Figure 1.--Here we see five children participating in a 1951 society wedding. The thee boys helping with the bride's train are the petit garçon d'honneur. There is a little girl in white that can barely be seen behind the boy on the right. She would be the petite fille d'honneur. In French weeding 20th century weddings, they are no pages but only the garçon et fille d'honneur chosen amoung the young familly members. . In France at the time, younger boys did not commonly wear long pants, but might do so for special occasions like this. when when costumes were involved. Behind the children here is not a page but simply guest a well dressed boy named Yves. He is not wearing aedding costume, but simply a formal Eton suit that was still in style for such occassions. We note some of these same boys participating in a Cub event at the church in 1952.

It is a popular tradition in France as in England to make some special provision for the younger children in the weddig ceremonies and to dress them in special cosdtumes. Sailor suits were popular outfits for the boys , but there were many other styles as well. Ring bearers and flower girls are an English Victorian readition that has spread around the world, but is not a French tradition. A French reader explains, "In France they is no ring bearer. These two little girls and two little boys are: Petite fille d'honneur and Petit garçon d'honneur. They escort the married couple, and hold the train of the bride's gown if she has a long formal one. They sit on each side of the married couple inside the chuch and have nothing else to do." The boys here are doing their best with the bride's long wedding gown train (figure 1). They tended to be younger children although there is no precise age. This could vary depending on the age of the children in the family. We do see children with flowers at French weddings, but they ae not always girls as is common in the English tradition. French weddings did not have boy pages like English weddings.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing French pages:
[Return to the Main French religious page]
[Return to the Main French page]
[Return to the Main country wedding page]
[French choirs] [French school uniforms] [French school smocks] [French royalty] [French sailor suits]
[French scout uniforms] [Difficult French images] [French art] [French Movies] [French ethnics]

Created: 1:43 AM 6/17/2011
Last updated: 1:43 AM 6/17/2011