mercredi, juin 11, 2008
Ça chauffe!
Whew, things are heating up here in more ways than one! Summer seems to finally more or less have arrived, and it seems that as the sun comes out to play, so does everyone else. The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of weekends away, dancing 'till dawn, the odd wedding and the even odder PACS party!
Actually, there were two weddings, one a colleague of mine, one a colleague of Alex's and both very lovely, and good opportunities to check out how things work wedding-wise here in France. A bit differently it turns out! First of all, one always has to have a civil service at the town hall, presided over by the Mayor, where there are not any religious or romantic overtones at all. Instead it is quite short, about 15 minutes, and very legal, like "By article 243, section 78, you must agree to ...". They do the old "do you take so-and-so", "yes, I do" etc, and they have a quick kiss and exchange of rings but not really with any of the pomp or ceremony around it that you'd find in Australia. Then after this service, you are legally married, but you can follow it with a religious ceremony at a church if you wish, however, the two weddings that we went to in the last couple of weeks, they didn't. Many of the people that do decide to have a church wedding as well, often don't have it on the same day, instead they have it like a year later! (This will be the case for another good friend who will be getting married here, civilly in September, and religiously next May!) Also interestingly, after the service, they have a Vin d'Honneur, to which lots of people are invited (neighbours, long-lost cousins, smelly old flatmates etc), and is basically pre-dinner drinks, and then comes the evening dinner reception to which only closer family and friends are invited to. So for example, for my colleague who got married, who only started at work a few weeks before her wedding, we were only invited to the vin d'honneur and not to the dinner and full reception.
The changing of rings here in the photo as an example, took place after the signing of the contract and the kiss, and after the whole thing was actually 'over'. You can also see the two different town halls, one in a gorgeous old building, and the other, in a suburb of Paris- just your average modern town hall. At the two weddings though, both of which had only the quickie town hall service, notice the full wedding dress!
Finally, illustrating the shortness of french people (except for the dark-haired girl on the end), these are my work friends!
To add to all the love, we've also been to two PACS parties in the last month or two- another thing that they have here, the PACS is basically a de facto-type thing legalised into a contract that was originally developed for gay people and is now signed by anyone wanting a tax break but not quite ready for a trip to the town hall (now, why didn't Alex and I think of that? We would have saved a bundle on that tax bill they'll hand us as we leave the country)!
The PACS party- a slightly less official affair. The "groom" is the one being carried!
Actually, there were two weddings, one a colleague of mine, one a colleague of Alex's and both very lovely, and good opportunities to check out how things work wedding-wise here in France. A bit differently it turns out! First of all, one always has to have a civil service at the town hall, presided over by the Mayor, where there are not any religious or romantic overtones at all. Instead it is quite short, about 15 minutes, and very legal, like "By article 243, section 78, you must agree to ...". They do the old "do you take so-and-so", "yes, I do" etc, and they have a quick kiss and exchange of rings but not really with any of the pomp or ceremony around it that you'd find in Australia. Then after this service, you are legally married, but you can follow it with a religious ceremony at a church if you wish, however, the two weddings that we went to in the last couple of weeks, they didn't. Many of the people that do decide to have a church wedding as well, often don't have it on the same day, instead they have it like a year later! (This will be the case for another good friend who will be getting married here, civilly in September, and religiously next May!) Also interestingly, after the service, they have a Vin d'Honneur, to which lots of people are invited (neighbours, long-lost cousins, smelly old flatmates etc), and is basically pre-dinner drinks, and then comes the evening dinner reception to which only closer family and friends are invited to. So for example, for my colleague who got married, who only started at work a few weeks before her wedding, we were only invited to the vin d'honneur and not to the dinner and full reception.
The changing of rings here in the photo as an example, took place after the signing of the contract and the kiss, and after the whole thing was actually 'over'. You can also see the two different town halls, one in a gorgeous old building, and the other, in a suburb of Paris- just your average modern town hall. At the two weddings though, both of which had only the quickie town hall service, notice the full wedding dress!
Finally, illustrating the shortness of french people (except for the dark-haired girl on the end), these are my work friends!
To add to all the love, we've also been to two PACS parties in the last month or two- another thing that they have here, the PACS is basically a de facto-type thing legalised into a contract that was originally developed for gay people and is now signed by anyone wanting a tax break but not quite ready for a trip to the town hall (now, why didn't Alex and I think of that? We would have saved a bundle on that tax bill they'll hand us as we leave the country)!
The PACS party- a slightly less official affair. The "groom" is the one being carried!
