I must get at least 3- 5 emails a week from couples who want to elope in Paris. There are tons of reasons why people choose to elope: to save money, to save time, to save their sanity! Couples that contact me about eloping in Paris also typically display a very strong romantic streak. Since I find myself answering a lot of the same questions week after week, I’ve decided to compile The American Wedding Planner in Paris’ Top Five Tips for Planning an Elopement in Paris

1. Start Planning Early

Gone are the days of dropping into town at midnight and waking the village parson to marry you. As romantic as it sounds, it’s just not realistic in this day and age. There aren’t very many English-speaking celebrants available in Paris, and most of them work full-time at their own churches. They also have families, hobbies and other commitments, which leaves a limited amount of time to officiate weddings for couples coming from overseas. They, of course, try to be as accommodating as possible, but to be fair, you should plan on contracting your officiant at least 3 months in advance of your ceremony (longer if you’re planning on eloping during the high season).

2. Hire a good wedding planner

Well…this one is pretty simple. People tend to think that wedding planners are for big, elaborate weddings. That’s not true at all. A destination wedding is a destination wedding- whether it’s just you 2 or 200 of your closest friends! Do you know where to get a hand-tied bouquet of café au lait-colored peonies with a matching boutonniere in Paris? A wedding planner would. Do you know the name of an awesome, reputable, English-speaking Parisian photographer? A wedding planner does! I could go on for another 2 paragraphs, but you get the gist. Besides having access to top-notch local vendors, hiring a wedding planner based in the destination that you’re planning your elopement takes the pressure off of you and your honey, and gives you time to concentrate on planning your honeymoon. As when you’re hiring your officiant, keep in mind that most wedding planners need at least 3 months notice to book an elopement ceremony.

3. Try not to plan too much

So, my first pointer was to start planning early, but that’s not to say to plan every single second of your event! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- France is not America. France runs as it’s own pace, and to most Americans, that’s about 3.5 paces behind the U.S! Everyone is familiar with the stereotype of the American tourist in a Parisian restaurant, waiting…and waiting  for “l’addition” (all the while growing more red-faced and furious at the waiter for “ignoring” his table). I’ve had elopement clients send me their itineraries timed to the quarter hour, “Car Pick-Up at Hotel: 12:45. Arrive at Eiffel Tower: 1:05. Waiter brings 1st glass of champagne: 2:17, etc. etc…” If you learn nothing else from this post, learn this: You can pay a deposit, fax an excel spreadsheet, confirm, re-confirm, and re-RE-confirm an order, but it won’t really confirm anything. In Paris, “on time” typically means between 15 and 35 minutes “late” by U.S. standards. So, if you’re expecting a car to pick you up at 1:00 to get you to the Eiffel Tower for your ceremony to start at 1:30, just know that the car will probably arrive at 1:15, but it’s no problem because the ceremony probably won’t start until 1:50 anyway! It all works out in the end, and the wedding ceremony will be just as lovely 20 minutes later than planned.

4. You can not get married on top of the Eiffel Tower

Let me just say that once again for the girls at the back: You Can NOT get married on top of the Eiffel Tower*. The Eiffel Tower is a national monument which occasionally rents the top out for corporate functions, but not to private individuals. If you want to host your wedding at the Eiffel Tower, you’ll be encouraged to rent rooms at one of the two restaurants in the tower. BTW, you also can’t get married at Notre Dame Cathedral or at Sacre Coeur, unless you have some pretty strong pull in some VERY high places in France. For starters, in order to have a church wedding at all in France, you will first need to have a civil wedding here. That comes with a whole slew of rules and regulations, which is why most foreigners who come to Paris to get married choose to have a religious blessing or a symbolic ceremony instead. With symbolic ceremonies, you have a lot more flexibility- so while you still can’t get married on top of the Eiffel Tower, you can have a very simple symbolic ceremony in front of it.

5. Think off the Beaten Path

If you’ve already decided to elope to Paris, chances are you’re a pretty non-traditional couple. So why settle for the same ole same ole once you’ve arrived in Paris? Sure, you can get married beneath the Eiffel Tower. It’s gorgeous, historical, romantic- everything that you could ask from a wedding in Paris. But wouldn’t it be really cool to exchange your vows on top of the Buttes Chaumont, with its amazing panoramic view of the city spread out at your feet? Or beneath the echo-y vaulted ceilings of the Place des Vosges? Or even at sundown in the dramatic shadows of the Pyramide du Louvre. Since you’re creating your own, unique elopement ceremony, the world (or at least Paris) is your oyster! Elopement ceremonies tend to be fairly short, so if you’re mindful of the legalities of your intended venue (no standing on the grass, for example, if you’re not permitted to do so), and respectful of your environment (i.e.: don’t hire an accordionist to serenade you in a busy restaurant), your elopement in Paris should go off without a hitch!

* unless you’re a multi-award winning Pop Diva with a heck of a lot of dosh influence. 2012 edit.

weddingsWedding StyleParis, Francedestination wedding

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I never wanted to be one of those middle-aged couples who’ve been together so long they barely remember the date of their wedding, let alone bother to plan something  for their wedding anniversary. Yet here it is, the 5th Anniversary of my beloved little parisian party blog, and I’ve been so wrapped up in the impending Paris Wedding Season 2012 that I almost let it slip by.  For those who don’t write a blog,  one blog year actually equals something like SEVEN dog years. And when you blog a niche as specific as Contemporary France With An Emphasis On Parisian Wedding History, Style and Culture as Seen Through The Eyes of An Expat American Wedding and Party Planner, you should probably compare it to bivalve mollusc years (I’ll wait while you google that one…). Let’s just say that I’ve got a right to celebrate.

This anniversary started me down memory lane to my very first trip to Paris, nearly two decades ago (!?).  For something like $20 a day, I had a clean room (shower and toilet down the hall) plus breakfast at the Hotel Marignan in the 5th arrondissement. I’d buy a sandwich for lunch and eat it while meandering around the 5th, then up through the 6th until it got “boring” in the 7th arrondissement.  I’d come back to the hotel, freshen up and then go out drinking and dancing at Place de la Contrescarpe. During that vacation, I was a Rive Gauche girl.

By my second trip to Paris, I liked to think that I was more sophisticated. I stayed in the mature 7th arrondissement, but “discovered” the Marais- I spent the first part of my trip eating falafel, wandering around museums (I had a real job back home by then) and window shopping in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements.  During one of these wanderings, I met my soon-to-be husband, who took me out to the Charbon on rue Oberkampf  in the 11th arrondissement and dancing at   La Flèche d’Or in the 20th.  I fell in love with him and the “real” Paris I hadn’t known about before that trip.

Things happened (comme on dit) and a few years later we were back in Paris, married, VERY pregnant, and living in the heart of Chateau Rouge in the 18th Arrondissement. We were in a one bedroom apartment on the 5th floor with no elevator, with an extremely, um, lively African Market on the streets below us. But once the apartment door was shut, we had the most amazing direct view onto Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre. This view, and the fact that my son was born there,  is why the 18th has stayed one of my favorite Paris arrondissements.

With kids came the inevitable suburban migration, but we’re lucky that we live just a hop skip and jump from Paris. Between kids and running a tourism-focused company, I clock a lot of time nowadays in the 8th arrondissement.  Scoff if you must, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day- and with a ginormous selection of restaurants, great shopping and my beloved Ladurée, I’m just going to admit it: I like the 8th arrondissement. I’m a Rive Droite woman, ok? There. I’ve said it.

So that’s my little trip down memory lane and through my favorite neighborhoods of Paris.  Never one to celebrate alone, I think it would be fun to share the festive cheer of this 5th anniversary with you readers who have stood by this blog through thick, thin and the occasional famine.  So I’m having a give-away!

Kasia Dietz is a stylish ex-New Yorker who’s young handbag company has already been featured in Huffington Post, NY Examiner and People.com as well as sold in shops like Gramercy Project in New York and Le Bon Marché here in Paris.  Kasia Dietz Handbags are all reversible, one-of-a kind and “made with love in Paris“, with certain collections individually hand-printed.  Kasia has agreed to create a special edition Code Postal bag specifically for one lucky parisian party reader.  The outside will be printed with the Paris postal code of choice, and the inner “Paris” pocket of the bag will be a customized sapphire blue, to celebrate parisian party’s 5th Year (in American wedding traditions, blue is the color of the 5th anniversary, and sapphire is the stone).

To win this custom parisian party Kasia Dietz Handbag, all you have to do is:

1. Leave a comment on this post listing your favorite Paris arrondissement (and postal code) and why

2. Follow me on twitter and tweet the following : “ I just entered the parisian party 5th Anniversary giveaway on @parisianparty! http://bit.ly/HMcDoT ”

3. Like my Facebook fan page :

5. Comment on any other blog post of your choice on my site.

The bag will be mailed (via La Poste) to anywhere in the world, so you don’t have to live in Paris to play along. The winner will be drawn randomly on April  21st, 2012 at 10pm Paris time. Due to the recent problems relating to a virus on my blog, this contest has been extended! The winner will be announced Monday, April 30th 2012, at 10pm Paris Time.

Feel free to spread the word. Thanks for playing along, and thank you for reading my blog!

Félicitations again, Blair & Judson. I’m so glad that your time in Paris was everything that you’d hoped it would be!