Where in Paris should my friend propose to his girlfriend, and then where should he (hopefully) marry her?
January 8, 2009 5:04 AM Subscribe
Love lives in Paris. My friend wants to propose to his girlfriend and then return to have a wedding in Paris. He could use some recommendations.
My friend in New York wants to take his girlfriend to Paris in April/May and would like to propose to her in front of a fountain with awesome restaurants by it. Any recommendations?
Also, he would like to return to Paris to have the wedding and is thinking of having it at Chartres Cathedral. Is this possible? feasible? If not, can you suggest an alternative?
I'm going to be the best man.
My friend in New York wants to take his girlfriend to Paris in April/May and would like to propose to her in front of a fountain with awesome restaurants by it. Any recommendations?
Also, he would like to return to Paris to have the wedding and is thinking of having it at Chartres Cathedral. Is this possible? feasible? If not, can you suggest an alternative?
I'm going to be the best man.
I'm sure there are many grander fountains in Paris, but in my limited experience of the city, I always had a fondness for Place de la Contrescarpe in the Latin Quarter, where there is a small fountain with many restaurants, cafés & bars nearby: it's been too long since I visited for me to recommend any specific eating-places, though.
An English friend of mine got married in Paris: he was living there at the time and got hitched at his arondissement's Mairie (i.e. the borough town hall / mayor's office), with a reception later at a fancy hotel.
posted by misteraitch at 5:22 AM on January 8, 2009
An English friend of mine got married in Paris: he was living there at the time and got hitched at his arondissement's Mairie (i.e. the borough town hall / mayor's office), with a reception later at a fancy hotel.
posted by misteraitch at 5:22 AM on January 8, 2009
Best answer: Place du Chatelet?
St Michel?
There are also fountains in Place des Vosges and the Palais Royal, both nice locations.
There are lots to choose from, it depends if he wants a huge, bustling rush hour type fountain, or a smaller backstreet square type fountain. One of the nicest off the beaten track locations in Paris is Rue de Furstemberg, especially in winter or fall, but it doesn't have a fountain. It does have a fountain-y ambience about it though.
posted by fire&wings at 5:41 AM on January 8, 2009
St Michel?
There are also fountains in Place des Vosges and the Palais Royal, both nice locations.
There are lots to choose from, it depends if he wants a huge, bustling rush hour type fountain, or a smaller backstreet square type fountain. One of the nicest off the beaten track locations in Paris is Rue de Furstemberg, especially in winter or fall, but it doesn't have a fountain. It does have a fountain-y ambience about it though.
posted by fire&wings at 5:41 AM on January 8, 2009
Best answer: I thought this was a very pretty and romantic spot when I was there. Now if only I could remember where it was.
Ah found it...it's the Medici Fountain. A couple bigger pictures: 1, 2. It's in the Luxembourg Gardens.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:51 AM on January 8, 2009
Ah found it...it's the Medici Fountain. A couple bigger pictures: 1, 2. It's in the Luxembourg Gardens.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:51 AM on January 8, 2009
He does know that Chartres Cathedral isn't in Paris, right?
Negative advice - don't do what a friend of mine did and try to propose in one of the main parks just as dusk was falling. They were thrown out (because the park was closing) just before he popped the question.
posted by altolinguistic at 7:08 AM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
Negative advice - don't do what a friend of mine did and try to propose in one of the main parks just as dusk was falling. They were thrown out (because the park was closing) just before he popped the question.
posted by altolinguistic at 7:08 AM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
They have to have a civil ceremony in the US and then they can have a church wedding in Paris. (Church weddings have no legal status in France.) Otherwise they have to be residents for 40 days. See here (in English). American friends of mine got married this way.
posted by desjardins at 8:33 AM on January 8, 2009
posted by desjardins at 8:33 AM on January 8, 2009
Well, it's not a park or a fountain, but the Pont des Arts is a famous pedestrian bridge across the Seine, a popular place for lovers to carve their initials on, and has some lovely views of the city. (That's actually not necessarily the best view from the bridge - it's the Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame and many important things are but not quite viewable in that photo. However, if you stood there on the bridge and looked left you'd see the Louvre, if you turned around you'd see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Really you're surrounded by the whole city there.)
posted by dnash at 9:01 AM on January 8, 2009
posted by dnash at 9:01 AM on January 8, 2009
There's a million fountains in Paris. I'd pick St. Michel or Chatelet if you want the urban hey-we're-hip-in-Paris thing. Luxembourg is much quieter and more romantic, although not private.
Getting married at Chartes is likely to be very difficult without specific local ties.
posted by Nelson at 11:14 AM on January 8, 2009
Getting married at Chartes is likely to be very difficult without specific local ties.
posted by Nelson at 11:14 AM on January 8, 2009
Best answer: I can't help you with the proposal part...but I can with the wedding. I got married in Paris about a year ago. It was great and all of our guests said it was the best wedding they ever went to!
The red tape: Folks are right about the 40 day residency requirement, we had a friend marry us in the states (she was ordained by an online church, signed the license and turned it in to the county). The type of wedding you're looking to do in Paris is "symbolic". When you start looking for places, make that distinction or you'll get alot of "Well if you're not a resident, we can't marry you..."
Don't let it dissuade you, weddings in Paris can be done on a budget. You can also plan the whole thing stateside I did it. Here's the basics:
What is your budget? That is going to seriously determine what kind of wedding you can have. There are several American wedding planners in Paris. I didn't use them, because I got married in Paris for about $7K US. They wouldn't even talk to me. You'll likely need to be in the $25K US or $50K US range to hire a planner (it may be lower now with the exchange rates).
How to research? If you speak French, awesome! If you know someone who does, good in a pinch. If you don't, you'll be using alot of babel fish. It was surprising how much I could find on google.fr with Babelfish. Very time consuming, but it worked.
Where to have the ceremony? Get this booked first. This is going to be your hardest part if you're not a resident. It's pretty hard to find locations to marry in. I didn't look into catholic churches, so I can't tell you, but from what I understand it may be very tough to get into your first choice. Many of the catholic churches require you to be a member of the parish and won't perform "symbolic" ceremonies. If you want to get married in a catherdral, one options is the first is the American Church, if I remember correctly it was serious bank just to hold your ceremony there, like a thousand euros. There's another one, but I can't remember the name, mainly cause it was a higher price than the American Church. I also tried looking into marrying in a park or some pretty space, and it was very hard. The permitting process (if even allowed) is a paperwork nightmare and was to tough for me to try and plan from the US. What does that leave you? Small, non-catholic churches. We got married at the Scots Kirk, Church of Scotland. I recall the price was reasonable, the pastor was very nice, they had a musician available and we were able to plan it all stateside. I don't remember very many other options, and my friends consider me a good googler. Start with an email, but set-up a call. It's so much easier on the phone.
Where are we going to eat/have a reception?! This is hard too, but not as hard as finding a place to get married. I basically bought a Time Out Food & Drink Paris, and googled every resturant in the cuisine I prefered, then I looked to see if they had a private room. I then checked Chowhound and Trip Advisor for reviews. We had narrowed it down to 3. After a few emails and phone calls we settled on Maceo. Very nice, reasonably priced with great menu options and they served us a wonderful meal. The rabbit was wonderful! They even created a croquembouche for us, which is the French version of wedding cake.
What about flowers? We made our own, Paris has wonderful flower markets. It helped we had a small wedding party too.
Photography? There are quite a few photographers in Paris, and I looked into quite a few of them, but we decided to have friends photograph our wedding. I'm not unhappy with the results. We took the money we would have spent on photography and did some group trips with our guests, Catacombs, a walking tour, Eiffel Tower, etc.
Travel? I had looked into group rates and arranged an agent, but in the end our guests booked their own travel. We were scattered around the city, but it worked and I know everyone enjoyed themselves.
Don't forget your guests! We had several activities planned, where we picked up the tab, for our guests. Not everyone attended each event, but everyone appreciated experiencing Paris together. Also, make sure you let your guests know how to contact you in Paris. We let our guests know we were getting a cell phone in Paris, then sent once we arrived with our number.
Don't forget your honeymoon! We rented a car and did the countryside, I don't think we'll spend more than a few days in Paris again. While we LOVE the city, we LOVED the countryside more.
Have a wonderful time! We were very lucky to have 25 of our family and friends join us in Paris and it was amazing! Everyone said they had a great time, and I believe them, since they always talk about. Our wedding was about being together with the people we loved and it was so much more than that.
Ok, I think that's all the basics. There's much more I didn't cover, feel free to mefi email me (I'll send the pics to you too).
posted by pokeedog at 11:31 AM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
The red tape: Folks are right about the 40 day residency requirement, we had a friend marry us in the states (she was ordained by an online church, signed the license and turned it in to the county). The type of wedding you're looking to do in Paris is "symbolic". When you start looking for places, make that distinction or you'll get alot of "Well if you're not a resident, we can't marry you..."
Don't let it dissuade you, weddings in Paris can be done on a budget. You can also plan the whole thing stateside I did it. Here's the basics:
What is your budget? That is going to seriously determine what kind of wedding you can have. There are several American wedding planners in Paris. I didn't use them, because I got married in Paris for about $7K US. They wouldn't even talk to me. You'll likely need to be in the $25K US or $50K US range to hire a planner (it may be lower now with the exchange rates).
How to research? If you speak French, awesome! If you know someone who does, good in a pinch. If you don't, you'll be using alot of babel fish. It was surprising how much I could find on google.fr with Babelfish. Very time consuming, but it worked.
Where to have the ceremony? Get this booked first. This is going to be your hardest part if you're not a resident. It's pretty hard to find locations to marry in. I didn't look into catholic churches, so I can't tell you, but from what I understand it may be very tough to get into your first choice. Many of the catholic churches require you to be a member of the parish and won't perform "symbolic" ceremonies. If you want to get married in a catherdral, one options is the first is the American Church, if I remember correctly it was serious bank just to hold your ceremony there, like a thousand euros. There's another one, but I can't remember the name, mainly cause it was a higher price than the American Church. I also tried looking into marrying in a park or some pretty space, and it was very hard. The permitting process (if even allowed) is a paperwork nightmare and was to tough for me to try and plan from the US. What does that leave you? Small, non-catholic churches. We got married at the Scots Kirk, Church of Scotland. I recall the price was reasonable, the pastor was very nice, they had a musician available and we were able to plan it all stateside. I don't remember very many other options, and my friends consider me a good googler. Start with an email, but set-up a call. It's so much easier on the phone.
Where are we going to eat/have a reception?! This is hard too, but not as hard as finding a place to get married. I basically bought a Time Out Food & Drink Paris, and googled every resturant in the cuisine I prefered, then I looked to see if they had a private room. I then checked Chowhound and Trip Advisor for reviews. We had narrowed it down to 3. After a few emails and phone calls we settled on Maceo. Very nice, reasonably priced with great menu options and they served us a wonderful meal. The rabbit was wonderful! They even created a croquembouche for us, which is the French version of wedding cake.
What about flowers? We made our own, Paris has wonderful flower markets. It helped we had a small wedding party too.
Photography? There are quite a few photographers in Paris, and I looked into quite a few of them, but we decided to have friends photograph our wedding. I'm not unhappy with the results. We took the money we would have spent on photography and did some group trips with our guests, Catacombs, a walking tour, Eiffel Tower, etc.
Travel? I had looked into group rates and arranged an agent, but in the end our guests booked their own travel. We were scattered around the city, but it worked and I know everyone enjoyed themselves.
Don't forget your guests! We had several activities planned, where we picked up the tab, for our guests. Not everyone attended each event, but everyone appreciated experiencing Paris together. Also, make sure you let your guests know how to contact you in Paris. We let our guests know we were getting a cell phone in Paris, then sent once we arrived with our number.
Don't forget your honeymoon! We rented a car and did the countryside, I don't think we'll spend more than a few days in Paris again. While we LOVE the city, we LOVED the countryside more.
Have a wonderful time! We were very lucky to have 25 of our family and friends join us in Paris and it was amazing! Everyone said they had a great time, and I believe them, since they always talk about. Our wedding was about being together with the people we loved and it was so much more than that.
Ok, I think that's all the basics. There's much more I didn't cover, feel free to mefi email me (I'll send the pics to you too).
posted by pokeedog at 11:31 AM on January 8, 2009 [1 favorite]
Oh, I'm an idiot, I didn't realize the bride to be lives in Paris. That opens all sorts of doors.
posted by pokeedog at 11:50 AM on January 8, 2009
posted by pokeedog at 11:50 AM on January 8, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks for all the awesome information.
I'll pass along the suggestions.
pokeedog - you were right the first time, the bride-to-be is a New Yorker too.
posted by meantime at 3:51 AM on January 9, 2009
I'll pass along the suggestions.
pokeedog - you were right the first time, the bride-to-be is a New Yorker too.
posted by meantime at 3:51 AM on January 9, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
You could do a civil wedding elsewhere (New York?) then have a symbolic, church wedding in Paris, but you'll have to provide a valid wedding license for this to take place (French law actually) .
posted by Mutant at 5:17 AM on January 8, 2009