Getting Married in France as an American: Legal Steps
US citizens can legally marry in France only through a civil ceremony at the town hall, which requires a residence link with the commune, a full set of documents and the publication of banns. Below: each legal step, the documents to prepare, realistic timings and what happens after the ceremony, then the simpler route many American couples take instead.
In practice, a legal wedding in France asks a lot of one of you: around two months living in the French town where you will marry, a birth certificate that has been through a state apostille office and a French sworn translator, and a short ceremony in French in front of the mayor. None of it is difficult on its own. Together, it shapes your whole planning year, which is why it pays to choose your route before you book anything else.
In short
- Only a civil ceremony at a French mairie (town hall) makes you legally married in France. A symbolic ceremony has no legal effect, and a religious one may only follow the civil marriage.
- One of you, or one of your parents, must live in the commune: a residence counts once it reaches one month of continuous living on the day the banns are published.
- Two Americans who both live in the US cannot marry at the US Embassy: US consular staff do not perform marriages.
- Your file: passports, birth certificates with apostille and sworn French translation, the US Embassy’s sworn statement in place of a certificat de coutume, proof of residence and your witnesses’ details.
- The simpler route: marry legally in the US, then hold a symbolic ceremony and your celebration in France. The US State Department itself mentions this option.
Updated October 2026.
Every rule below has been checked against the US Embassy in France and service-public.fr, the French government’s official guide to marriage in France. The mairie where you marry still has the final word on its own list, so ask it in writing before you order anything.
Getting married in France as an American: the two routes
Before the paperwork comes the decision. There are two ways to have your French wedding, and only one of them makes you legally married in France.
| Question | Civil marriage in France | Legal marriage in the US, celebration in France |
|---|---|---|
| Where you become legally married | At the mairie of a French commune where one of you, or a parent, lives | In the US, under your state’s rules, shortly before or after the trip |
| Time in France beforehand | One month of continuous residence for one of you before the banns, then 10 days of banns: count about two months in practice | None: you arrive a few days before, like your guests |
| Paperwork | Birth certificates with apostille and sworn translation, sworn statements, proof of residence, witnesses’ details, a hearing at the mairie | Your state’s marriage licence, nothing with French authorities |
| Language | The ceremony is in French; the registrar can require an interpreter if one of you does not understand French | English, in your own words |
| Place and time | The mairie, or another municipal building of the same commune, on a day the mairie offers | Any venue, any day, any hour |
| Who officiates | The mayor or a deputy mayor | The person you choose to lead the ceremony in France |
If one of you already lives in France, or has a parent who does, the first route becomes much more practical. If you both live in the US, read the residence section carefully before deciding.
Only the civil ceremony makes it legal
French law recognises a single way to marry: a civil ceremony performed by the mayor or a deputy mayor, acting as officier de l’état civil (registrar). It takes place at the town hall, in a room open to the public, or in another municipal building of the same commune if the mayor decides so (the public prosecutor can object). It cannot take place at a private venue: not at a chateau, a wine estate, in a garden or on a beach. The only exceptions cover serious situations, such as illness, where the registrar may go to a home or a hospital.
- Civil ceremony: the legal marriage. It is short, held in French in front of your witnesses, and ends with your signatures in the register and the handing over of a livret de famille (family record book).
- Religious ceremony: allowed only after the civil one. Celebrating a religious wedding before the civil marriage is forbidden in France, and the priest, minister or rabbi will ask for proof that the civil ceremony has taken place.
- Symbolic ceremony (cérémonie laïque): no legal effect, and therefore no legal constraints. You choose the place, the hour, the language and the person who leads it.
Who can marry in France
You must both be at least 18 and give free and informed consent, and marriage between close relatives is prohibited. Couples of the same sex have been able to marry in France since 2013, under exactly the same rules and procedure. As foreigners, some rules of your own country may also apply, as long as they do not conflict with French public policy. That is why the mairie asks you to show that you are free to marry, as explained in the documents section below.
The residence rule: where can you get married?
This is the rule that decides everything for American couples. You can marry only in a commune with which one of you has a lasting link: the commune where one of you, or one of your parents (father or mother), has a domicile or a residence. A residence counts once it has been established by at least one month of continuous living there on the day the banns are published (article 74 of the French Civil Code). Having been born in a town, or loving it, is not enough.
Two consequences surprise many couples:
- Two Americans who both live in the US cannot simply fly in and marry. Under French rules, a couple of two foreigners who do not live in France can only marry at their own country’s consulate, and the State Department is clear that US embassy and consulate staff cannot perform marriages. In practice, one of you has to live in the commune for that month.
- The proof must be in your name, and dated. Service-public lists an energy bill, a home insurance certificate or a rent receipt in your name, with a date that shows you meet the one-month condition. Mobile phone bills are not accepted. A few nights at your wedding venue will not create a residence.
The usual answer is a rental of eight to ten weeks in the commune, with a lease and rent receipts in the name of the partner who will live there. Before signing, send the mairie the draft lease and ask whether it will accept it as proof: the registrar is the one who checks that your link with the commune is real.
How long can you stay in France?
As US citizens, you can stay in the Schengen area without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, which covers the residence month comfortably. ETIAS, the EU’s online travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors (€20), is not in operation yet; the EU says it will announce the start date several months ahead, so check the official ETIAS website before you travel in 2027 or 2028.
And if your heart is set on the Beaujolais?
The logic is the same everywhere. To marry at the town hall of Beaujeu, where Domaine de Vavril stands, one of you would need to live in Beaujeu for the month before the banns; a three-night stay at the Domaine does not create that link. If one of you can spend that month in the region, it is also a fine chance to explore the Beaujolais before or after the wedding (article in French). If not, the second route described further down is the realistic one.
Your marriage file: the documents to prepare
The list below follows service-public.fr and the US Embassy’s guidance for American citizens. The Embassy’s first advice is the right one: ask the mairie where you will marry for its own list, because requirements vary from one town hall to the next.
For each of you
| Document | Where it comes from | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Valid passport | US Department of State | Original and a photocopy. Your name must be spelled exactly the same on every document. |
| Birth certificate (certified copy) | Vital records office of the state where you were born; the Embassy cannot issue it | Under six months old on the day you file, with an apostille and a sworn French translation |
| Attestation tenant lieu de certificat de coutume et de célibat | Downloaded from the US Embassy, signed by you | Replaces the certificat de coutume and certificat de célibat, which no US authority issues |
| Proof of domicile or residence in the commune | Your landlord, insurer or energy supplier in France | In your name, dated, showing at least one month of residence; no mobile phone bills |
| If divorced: final divorce decree | The court that granted the divorce | Sworn translation; ask the mairie whether it also wants an apostille |
| If widowed: death certificate of your late spouse | The relevant state vital records office | Sworn translation; same question on the apostille |
| Information form | The mairie | Your profession (stated in French), your parents’ names, addresses and professions, any children you have together |
For your witnesses
You need two to four witnesses, aged 18 or over, family or friends, of any nationality. For each one, the mairie wants their full name, date and place of birth, profession, address and a copy of their ID. They must attend the whole ceremony with their ID and sign the register. You can change your witnesses up to the day itself, and a witness who does not understand French can be helped by an interpreter of their choice.
If you sign a marriage contract
A marriage contract (contrat de mariage) is optional. If you want one, it is signed before a French notaire before the wedding, and the notaire’s certificate goes into your file. For an international couple, which property rules apply without a contract is not obvious: service-public stresses that the notaire’s advice matters most when one spouse is not French, and the US Embassy points out that matrimonial property is a matter for each US state. If you have significant assets, take advice on both sides of the Atlantic before the wedding.
Apostille and translation, in the right order
- Order a certified copy of each birth certificate from the vital records office of your state of birth (USA.gov explains how).
- Have it apostilled by the competent authority of that same state, generally the Secretary of State’s office (see the official list of US apostille authorities). A federal office cannot apostille a state document.
- Have it translated into French by a sworn translator (traducteur agréé) registered with a French court. Every mairie holds the list, and the Cour de cassation publishes it online. Ask the mairie whether the apostille must be translated too.
About the six-month limit. For a birth certificate issued outside France, French rules set a maximum age of six months, counted on the day you file your dossier, not on the wedding day. No limit applies if the issuing country does not update its records, provided your embassy confirms it. The US Embassy publishes exactly such a statement (in French): the federal government adds no marginal notes to birth certificates, so a US certificate is valid from its issue date. Some mairies still ask for a recent copy, sometimes under three months; the Embassy even has an FAQ on it. The safe course: ask the mairie which limit it applies, order fresh copies timed to that limit, and bring the Embassy’s statement in case of discussion.
The certificat de coutume, for Americans
French mairies ask foreigners for a certificat de coutume (a statement of their country’s marriage law) and a certificat de célibat (proof that they are single). Because marriage is a matter for each US state, neither the US Embassy nor any federal authority can issue them. Instead, each American signs the Embassy’s sworn statement confirming that they are free to marry.
- It does not need notarising by the Embassy, which stopped legalising these signatures in 2020.
- If the mairie wants your signature certified, it can do so itself when you show your US passport.
- If it insists on an Embassy seal, book a notarial appointment at the Embassy in Paris or the Consulates General in Marseille or Strasbourg: $50 per seal.
- The Embassy also provides a letter for town halls (in French) explaining all of this. Bring it.
Our guide to the certificat de coutume goes further, including what to do if a mairie asks for more.
Filing, hearing and banns: what happens at the mairie
You file the complete dossier at the mairie of the commune you have chosen; check whether it works by appointment. The registrar then holds a hearing with both of you together, and may also see each of you separately. The hearing is compulsory unless it is impossible or the registrar judges it unnecessary. If one of you still lives abroad, it can be carried out by the competent consular authority there. If one of you does not understand French, the registrar can require a translator or interpreter, at your expense if they are paid.
When the registrar has serious doubts, for instance about consent or about a marriage entered into to obtain a residence permit, the public prosecutor is informed. The prosecutor then has 15 days to let the marriage go ahead or to oppose it, and can extend the check by up to one month, renewable. This check is meant for files where something looks wrong, but it is one more reason to keep some margin before your date.
The banns
Once the file is complete, the registrar publishes the banns: a notice posted at the door of the mairie for 10 days, giving your names, professions, addresses and the place of the wedding. If either of you has a domicile in France in another commune, it is posted at that mairie too. The wedding can take place from the 10th day after publication: banns published on 4 August allow a wedding from 14 August. After that, you have one year; beyond it, new banns are needed. Only the public prosecutor can waive the banns, and only for a serious reason.
The date and the ceremony
The date is set with the mairie once your file is complete and up to date. On the day, the mayor or a deputy marries you in front of your witnesses; each of you confirms your commitment to the obligations of marriage, you all sign the register and you receive your livret de famille. A translator-interpreter can be present, at your expense if paid. Because the ceremony is short and must happen at the mairie, it fits easily on the morning of your celebration or a day or two before, provided the mairie offers those slots: ask early.
How long does it really take?
| Step | Legal rule | What to plan |
|---|---|---|
| Residence in the commune | One month of continuous living on the day of the banns | One of you arrives eight to ten weeks before the wedding |
| Filing the dossier | Set by each mairie | Ask its lead time early; filing once the residence month is complete is the safe option |
| Banns | 10 days | Wedding from the 10th day after publication |
| Prosecutor’s check, if any | 15 days, extendable by one month | Keep two or three weeks of margin |
| Birth certificate | Under six months old on filing day | Order it four to five months before the wedding, so it is still recent on filing day |
| State apostille | Processing times vary by state | Check your state’s current delays before ordering |
| Sworn translation | Done in France by a registered translator | Book the translator a few weeks ahead |
| Validity of the banns | One year after the 10-day period | Ample margin |
Put together: for two Americans living in the US, plan six to nine months of paperwork, and eight to ten weeks in France for one of you. The other partner must be there at least for the hearing (unless it is held by a consulate abroad) and for the ceremony. If the mairie wants your file earlier than four weeks before the date, ask whether it will accept it before the residence month is complete: the law requires the month on the day of the banns, not on the day of filing.
Planning timeline for the civil route, month by month
- 12 months or more before: choose your route. Pick the commune where one of you will live and write to its mairie for its document list, its lead times, the days it celebrates weddings and its position on the Embassy’s sworn statement. Book the venue for the celebration.
- 9 months before: secure a rental in the commune for at least eight to ten weeks before the wedding, with the lease in the name of the partner who will live there. Check that your passports remain valid well beyond your stay.
- 6 months before: choose your witnesses and collect their details and ID copies. If you want a marriage contract, contact a notaire.
- 4 to 5 months before: order certified copies of your birth certificates (and any divorce decree), timed so they will be under the mairie’s age limit on filing day. Send them for apostille as soon as they arrive.
- 3 months before: book a sworn translator. Download, fill in and sign the Embassy’s sworn statement, one for each of you.
- 8 to 10 weeks before: one of you moves into the commune. Keep every rent receipt and bill.
- 4 to 6 weeks before: file the complete dossier and attend the hearing.
- 2 to 4 weeks before: the banns are posted for 10 days.
- The day: civil ceremony at the mairie, with your witnesses and their ID, then the celebration.
- Afterwards: request copies of your marriage certificate, then the apostille and translation for use in the US.
After the ceremony: is a French marriage recognised in the US?
Yes, in general. The State Department’s guidance, set out in its Foreign Affairs Manual, is that marriages legally performed and valid abroad are also legally valid in the United States; questions about recognition go to the office of the Attorney General of the state where you live. You do not need to register your French marriage with the US Embassy, and the federal government keeps no register of marriages abroad.
What you will need is a record that US offices can use:
- Livret de famille: handed to you at the ceremony. It has no US equivalent, so US agencies will want the marriage certificate itself.
- Acte de mariage: request a full copy (copie intégrale) or an extract from the mairie in the days after the wedding. It is free.
- Apostille: since 1 May 2025, apostilles on French public documents are issued by French notaries, no longer by the courts of appeal; requests go through apostille.notaires.fr. The Embassy advises an apostille on both the certificate and its certified translation.
- Translation: a certified English translation by a sworn translator.
One more distinction: a French PACS (civil partnership) is not a marriage, and the US does not recognise it as one.
The route many American couples take: legal at home, celebration in France
The State Department mentions it on its own marriage page: some couples marry legally in the United States, shortly before or after their wedding abroad, precisely to avoid a foreign marriage certificate and foreign marriage rules. In France, it turns the legal side into a short appointment at home and frees everything else.
- No residence month. Nobody has to live in a French commune for weeks; you arrive when your guests do.
- No French paperwork. No apostilles, sworn translations, sworn statements, hearing or banns, and no mairie asking for one more document a month before the date.
- Your ceremony, your way. A symbolic ceremony can be held anywhere, at any hour, in English, led by a friend, a relative or a celebrant, with the vows, readings and music you choose.
- One place for the whole day. Ceremony, dinner and dancing follow each other at the same venue, with no convoy to the town hall.
- A simple record at home. Your marriage certificate is a US document: no apostille or translation when you change your name or update your records.
Two details to settle. First, your legal wedding date is the US one: you can marry at home a few days before flying or after coming back, and celebrate your anniversary on whichever date you prefer. Second, check your state’s and county’s marriage licence rules, which vary: waiting period, how long the licence stays valid, who may officiate. If you would like a religious ceremony in France after a US civil marriage, ask the parish or officiant early which proof of marriage they need.
Timeline for this route
- 12 to 18 months before: book the venue in France and set the date of the celebration.
- 6 to 9 months before: choose who will lead the ceremony, and plan its language, readings and music.
- 2 to 3 months before: check your county’s licence rules and book the legal ceremony at home.
- Shortly before or after the trip: legal marriage in the US.
- In France: symbolic ceremony and celebration, with no French formalities.
Check-list: civil marriage in France
- Commune chosen, and the mairie’s written document list received
- Rental in the commune, lease and receipts in the name of the partner who lives there
- Passports valid, names identical on every document
- Birth certificates: certified copies within the mairie’s age limit on filing day
- Apostille on each birth certificate, and on any divorce decree or death certificate if the mairie asks
- Sworn French translations of every US document
- Embassy sworn statement signed by each of you, with the Embassy’s letter to town halls and its statement on marginal notes
- Proof of residence showing at least one month
- Two to four witnesses: details and ID copies sent, ID in hand on the day
- Notaire’s certificate, if you sign a marriage contract
- Interpreter booked, if one of you does not understand French
- After the wedding: copies of the acte de mariage, apostille, certified translation
Where Domaine de Vavril fits
Domaine de Vavril is an 18th-century manor house on the hills above Beaujeu, in the Beaujolais north of Lyon, facing the vineyards. The Domaine hosts your celebration and your symbolic ceremony; the civil ceremony itself always takes place at the mairie. For American couples, that works with both routes. If you married legally at home, the Domaine is where your ceremony and your whole wedding weekend happen. If you married at a French town hall, it is where everyone gathers afterwards.
- From April to October, one wedding at a time, with the whole estate yours for three nights and four days (Thursday to Sunday or Friday to Monday): the format of a long wedding weekend, which makes sense when your guests cross the Atlantic.
- Stone reception rooms for up to 150 guests seated at dinner (120 with a dance floor), gardens facing the vineyards, a heated pool and accommodation for 41 guests on site.
- Turnkey weddings from €17,700 including VAT, accommodation excluded: the venue for four days, cocktail and dinner for 70 guests, a DJ and a photographer. Venue hire only from €8,800 including VAT, from November to March, accommodation included.
- Suppliers selected and negotiated by the Domaine (catering, music and DJ, photography, video, hair and make-up, flowers and decoration) in a single quote, with one contact: Adeline, who looks after events at the Domaine.
- The Domaine also makes its own wine, an option in the estimate; here is how to choose the wines for your wedding.
You can estimate your wedding online in a few minutes, with your month’s availability checked in real time and no commitment. Planning from abroad? See how the Domaine organises a destination wedding, read the story of the house, and set your budget with our guide to what a wedding in France costs. If one of you is British, our guide to getting married in France as a UK citizen covers the differences.
FAQ
Can two Americans legally get married in France?
Yes, provided one of you, or a parent of one of you, lives in the French commune where you marry, with at least one month of continuous residence on the day the banns are published. Two Americans who both live in the US cannot marry at the US Embassy, because US consular staff do not perform marriages. Without that residence link, a legal marriage in France is not possible.
How long do we need to be in France before a civil wedding?
One of you needs one month of continuous residence in the commune before the banns, and the banns then run for 10 days. With the filing, the hearing and some margin, plan eight to ten weeks for the partner who lives there. The other partner must at least attend the hearing, unless it is held by a consulate abroad, and the ceremony.
Is a French marriage recognised in the United States?
In general, yes: the State Department’s guidance is that marriages legally performed and valid abroad are valid in the US, and questions go to the Attorney General of your state. You do not need to register the marriage with the US Embassy. For US use, get a copy of the acte de mariage with an apostille, issued by French notaries since May 2025, and a certified translation.
Can the civil ceremony take place at our wedding venue?
No. A French civil marriage takes place at the mairie, or in another municipal building of the same commune if the mayor agrees, never at a private chateau or estate. Your venue can host a symbolic ceremony on the same day or the next, which has no legal effect but can be as personal as you wish.
Do Americans need a certificat de coutume?
No US authority issues one. Each of you signs the US Embassy’s sworn statement in place of the certificat de coutume and the certificat de célibat, and it needs no Embassy notarisation. If a mairie insists on an Embassy seal, the Embassy or a Consulate General notarises it by appointment, for $50 per seal.
Is a symbolic ceremony in France legal?
It is perfectly lawful, but it does not make you married. That is why many American couples marry at home shortly before or after the trip, then hold the ceremony that matters to them in France. A religious ceremony is different: in France, the officiant will ask for proof of your civil marriage first.