cupoftea

Hi there

We did our little marrriage ceremony about three weeks ago, 10 o'clock on a Monday morning, in the Mairie in our tiny village. There was the mayor, his secretary, our two neighbours as witnesses, and ourselves. The ceremony took less than 10 minutes, but was conducted in a serious manner, with the mayor wearing his official sash, and a velvet cloth on the table, and the french flag in evidence. It is not at all complicated, and one has only to say 'oui' at the appropriate moment. We had asked the secretary the week before to read the text of the ceremony so that we wouldn't be taken by surprise. All the details and paperwork have been collected and checked in advance, as already described. In the little booklet, there is a place to say whether you want to exchange rings or not - we did not, and as I understand it, this is not uncommon as many people have another ceremony afterwards where they may exchange rings if they wish. We took little presents for our witnesses and the mayor and secretary, to say thanks for their support, and even though we had been really clear that we didn't want any fuss, our witnesses did come to our house earlier in the morning with a best wishes card and a bouquet of flowers! Really kind of them. After the signatures, we were given our 'Livret de Famille' and a signed copy of the Acte de Marriage which we needed for the Notaire and Avocat in relation to the adoption of my two children by my partner. This has also gone very smoothly, with everyone being really helpful and supportive, but as usual a massive amount of paperwork to pay attention to!

Can't think of anything else to tell you, but please ask again if I have missed anything out.

val50

Congratulations -it sounds as if you had a lovely day -now where are the photo's

cupoftea

You won't be surprised to know that there aren't any! Although we did go mad and take a couple after the signing of the adoption papers last Friday. In fact, I seem to have failed to tell anyone about getting married - excepting you lot of course - even our family and friends don't know. But after more than 16 years of resistance, I doubt they would believe us anyway.

Jazzy n Lol

Just wanted to add my congratulations to cupoftea

andyandali

Thanks alot greatly appreciated. Unfortunenatly ours wont be so easy we have to tell family at least as, we would never be forgiven.
Congulations hope every keeps going well, the paperwork will never stop in France.
Take Care

andyandali

Can you please let me know the contact details of the authorised translater you use, as i have the joy of starting the papertrail to get married.
We did think about PACS but the in a difference in the levels of inheritance tax. The limit for PACS IS 56,000 Euros and married couple the level is 76,000 so we thought this would be better in the long run. I would be very grzteful for those details.
Many Thanks.

Andrea50

Congratulations, but on a more serious note is this a sign of the times, folk getting married for tax reasons?

Maybe not, as I think I did that the first time, won't terrify you by how THAT turned out, but maybe it's time there was insurance against marriage break-ups - you seem to be able to get it for everything else these days.

Sorry chaps/chapesses - not the romantic type you see - prefer De Walt chainsaw for wedding present rather than some poxy useless ring or other bling-like adornment ....................

Won't it all change again if you have kids?

treskillard

andyandali

We dont on planning having any kids. Some might class this as selfish but we enjoy doing what we want when we want with not have any additional responsibilites.