Before the wedding

Le faire-part :

It's the letter you receive. “faire part” means “to tell”, “to share”. So, you receive a “faire-part” (you also receive a “faire-part de naissance” when a baby is born or “faire-part de décès” when someone died).

All you need to know is written on the faire-part :

when, where.

What you must pay attention to is what you are really invited to.

In France, we invite people to the official ceremony and then there's a big aperitif followed by a big banquet. All the guests are invited to the aperitif but not all are invited to the banquet.

It's very common. It's only because we invite so many people, most of the time we can't afford to keep them all for the big banquet!

The choice is based upon different criteria :

- the kind of wedding (only the close familly, family and friends...),

- the “rank” you have in the family or the friends or the relatives.

Some people choose to have a very big wedding, others will have a more “intime” intimate wedding. In this case, they might invite only a few guests.

If they choose to have a big wedding, it all depends on the wealth of the parents (they pay !!) and of the size of the restaurant !

So, what people usually do, they invite everybody to the ceremony and the aperitif.

How do I know if I'm invited to the apéritif only or to the banquet too ?

Look at the “faire-part”, if you see :

“x et y auront la joie de vous inviter au vin d'honneur qui aura lieu à l'issue de la cérémonie au restaurant xxx”

“À l'issue de la cérémonie, x et y seront heureux de vous recevoir à l'apéritif, restaurant xxxx”.

If you see “vin d'honneur” or “apéritif” you know you're only invited to this part of the reception.

If you see :

“À l'issue de la cérémonie, x et y auront la joie de vous retrouver au restaurant xxx pour la réception de leur mariage”

“Suite à cette cérémonie, vous êtes cordialement attendus pour le repas qui aura lieu au restaurant xx”

Then you know you're invited to the aperitif and the banquet. It might also be written that you are invited to the "soirée".

“Réponse souhaitée avant le” / “merci de répondre avant le”

If you see this sentence somewhere on the “faire-part”, it means you must tell them if you come or not. Just give them a call to tell them.


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