getting married in Paris, anyone know the rules?

[Neoteric]

We want to get wed with no wedding party as it's just a formality for legal reasons (our DCs inheritance and tax).

We happen to be going to Paris with two friends in summer, so would we be able to do it then?

The last time I looked into this, you had to live there for 14 days prior or something. When I google now I just get wedding organisers, as in, the full shebang.

We just want to do the vows, get a certificate, and carry on with our weekend (got good plans!).

Can anyone direct me to The Rules please?

You need to have been resident in France for 40 days, not 14 and there's a long list of required documentation (which must be officially translated into French) which needs to be presented at the Mairie of the place you intend to marry 30 days before the ceremony.

If you just want a romantic Parisian venue, you could get married in a register office here immediately beforehand, then have any ceremony of your choice in France. The French ceremony wouldn't be legally binding, but that wouldn't matter because you would have done the legal side over here.

This tool on the gov.uk website lists what is needed and links the forms you'll require. But you need to check with the relevant Mairie as they can be quirky strictness in applying the rules varies.

When I got married in paris you had to prove that you had lived there for 40 days with utility bills etc so not just a question of staying in a hotel or with a friend. The amount of documents needed was crazy and I had to have blood tests including HIV (for some reason guys didn't need this, only girls). This is going back 11 years so things might have changed since then. Also, the French town hall ceremony is in French (obviously). We had a translator for our guests but you only get to say "oui" twice, there are no vows. We could have had a church ceremony too but you are not married without the town hall one. You get married in your local town hall, you don't get to decide. Fortunately ours was stunning (7th arrondissement) but I've heard not all are as nice.

Having said that, our wedding lasted 3 days with loads of meals and boat trips etc with our 40 or so guests and it was amazing.

thank you everyone, that's a non-starter then!

just trying to get wed with no fuss. Inviting anyone will cause upset to others. Just thought we could combine it with a weekend break. ho hum.

London Borough of Camden registry office is opposite St Pancras station. The old town hall is nice and I think that's where they do ceremonies.