Wedding Traditions and Customs

Wedding Traditions in France

On the betrothal of a couple in France, the tradition was for the parents of the bride and groom to exchange a bouquet as a gesture of friendship and congratulations.

The elaborate white dress wedding in France is attributed to Empress Eugenie, at her marriage to Napoleon III in 1853.

Still practiced in small villages today, it is a traditional French custom for the groom to call on his future bride at her home on the morning of their wedding. The groom escorts her to the wedding chapel in a procession, headed by musicians, followed behind by the bride with her father, guests and the groom with his mother at the end of line. 

It is also customary that French village children blocked the bridal couple’s route with white ribbons which the bride must cut.  This is a symbolic obstacle for the wedding couple to overcome together and thus to signify their common path in a new life.

In a church filled with incense and flowers, the couple stands beneath a silk canopy. A predecessor of the veil, a square of silk fabric, is held over the head of the bride and groom as the couple received the priest's final blessing. Designed to protect the couple, the same veil is used for the baptism of their new born child.

Outside the church, rice or wheat as a symbol of prosperity and fertility, is showered over the couple. In Southern parts of France, wedding guests toss sweets and coins at children waiting on the doorsteps of the chapel. The sweet, an almond covered with chocolate, sugar or nougat, dates to the Roman Empire and accompanis all major French ceremonies. 

As the bridal couple leaves the chapel, they walk through flower arch or over laurel leaves scattered in their path.

During the Middle Ages, wedding guests would bring small cakes and stack them in a high a pile in the middle of the table. If the bride and groom could kiss over them without knocking them over, it symbolize a lifetime of prosperity.  

The modern French wedding  traditional, croquembouche, is made up of small, creme-filled pastry puffs piled in a pyramid and covered in a caramel glaze and spun sugar.

At the traditional French wedding reception, the newlyweds toast each other from an engraved, two-handled cup, usually a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation.

Another tradition appearing at wedding receptions, is that of "beheading" a bottle of champagne with a sabre specially-made for the occasion. Begun as a means of showing off their skill on horseback, the Hussards under Napoleon's command celebrated their victories by 'sabring' off the top of a bottle of champagne. As legend has it, these skilled horsemen would ride on horseback at a full gallop while ladies would hold up the bottles. With over 100 lbs. of pressure per square inch in a bottle of champagne, the sabre must strike the neck at exactly the right angle.

Today, celebrants can purchase decorative replicas of these sabres that have been faithfully recreated by artisans in Thiers, France - the French capital of cutlery and use them at their own wedding feasts.

Sabering is not for the amateur as it leads sometimes to several broken bottles, glass on the floor, possible accidents to those standing by, bloody fingers, and wasted champagne.

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