Alma Consort · Destinations
In France the music belongs to the second ceremony.
Alma Consort travels from London to sing church blessings, château ceremonies and reception sets in Provence, the Loire, the Dordogne and on the Côte d’Azur.
What kind of ceremony are you having?
France has one rule that catches British couples out and one that works in their favour.
The rule that catches people out: the legal marriage must happen at the mairie, conducted by the mayor, and there is generally no place for music in it. The rule that helps: everything after that is yours to design. A church blessing, Catholic or Protestant, carries no legal weight in France and so can be shaped freely. The Diocese in Europe has Anglican chaplaincies across the country, including in the Dordogne where the British population is substantial, so a Church of England service is a real option rather than a stretch. A humanist or celebrant-led ceremony at a château is now the most common choice of all among the couples we sing for.
Many couples marry legally at home first and have a single ceremony in France, which avoids the mairie. Whichever route you take, the ceremony your guests will remember is the one we sing at.
Across a château weekend
A French château wedding is usually an exclusive-use booking for two or three nights, with guests sleeping on the estate. That is close to the ideal shape for us: everyone is in one place, nobody is driving anywhere, and the whole party is together from Friday evening to Sunday morning.
It also means the ceremony is a small part of what we could do. A consort can sing at the welcome dinner, at the ceremony itself, through the drinks in the gardens, and unaccompanied in a stone hall after the meal, which, with the lights down and the guests close in, tends to be the part they describe afterwards. All of it on one set of fares.
France also has the mairie in the mix for couples marrying legally there, which spreads the weekend across another day. We can sing at the celebration afterwards if the two are separated. Bear in mind that the château dinner is a noisier room than the blessing was: singing over a party in full voice takes more singers than singing to one that has gone quiet.
Two ceremonies, and only one of them has music
France separates the legal wedding from the religious or celebrant-led one, and this catches out more British couples than any other single fact about marrying there. The marriage itself happens at the mairie, conducted by the mayor or a deputy. It is short, it is in French, it is administrative in tone, and there is generally no place in it for a choir.
The ceremony your guests will remember is the one that follows: a Catholic or Protestant blessing in a church, or a celebrant-led ceremony in a château garden. That is where the music goes, and because it carries no legal weight you can shape it around what you want. In practice this is a gift. A blessing has no fixed liturgy to work around, so an entrance, two or three pieces across the vows and readings, and a recessional can be placed wherever they land best.
Where the church ceremony is a full Catholic nuptial Mass, the shape is the same as it would be in Italy or Spain, with a sung ordinary and communion motets. Ask your parish which form of service you are having; the answer changes the programme.
French, Latin, and what your guests will follow
A church blessing in France will be conducted in French, sometimes with English readings where the celebrant is willing. For the sung music we generally set the ordinary in Latin and place at least one French piece in the programme. Fauré, Duruflé, Poulenc and Messiaen all wrote music that belongs in these buildings and signals to French guests that the day is theirs too.
A celebrant-led ceremony at a château is usually in English if the couple is British, and then the choice is open. We are happy to sing in either language or both, and there is no need to balance them for the sake of it.
Churches, châteaux and the terrace problem
French parish churches are stone, cool and generous, and a consort of eight to twelve sounds substantial in almost any of them. Village churches in the Dordogne and Provence are often small enough that eight voices is plenty and sixteen would be too much.
The château ceremony is a different problem. A ceremony on a gravel terrace or a lawn has no acoustic at all: nothing comes back, the voices carry only as far as they are thrown, and a group that filled a church sounds thin outdoors. Our recommendation for an outdoor château ceremony is usually twelve voices minimum, and to place the singers closer to the guests than instinct suggests. A stone orangery, a chapel or a vaulted salle des gardes is the best of both worlds and worth asking your venue about.
Getting a consort to France
The easiest destination in Europe for a group this size, and the only one we can reach without flying. For Normandy, the Loire and Burgundy the Eurostar and a coach transfer often works better than an airport, which removes baggage limits and the risk of a delayed connection scattering the consort. For Provence, the Riviera and the Dordogne we fly to Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux or Bergerac.
Post-Brexit we travel as British musicians into the Schengen area, working within the ninety-days-in-any-one-hundred-and-eighty limit and carrying the paperwork a short professional engagement requires. We manage that ourselves. France is well used to visiting performers and it has not been an obstacle.
Where in France
Provence
Village churches with good stone and short transfers, and some of the best small ceremony spaces in France. The summer heat is the practical constraint: a four o’clock ceremony outdoors in August is hard on voices, and shade for the singers is worth arranging in advance rather than improvising. Nice and Marseille are both easy arrivals.
The Côte d’Azur
Hotel and villa weddings, mostly celebrant-led, mostly outdoors, and mostly at the more expensive end of everything. Acoustically this is the least helpful part of France, and the programme should be planned around that rather than in spite of it: fewer, stronger pieces, sung closer in, with twelve voices rather than eight. Nice airport makes the travel simple.
The Loire Valley
Château country, and the region where you are most likely to find a stone room worth singing in. Several châteaux have chapels or vaulted halls that turn a good programme into a memorable one. Reachable by Eurostar and coach, which we generally prefer for this region.
The Dordogne
Small honey-coloured village churches, often with a modest capacity and a fine acoustic, and a high proportion of British couples who have a house or family nearby. Bergerac is the convenient airport. Eight voices is usually the right answer here.
Questions about singing in France
Do we need a choir at the mairie as well as the church?
No, and in most cases you could not have one if you wanted. The civil ceremony at the mairie is short, administrative and rarely accommodates music. Everything we do belongs to the religious or celebrant-led ceremony that follows, which is also the one your guests will treat as the wedding.
Can you sing at a château ceremony rather than in a church?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do in France. The main thing to plan for is the acoustic: an outdoor ceremony gives nothing back, so we usually recommend more voices than the same ceremony would need indoors, and placing the consort nearer you. If the château has a chapel, an orangery or a vaulted hall, ask about using it for the ceremony itself.
Will the music be in French?
Some of it, if you want it to be. We usually sing the ordinary in Latin and include at least one French piece. Fauré and Duruflé sit beautifully in these buildings. For a celebrant-led ceremony in English the choice is yours, and there is no obligation to balance the languages.
Is it cheaper because France is close?
Yes, meaningfully. Distance and nights are two of the three things that move the cost, and northern and central France can often be reached by train with a single night away rather than two. It is the least expensive place we travel to, and for the Loire and Normandy the gap against a UK engagement is smaller than most couples expect.
Travel and permit information on this page last checked 29 August 2026. Requirements change and vary by venue, diocese and celebrant; confirm the current position with us before you fix a date. Other country guides.
Enquire
Tell us where in France you are marrying and when. If the date is free, Luca Wetherall will come back with what the music could be and what the whole engagement would cost, travel included.
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Thank you. Luca Wetherall will reply personally within one working day.