off evil spirits.
Le Vin dHonneur': Traditionally, the vin dhonour, literally translated as
wine of honour, is a mini-reception that takes place directly following the civil or
church ceremony either in the same place as the main reception venue or in
another venue near to the place where the ceremony has taken place. The Vin
dHonneur normally lasts a few hours and is an opportunuty to relax after the high
emotions of th wedding ceremony and for the married couple to invite those with
whom they would like to share a part of their special day but who they will not
necessarily invite to the main wedding dinner and party. Often older guests such as
friends of the parents or grandparents will be invited to the vin dhonneur as well
as work colleagues or neighbours. Champagne, wine and cocktails such as the Kir
Royal are commonly the drink of choice at the vin dhonneur.

Beeping of car horns: It is customary in France for the cars following the wedding car to
the reception venue to beep their horns all the way. The tradition began as a way to warn
off evil spirits and the devil but today its really just a way to draw attention to the bide
and groom and to celebrate in a festive, fun way.

LApritif': The aperitif or apero for short, is pre-dinner drinks (champagne usually)
accompanied by savoury canaps and verrines. The aperitif takes place after the vin
dhonneur and before the wedding breakfast

La Pice Monte': The pice monte is the French wedding cake. The pice
monte is brought out in an extremely ceremonial way after dessert and once
guests have had a chance to dance a little and is served with Champagne. The
pice monte is traditionally a Croqenbouche, a delicious coneshaped cake made from piling up cream filled profiteroles with hard caramel all
round the outside, decorated with spun sugar shapes, flowers or ribbons.
le Jeu de la Jarretire': The Jeu de la Jarretire or Garter Game in English is an
auction which takes place at the wedding reception to win the brides garter. The
Jeu de la Jarretire was popular before wedding lists became common place and is
a way of raising money to help pay for the wedding,. An auction is conducted by the

DJ or master of ceremonies and guests can bid cash to win the brides garter. A pot
or hat is handed round in which people place money. In some cases, each time a
man bids, the bide has to hitch up her dress and the female guests bit for her to
lower it. The garter either goes to the person who donates the most money or to the
person who is in the process of donating money when the time limit for the auction
ends. The winner either removes the garter by hand or with their teeth!