10 French Wedding Traditions You Might Want to Embrace

13 Jul

If you’ve chosen to have a destination wedding in France, you may well fancy embracing some of their tradition for the big day too. They’re definitely slightly different in their approach to weddings and perhaps more low-key and modern in parts, so if you’re after a more informal affair, this may well be your cue. Below we’ve listed the top 10 French wedding traditions that are a little bit different to ours.

1. No bridesmaids or groomsmen

One of the key big differences is that the French don’t have bridesmaids or groomsmen, in fact they don’t even have words for them in their language. Best friends in lieu of this are usually allocated the roles of witnesses, however flower girls and ring bearers are still a thing, so the little ones can get involved.

2. The wedding morning

Instead of it being bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony, in France it is customary that the groom goes to collect the bride from her home prior to the ceremony. There is then a procession that is led by musicians along with the bride and her father on the way to the church or chapel. En route, children typically block their path with white ribbons across the road, that the bride then has to cut to signify that she is able to overcome the obstacles she may face in married life.

3. The day is more about family uniting

This may be popular with some and not so much others, but in France the wedding day is much less about the bride but instead is about the coming together of two families and uniting two people who love one another. When the bride is proposed to and gets a ring, she then typically returns this gift by buying the groom something nice like a watch.

4. Ceremony entrance

Rather than the groom waiting in the church for the bride’s arrival, instead he leads the procession into the church, followed by the flower girls and ring bearers and then finally by the bride and her father.

5. Croquembouche vs. cake

In France, a traditional tiered cake isn’t a thing, and instead they favour a Croquembouche - a conical tower of delicious cream filled pastry puffs (aka profiteroles). Sometimes they mix it up and do macaroons or French pastries instead, depending on taste and the style of wedding. Interestingly this tradition actually originates from the middle ages when guests would bring along a small cake to the wedding and they’d all get piled high.

6. Trousseau and wedding armoire

Trousseau, from the word ‘trousse’, literally means bundle of linen and clothing - a bundle that is created for the bride’s married life. They were traditionally hand embroidered with the bride’s married initials by the bride and her mother, and then kept safe within an armoire that her father had carved. A more modern day take on this would be to gift the bride with French bed linen.

7. Dragée

Dragée, otherwise known as sugared almonds, are still a popular favour within France for their symbolic meaning. Each guest is usually given 5 almonds which symbolise health, wealth, happiness, longevity and fertility.

8. Champagne

In regal and rather fabulous style, it’s tradition for champagne to be opened using a sabre or served from a champagne tower, with the newlyweds pouring the first bottle.

9. Late night partying

French weddings are known to go on until the early hours, especially the more rural ones, with many finishing around 5 - 7am!

10. Onion soup!

Last night partying often means sustenance is needed and for the French, this is traditionally in the form of onion soup! Approach this one at your own risk is all we’ll say…

If you’re still on the lookout for your dream French wedding venue, we’ve got lots of blog posts dedicated to the very best chateau, vineyard, barn, intimate and coastal wedding venues, along with those nice and close to the UK too! You can read all blog posts here. Plus, get clued up on 12 of the Most Asked Questions About Planning a Wedding in France.