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We do not have much information about French weddings. France of course is a Catholic country and the wedding traditions are Catholic. Even so I believe many poor people did not marry formally before the Revolution (1789). A strong anticlerical trend developed with the Revolution which was moving toward a kind secular religion. This of course affected wedding trends. This was stopped by Napoleon, but throughout the 19th century there was a conflict between the Church and liberals. Even so most French people wanted a Church wedding. A lot of American wedding traditiins come from Vctorian Britain. We know much less about French wedding traditions. I am not sure about modern trends in France. Another factor is France's growing Muslim population. Our French image archive is still limited, but we have begun to collect some images to illustrate these pages.
We do not have much information about French weddings. France of course is a Catholic country and the wedding traditions are overwealminly Catholic. Even so I believe many poor people did not marry formally before the Revolution (1789). A strong anticlerical trend developed with the Revolution which was moving toward a kind secular religion. This of course affected wedding trends. This was stopped by Napoleon, but throughout the 19th century there was a conflict between the Church and liberals. Even so most French people wanted a Church wedding. Another factor is France's growing Muslim population.
A lot of American wedding traditions come from Vctorian Britain. We know much less about French wedding traditions. And unlike many other countries, the French have not adopted some of the Victorian traditions that have becomme very popular.
We have only begun to collect informatiin on French weddings and our chronological information is still very limited. We have no wedding images at all from the 19th century yet. Photography was still primarily studio portraits and we do not see many wedding portraits taken in the studios. The same is true of other countries as well. This changed in the 20th century. We begin to see images ofcFrench weddings in the photographic record. With the new mobility and simplicity of photography, it was possible to take actual wedding portraits. And as the century progresses we see more and more wedding photographs. After World War II it became common to hire a photographer to take all sorts of photographs, not only at the wedding ceremony itself, but all of the activities following the wedding. We do not have a lot of information about modern trends in France, but as we begin to archive some images and we should be able to develop some basic information as our archive expands.
A French reader tells us, "One popular tradition in France is children with a basket of flower petals, especially rose petals. It is also a popular tradition to hold the wedding ceremony at rural chuch, especially churches with family connections. This is a tradition of long standing in France."
Fremch weddings are significantly affected by social clss. French social classes are divided into the three traditional elements. The tditional divisionis: 1) high or upper class, 2) middle (bourgeois), and 3)lower (working class). Since World War II there has been major changes in the French class structure. The upper class was originally composed of artistocrats with wealthy merchants gradually gaining in status. After the Revolution the upper class was composed of the aristocracy which survived the Revolution, important politicians, wealthy families, and successful businessmen. This continues to be the case today, although the growth of thecwelfare state has meant that there are fewer very successful businessmen. It is the upper-class that can afford expensive society weddings. These are the weddings will elaboately dressed wedding parties, including thee children. The middle-class since the Revolution has been very important in France. In fact, the term for the middle class in English is the French word 'bourgeoisie'. The use of the term in English reflects both the importabce of the French language andcFrench economy. Until after the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, france was single most important country in Europe with the largest population and economy. Traditically the middle-class was the merchants, artisans, and professions like doctors and lawyers. Gradually s the French economy grew in size and sophistication we see more merchants, shops, and in the 19th century the growth of business requiring clerks, accountants, and techniciams. The development of public education added teachers to the mix. And with the growthbin givernment, many more civil sevants. THe growth in government jas continued after Wprld War II, making civil servants a major component of the middle class.
Another major addition to the middle class was former members of the working class who as a result of the economic expansion of France and other Common Market (modern European Union) countries enjpyed rising wages enabling them to enter the middle class. Most members of the middle class were practicing Cathlics, at least before World war II. They woukd generally have formal weddings, although economic circumstanxes determined just how elaborate the wedding was. The lower or working class iscthe class most changed in recen years. It was was inirially rural peasants and as cities developed the workers for merchants, artisans, and businessmen in the cities and farm workers in the countryside. Farmers owning the land they worked are sometimes difficult to categorize. They might have sizeable incomes and own land work a great deal of money, but lead a very modest lifestyle akin to the working class. With the industrial revolution (19th century), the urban working class grew substantially. And at the same time, socialist ideals became very influential with the working class, signifabtly weaking church affilition. This affecting the number of people having church weddings. Interestingly, even committedcSocialists, some times wanted to have church weddings because of the traditions. As in other modern economies, afer WorldcWar we see few factory workers in the working class and an expansion of the service industries. Another change since World War II has been a growing Muslim population. They have not integrated with the French and thecyoung people often do not pursue educations meaning that most have remained in the wirking class, often only able to find low paying jobs. Many are unemployed. They seem more resistent to Socialist thought and want Islamic weddings. The lower class comprises blue-collar jobs where many people are in food-service jobs or work in retail. The unemployment level and the low living standards are very common in this group. Due to the shift to industry, the number of blue-collar jobs has decreased and the workforce in the civil service section has steadily increased.
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." 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. We also see boys thar seem to be acting as pages. We are not sure just what they were called in French. They tended to be older boys.
A reader writes, "It appears that the boy carrying a basket presumably for flowers in the dark sailor suit wearing
white gloves and navy sailor suit has short trousers which button to his sailor top. He looks a bit old for that, but of course wedding fashions are different than everyday dress. Also the short trousers are very long. His shoes have fancy laces on them (look almost like ribbons) and the shoes have high heels. A little unusual but maybe not for a wedding. The other boy in the white sailor suit wears it middy style and it is much more usual including the white knee socks and more brief contrasting short trousers."
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