# Getting married in France as foreigners: the mairie, the church or a symbolic ceremony

> France’s routes for couples from abroad — why only the mairie can marry you, the residence rule, the banns and the documents, a church wedding after the civil one, same-sex couples, and where the photographer fits in.

- Updated 2026-10-13
- URL: https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-france
- Português: https://lensandvows.com/pt/journal/getting-married-in-france.md
- Français: https://lensandvows.com/fr/journal/getting-married-in-france.md
- Lens & Vows: https://lensandvows.com/

**In short**

- In France only a civil wedding, held by the mayor or a deputy mayor at the mairie, makes you legally married; a religious wedding has no legal effect and may only follow the civil one, and a symbolic ceremony has no legal effect anywhere.
- The civil wedding takes place in a commune where one of you, or a parent, has a home or has lived continuously for at least a month when the banns are published; two foreigners who don’t live in France can marry there only at their own consulate, in France’s overseas collectivities or in New Caledonia.
- So most couples from abroad marry legally at home and celebrate in France — with a symbolic ceremony, or a church wedding for which the priest will ask to see the civil marriage certificate.
- Same-sex couples have been able to marry in France since May 2013 (loi 2013-404); in 2024, 6,746 of France’s 248,174 marriages (2.7%) were between two men or two women (INSEE).
- The mairie checks your file and posts the banns for 10 days; you can marry from the tenth day after, within a year, with two to four adult witnesses, and documents from abroad need a sworn French translation.

France is one of the easiest countries in Europe to celebrate a wedding in, and one of the hardest to marry in legally if you don’t live there. Two rules explain it. Only the mairie can marry you, so a château, a vineyard or a hotel terrace can host the party but not the legal act. And the mairie must be in a commune where one of you, or a parent, lives. That leaves couples from abroad three realistic routes: a civil wedding if one of you, or a parent, lives in France; a legal marriage at home and a church wedding in France; or the legal marriage at home and a symbolic ceremony in France, which is what most choose.

Every marriage in France is a civil one: 248,174 in 2024 and an estimated 251,000 in 2025 (INSEE). If you want the ceremony in France to be the legal one, the work is residence and paperwork; the symbolic route opens every place, hour and language.

> **General information, not legal advice.** This guide sets out the rules as of October 2026. Rules change, and what you need depends on your nationality, where you live and your situation. Confirm every document and step with the mairie that will marry you — or with the parish, for a church wedding — and with your own country’s embassy or consulate.

## Three kinds of ceremony, one legal marriage

- **Civil.** The only wedding that makes you married in France. After a file (the dossier de mariage) and the banns, the mayor or a deputy mayor (adjoint) marries you at the mairie, in a room open to the public, before two to four witnesses — Code civil articles 63 to 76 and 165 to 171, as service-public.fr sets them out (checked 16 September 2026).
- **Religious.** A Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim or any other religious wedding has no legal effect in France and may only come after the civil one: service-public.fr says it is forbidden to celebrate a religious marriage first, and the Code pénal (article 433-21, amended in 2021) makes it an offence for ministers of religion to hold religious weddings without being shown the civil marriage certificate.
- **Symbolic.** Any ceremony you like, led by anyone you like, wherever you may hold it — the French call it a cérémonie laïque. It has no legal effect, so the legal marriage happens separately, usually at home.

## Can we marry legally in France if neither of us lives there?

Usually not. A civil wedding belongs to a commune with which at least one of you has a “lasting link” (lien durable), and service-public.fr lists the links that count: the commune where one of you has a home, or a residence — a second home will do — lived in continuously for at least a month on the date the banns are published; or the commune of such a home or residence of one of your parents (father or mother only). Being born there without living there is not enough, and you prove the link with a bill, a rent receipt or a home-insurance certificate in your name.

For couples with no such link the same page is blunt: if you are both foreigners and don’t live in France, you can marry in France only at your own country’s consulate — if your country’s consulates marry their citizens at all — or in a commune of French Polynesia, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna or New Caledonia.

- **If one of you lives in France**, you file at the mairie of your commune, or of the one where you have had a residence for a month, and marry there.
- **If one of your parents lives in France**, even in a second home, the law lets you marry in that commune. Since official guidance is stricter for two foreigners who live abroad, ask that mairie early whether it will take your file.
- **If one of you is French and lives abroad**, a parent’s commune works the same way. A same-sex couple with a French partner, living in a country that doesn’t allow their marriage, can marry where one of them was born or last lived in France, or where a parent lives — failing those, in any commune they choose.
- **If you both live abroad and neither is French**, the realistic route is a legal marriage at home with a church or symbolic ceremony in France. [The countries compared side by side](https://lensandvows.com/journal/portugal-vs-italy-spain-greece-france-destination-wedding) shows how France’s rule differs from the others’.

## The civil route, step by step (if one of you, or a parent, lives in France)

1. **Contact the mairie first.** Each has its own forms, and some work by appointment. In Paris you collect the brochure Se marier à Paris at the arrondissement’s mairie, and the city warns couples not to commit to anything for the ceremony before fixing the date with it (Ville de Paris, February 2026).
2. **Gather the documents** (the list below), translated and, where needed, apostilled or legalised. service-public.fr has an online check of which apply to you.
3. **File the dossier** at the mairie, with your witnesses’ details. This is also when you choose the order in which you will be named at the ceremony.
4. **The hearing.** The registrar (officier de l’état civil) meets you together and may see each of you alone; a partner living abroad can be heard by the French consulate there. If you don’t understand French, the registrar can ask for an interpreter, at your cost if paid. On serious signs of a sham or forced marriage, the public prosecutor has 15 days to object, or can postpone the wedding by a month, renewable.
5. **The banns.** A notice with your names, professions and addresses is posted for 10 days at the mairie where you will marry and at the mairie of your home. For a serious reason the prosecutor can waive it.
6. **Marry from the tenth day after, within a year.** Banns published on 4 August allow a wedding from 14 August; after a year, they must be published again. Paris plans at least four weeks from filing to the wedding.
7. **The wedding.** The mayor or a deputy marries you in public before your witnesses; everyone signs the register, and you receive a livret de famille, the French family record book.

## The documents you will usually need

Your mairie gives you the exact list. For a partner who is not French, service-public.fr and the Ville de Paris ask for:

- A valid passport, national ID card or residence permit.
- Proof of address in the commune — a bill, a rent receipt or a home-insurance certificate in your name, dated, for a residence, so that the month can be checked; mobile-phone bills don’t count. For a parent’s commune, the same in the parent’s name.
- A birth certificate showing your parents’ names, issued no more than six months before you file if it comes from abroad (three if it is French); a multilingual extract is accepted.
- A certificat de coutume, usually from your embassy or consulate in France, setting out your country’s marriage rules and showing that you are free to marry; the mairie may also ask for a certificate of single status or of capacity to marry. If your country issues none, an attestation saying so and a lawyer’s statement of its rules — or, failing that, a sworn statement.
- If either of you has been married before: the final divorce decision, or the late spouse’s death certificate.
- For each witness: full name, date and place of birth, profession, address and a copy of their ID.

Every document not in French needs a **sworn translation** by a traducteur agréé, a translator registered as a court expert in France; Paris also accepts translations by your own consulate in France. **Legalisation** depends on the country: the French Foreign Ministry’s table (updated 15 September 2026) shows that birth certificates from the United States, Canada or Australia need an apostille, while British, German and Swiss ones need nothing. Some public documents from another EU country can come with an EU multilingual form instead of a translation (Regulation (EU) 2016/1191).

> **Ask before you order anything.** Before paying for any apostille or translation, ask the mairie which documents it wants, how recent each must be and which translators it accepts. A foreign birth certificate counts its six months up to the day you file — so order it late enough to be fresh and early enough for the translation.

## Where and when the civil ceremony happens

The wedding takes place at the mairie, in a room open to the public, or in another building the commune owns — a village hall, say — unless the prosecutor objects; only a serious impediment, such as illness, brings the registrar to your home or a hospital. A privately owned château, vineyard or hotel is never the place for the legal act. The ceremony is in French.

Each commune sets its own days and hours. Paris, from the city’s page (updated 5 February 2026):

- **When:** at least four weeks between filing and the wedding — more if the file is incomplete, if you live outside the arrondissement or if a hearing is needed. May to July is busy, and most arrondissement mairies hold no weddings on Saturday afternoons.
- **How long:** about 20 minutes. The registrar reads the Civil Code’s articles on spouses’ rights and duties, asks whether you have a marriage contract and checks that you both want to marry.
- **How many guests:** the wedding rooms hold from 60 people (9th arrondissement) to 235 (18th).
- **Language:** if you have difficulty understanding French, an interpreter is compulsory.
- **For a religious wedding afterwards**, the mairie gives you a certificat de célébration civile du mariage to show the minister.

Region: [Paris](https://lensandvows.com/france/paris). Venues elsewhere — a château in the [Loire Valley](https://lensandvows.com/france/loire-valley), a farmhouse in [Provence](https://lensandvows.com/france/provence) — host the party and a church or symbolic ceremony, never the civil one: see [wedding venues in France](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-france).

## Sign at home, celebrate in France

This is the route most couples from abroad take. You marry legally where you live, a few days or weeks before the trip or after it, and the ceremony in France is the one your guests remember.

- **Nothing to file in France**: no dossier, no banns, no residence rule.
- **Bring the certificate** if the ceremony in France is religious: the priest, pastor or rabbi must see proof of the civil marriage first. Ask whether they need it translated.
- **Choose the date you celebrate.** Many couples keep the French day as their anniversary; the legal date is the one on the certificate.
- **If one of you is French**, ask the French consulate where you marry for a certificat de capacité à mariage before the wedding, and have the marriage transcribed into the French registers afterwards: without that, it has effect in France only between the two of you and towards your children.

## A church wedding in France

For a couple from abroad, a church wedding in France is a religious ceremony on top of a marriage made at home, with no legal effect of its own. For a Catholic wedding, the Church’s rules decide the rest:

- **Where.** A Catholic wedding is celebrated in the parish where either of you lives, or has spent a month; elsewhere, it needs the permission of your own bishop or parish priest (canon 1115). So you prepare with your home parish, which sends the file through your diocese to the French one.
- **Who.** At least one of you is Catholic. A marriage with a baptised non-Catholic needs the bishop’s express permission (canon 1124); with an unbaptised partner, a dispensation (canon 1086).
- **The file.** The Diocese of Paris asks each of you for a full copy of your birth certificate, the date and place of your baptism and a personal letter of intent, and the two of you for the civil marriage certificate and your witnesses’ names.
- **Start a year ahead**, as the Diocese of Paris advises, and don’t fix the date with a venue before the French parish has agreed to it.

Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and other religious weddings follow the same civil rule, and each faith has its own requirements: ask the community you would marry in, early.

## Same-sex couples

Since the law of 17 May 2013 (loi 2013-404), article 143 of the Civil Code says marriage “is contracted by two people of different sex or of the same sex”, with the same process and residence rule for every couple. A partner whose own country forbids it can still marry in France if, for one of the two of you, your own country’s law or the law of the country where you live allows it (article 202-1) — provided, as the Conseil constitutionnel noted, the residence condition is met. INSEE counts about 7,000 such weddings a year. Nationals of the few countries with bilateral agreements with France on personal status should ask the mairie first, and every couple should ask how their own country will treat a French marriage.

## What about a PACS?

France’s civil partnership, the pacte civil de solidarité, is a contract, not a marriage, and it is registered at the mairie of the couple’s shared home in France, or by a notary — so it is no route for visitors. 197,176 were signed in 2024 (INSEE).

## What a symbolic ceremony frees you to do

- **The place.** A château lawn, a vineyard in [Burgundy](https://lensandvows.com/france/burgundy), a terrace on the [French Riviera](https://lensandvows.com/france/french-riviera), a meadow in [the French Alps](https://lensandvows.com/france/french-alps) — wherever the owner or the authorities let you be. On a beach or in a park, ask the mairie whether you need its permission; in the Calanques National Park, public events need the park’s authorisation. [Where to elope in France](https://lensandvows.com/journal/where-to-elope-in-france) goes place by place.
- **The time.** At the end of June the sun sets close to 22:00 in Paris and at 21:16 in Nice, so the ceremony can follow the light rather than the mairie’s timetable: [the best time to marry in France](https://lensandvows.com/journal/best-time-to-marry-in-france) has the seasons.
- **The language.** Your own, or both of yours, with no interpreter.
- **The celebrant.** A friend, a family member, a professional celebrant — or nobody but the two of you.

## After a civil wedding in France

- **Copies.** Ask the mairie for a full copy (copie intégrale) or an extract of the marriage certificate; requesting one is free.
- **For another EU country**, a French certificate needs no apostille, and the mairie fills in the EU multilingual form free of charge; it counts as a certified translation.
- **Outside the EU**, an apostille or legalisation may be needed — the Foreign Ministry’s table says which.
- **At home.** Many countries ask their citizens to record a marriage made abroad, through their consulate or a registry at home. Ask before the wedding, so you leave France with the right copies.

## A timeline, in relative terms

| When | Civil in France (one of you, or a parent, lives there) | Church wedding (married at home first) | Symbolic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| As soon as you pick a date | Ask the mairie for its list and forms. Don’t commit to a ceremony time before it confirms. | Talk to your home parish and the French one before fixing anything — Paris advises a year ahead. | Decide where and when you will marry at home. Start looking at places and photographers. |
| A few months before | Order certificates, apostilles and translations in the right order; complete the month’s residence. | Your parish prepares the file; your diocese sends it to the French one. | Check the rules and permits for your spot. Settle the celebrant and the vows. |
| The last weeks | File the dossier and attend the hearing; the banns run for 10 days. In Paris, allow four weeks from filing. | Marry at home and send the civil certificate to the parish. Ask about the church’s rules for photos. | Go through the plan with your photographer, including a covered spot for rain. |
| After the wedding | Ask for copies and, for use abroad, the EU form or an apostille; record the marriage at home. | Nothing to register in France: your legal marriage is the one at home. | Nothing to register in France: your legal marriage is the one at home. |

## Where your photographer fits in

- **Civil ceremonies are short** — about 20 minutes in Paris — and run to a timetable: the city asks couples and guests to be on time so as not to hold up the next wedding. Your photographer needs to be in place before the mayor walks in.
- **At the mairie**, ask whether photos are allowed during the ceremony and where a photographer may stand; some rooms are small.
- **In a church**, ask the parish about photos, flash and where the photographer may move. Rules vary from church to church.
- **At a monument or in a protected place**, professional photography may need its own permission: Versailles asks prior written authorisation for professional photos in its gardens and park; the Calanques National Park wants shoot requests at least two weeks ahead, and bans drones outright.

## Questions couples ask

### Can foreigners get legally married in France?

Yes, if one of you, or a parent, has a home in a French commune or has lived there continuously for at least a month when the banns are published. Two foreigners who don’t live in France can marry there only at their own consulate or in France’s overseas territories, so most couples from abroad marry legally at home and celebrate in France.

### How long do we have to live in France to get married there?

If France is your home, there is no minimum. A residence counts once you have lived there continuously for at least a month on the date the banns are published. The mairie asks for proof in your name, and the registrar must be satisfied that one of you has a lasting link with the commune.

### Can we have a church wedding in France if we married at home?

Yes. In France a religious wedding may only follow a civil one, and a marriage made at home counts: bring its certificate. For a Catholic wedding, your home parish prepares the file and sends it through your diocese to the French one; the Diocese of Paris advises starting a year ahead.

### Is same-sex marriage legal in France?

Yes, since May 2013 (loi 2013-404), with the same requirements and effects as any marriage, the residence rule included. In 2024, 6,746 of France’s 248,174 marriages, 2.7%, were between two men or two women (INSEE).

### How long does the civil paperwork take in France?

Allow a few months for certificates, translations and apostilles. Once the file is in, the banns run for 10 days and you can marry from the tenth day after, within a year; Paris plans at least four weeks from filing.

### Do we need witnesses to marry in France?

Yes: two to four, aged 18 or over, of any nationality, family or not. You give their details when you file and can change them until the day; they stay for the whole ceremony and bring their ID.

### Is a symbolic wedding in France legally binding?

No. It has no legal effect anywhere, so couples who choose it marry legally at home, before or after. In return the place, the hour, the language and who leads it are entirely up to you, within the rules of the place you choose.

Once the route is clear: [what a wedding photographer costs in France](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-photographer-cost-france), [wedding venues in France](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-venues-france), or start from the regions — [France](https://lensandvows.com/france). When you have a date, [tell us about your day](https://lensandvows.com/#concierge) and see who is free, or browse [the photographers](https://lensandvows.com/photographers).

## Sources

1. [Service-Public.fr — Mariage en France (checked 16 September 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F930)
2. [Service-Public.fr — Témoins d’un mariage (checked 9 October 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1248)
3. [Service-Public.fr — Mariage d’un Français à l’étranger (checked 18 June 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21614)
4. [Service-Public.fr — Légalisation d’un acte public étranger (checked 30 October 2025)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1402)
5. [Service-Public.fr — Trouver un traducteur agréé (checked 26 January 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F12956)
6. [Service-Public.fr — Utiliser un acte d’état civil français à l’étranger (checked 13 August 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1374)
7. [Service-Public.fr — Acte de mariage: copie intégrale ou extrait (checked 23 January 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1432)
8. [Service-Public.fr — Se pacser (checked 25 September 2026)](https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1618)
9. [Légifrance — Code civil, articles 63 to 76](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/id/LEGISCTA000006136104)
10. [Légifrance — Code civil, articles 165 to 171](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/id/LEGISCTA000006136118)
11. [Conseil constitutionnel — Decision 2013-669 DC of 17 May 2013 (articles 143 and 202-1)](https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/decision/2013/2013669DC.htm)
12. [Assemblée nationale — Question 3565 and the Justice Ministry’s answer (7 March 2023): Code pénal article 433-21](https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/16/questions/QANR5L16QE3565)
13. [French Foreign Ministry — Legalisation rules by country (updated 15 September 2026)](https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/files/files/leg-tableau-recap-du-droit-conventionnel-11-09-26.pdf)
14. [Ville de Paris — Mariage et Pacs (updated 5 February 2026)](https://www.paris.fr/pages/mariage-et-pacs-93)
15. [Diocese of Paris — Quelle paroisse contacter?](https://dioceseparis.fr/-quelle-paroisse-contacter-.html)
16. [Diocese of Paris — Le dossier de mariage](https://dioceseparis.fr/-le-dossier-de-mariage-.html)
17. [Holy See — Code of Canon Law, Book IV (canons 1086, 1115, 1124)](https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html)
18. [Château de Versailles — Rules of visit](https://en.chateauversailles.fr/rules-visit)
19. [Parc national des Calanques — Photo and film permits](https://www.calanques-parcnational.fr/fr/prises-de-vues-et-de-sons-tournage-marseille-cassis-la-ciotat)
20. [Parc national des Calanques — Permits for public events](https://www.calanques-parcnational.fr/fr/demandes-dautorisation-calanques-marseille-cassis-la-ciotat-iles-frioul)
21. [European e-Justice — Public documents (Regulation (EU) 2016/1191)](https://e-justice.europa.eu/topics/your-rights/public-documents_en)
22. [INSEE — Mariages et Pacs, 1990–2025 (13 January 2026)](https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/2381498)

## The places in this guide

- [Paris](https://lensandvows.com/france/paris)
- [Loire Valley](https://lensandvows.com/france/loire-valley)
- [Provence](https://lensandvows.com/france/provence)
- [Burgundy & Champagne](https://lensandvows.com/france/burgundy)
- [French Riviera](https://lensandvows.com/france/french-riviera)
- [The French Alps](https://lensandvows.com/france/french-alps)