The French Wedding Ceremony

The livret de famille is the record of marriages, births, deaths, divorces...

 

Puisque nous présumons que les francophones connaissent la cérémonie française, il n'y a pas de traduction.  Dans la doute, consultez cette page pour un descriptif :

http://www.mariage.fr/article/celebrer/civil.cfm

In France, a civil wedding must precede any religious ceremony. There is no delegation of powers from the state to religious communities.

The wedding is held at the town hall, almost all of which have a dedicated room.

The wedding party waits just outside the town hall if it's nice out, or in the lobby in case of poor weather. At the appointed time, the wedding party is invited to enter the ceremony room, and the bride and groom precede to the front where two chairs are reserved for them in the middle, just in front of the mayor or deputy. The bride is to the groom's left. Their witnesses are at their sides.

Close family sit in the second row and so on.

When the mayor or deputy arrives, everyone rises.

After a few words of welcome, the (deputy) mayor reads an extract from the civil code explaining the responsibilities of the spouses. (Articles 212-215)

The (deputy) mayor will then ask if a prenuptial agreement (contrat de mariage) has been drafted. The default option is the bounded community of goods, which means that everything acquired after marriage is joint proprerty except for family heritages. It is increasingly considered outdated today. Other options are separation of goods, universal community and participation in acquisitions. Each of these contracts can be customized.

The (deputy) mayor will then ask the bride and groom to exchange their consentment. This is the equivalent of exchanging vows, but with a much simpler reply "oui".

There may be an exchange of rings afterwards, but this is usually skipped if a religious ceremony will follow.

The (deputy) mayor may then make a short speech.

Finally, the ceremony ends with the signature of the registry. It is customary for the bride to sign first, then the groom and then the witnesses.