Bilingual & Inclusive Wedding Celebrant Ceremonies in France

Hiya, I’m Stéphanie, an inclusive and bilingual (actually multi: French/English/Spanish/German+) Scottish-French (I love hand-fastings!) celebrant in France (I live in Paris). I’m an active ally of the LGBTQ+ community (I call out prejudice and discrimination wherever I see it, loudly!) and I feel quite fiercely that everyone should have equal rights to marry in whatever way they choose. I love creating ceremonies which are both AI- and patriarchy-free, but filled with poetry, magic and all the unique wondrousness and, often, weirdness inherent in every couple’s connection.

If I weren’t a celebrant, and I was looking to get married, here’s what I’d be worried about (and the answers I’d want to hear):

1. Will the celebrant really be able to understand the peculiar and particular relationship between me and my person, and put that into words and actions that actually feel true to us? And can we possibly convey what we’re about, in a couple of prep sessions and by answering some questionnaires?

YES – as your celebrant, I’ll ‘get’ who you are together, and you’ll be able to convey it through our in-depth prep sessions, through me asking you far too many questions, and helped along by a whole lot of reflection and inspiration on my part.

2. Our guests don’t all speak the same languages – will the celebrant be able to deal with that, and will they make sure that the ceremony isn’t a groansome collection of translated bits of text (cue yawns from the bilingual people in the room)?

YES – I speak loads of languages (six and counting) and I’ve heaps of experience in creating and delivering ceremonies in them. One of the many compliments I very often receive after a ceremony is about the way I weave the languages together, with no direct translation (unless you specifically ask me for it).

3. Can a marriage ceremony ever truly be non-patriarchal, feminist, funny, eco-friendly, absolutely gay- and disability-friendly … and still be a marriage ceremony at all? As in, two (or three!) people promising to love each other to the best of their ability for as long as possible?

YES – a ceremony can be all those good things and still be a marriage ceremony!

5. Will the celebrant use inclusive language as far as is possibly possible, in both/all the languages of the ceremony?

YES – I will with pleasure use inclusive language (even in Latin languages which are notoriously non-inclusive) and behave accordingly.

6. Will the celebrant be able to communicate and coordinate with the other suppliers, and the venue (if we’re not getting married on a beach or a mountaintop or in my beloved’s parents’ kitchen) in the language of the country where we’re getting married?

YES – I coordinate with suppliers and venues in French all the time (and I know loads of them personally, so can make recommendations if you’re still looking for any of them once you’ve booked me). They tend to like me because I’m friendly, versatile, and not a pain in the arse. Yay!

7. I have an evil godfather who thinks non-religious marriage is a sin, but to keep the fragile peace, we have to invite him. Will the celebrant be able to deal with him if he goes off on one during the ceremony?

YES – One of my specialities is tricky guests. Once I even managed with my ceremony to win round a previously-disapproving, Catholic priest father-of-the-bride from the Austrian Alps!

8. My partner has asthma and it’s worse when they’re nervous. If they have an attack during the ceremony, can we stop for a couple of minutes while they have their ventolin and a wee sit down?

YES to pausing the ceremony during one of the marrying people’s asthma attack – the canapés can wait (and I always carry a ventolin inhaler with me in my celebrant bag of save-the-day items).

9. Is it ok if neither I nor my partner wear neither a dress nor a suit, and nobody’s in white?

YES – wear whatever the hell you like! Clown outfits! Scuba gear! Or your birthday suits! (as long as you’ve warned your guests, if they’re not all as open-minded as you are…).

10. I know this is a big ask – but please can our cat come to the ceremony? We’ll leave the tarantula at home!

YES – to the cat guest-of-honour. And thank you for leaving the tarantula at home. Cos that would’ve been a NO, I’m afraid 🙂

If these answers reassure you – and you’ll almost certainly have more questions, concerns, doubts – give me a call/text me/email me/send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook/come and loiter outside my house (noooo, actually maybe don’t do that!). We can discuss your plans and see if you’d like to say OUI … to me 😊😘