STEP 1

Your ceremony date depends on when you can make a trip to Paris and your schedule, but there are some things to think about when choosing a date.

Weather is a big factor if you’re having an outdoor ceremony. In Paris, it rains the most in November and April and is coldest in January and February. If you want to avoid hot weather, then July and August isn’t the best time. 

Many couples love the idea of a sunrise ceremony to capture the beautiful light and avoid crowds in photos. The best months for a sunrise ceremony are from September to April when the sun rises a bit later. Between April and August, it rises before 7am, and in June, it can be before 6am. This means you’d have a very early start at around 4am for your beauty session.

Other popular months for an elopement in Paris are December – for the beautiful Christmas decorations in the city – and February for a Valentine’s Day anniversary.

We especially like October for a Paris elopement because of the mild weather and the easy option for a sunrise ceremony.

If you choose to plan your special day with Perfect Paris Wedding, make sure you check out our handy calendar for your ceremony date as not all days, such as July 14 (Bastille Day), November 11 (Armistice Day), and the final day of the Tour de France, are available. If your date isn’t available, we’ll work to make sure you can find an alternative one that works for you.

STEP 2

If you do decide to invite more than 15 guests, there are indoor options such as the American Church or the Shangri-La, for example.

If you are traveling with your children, this is a great opportunity for family photos! All you need is a minivan (an easy upgrade in our online store), and your photo tour becomes a family adventure!

If you choose to elope to Paris alone, you’ll enjoy a fun, intimate, and stress-free ceremony and photo tour. We love true elopements for their relaxed nature. Afterward, celebrate your big day with a romantic dinner for two in one of Paris’s amazing restaurants.

STEP 3

For a perfect Paris elopement, you need key elements like a photographer, officiant, hair and makeup artist, chauffeur, and florist. Having a great team is crucial for a stress-free wedding day. If you’re planning on your own, we’ll guide you through some essential considerations.

One of the most important members of your ceremony team is your wedding photographer. After all, you’ll be cherishing these photos for the rest of your life, and you want them to be perfect. The key is to choose a photographer who’ll make you feel relaxed and also takes stunning photos. Also consider their experience leading photo tours in Paris. This involves coordinating with your chauffeur, knowing the Paris traffic patterns and an intimate knowledge of the best photo spots.

Your officiant is another key member of your ceremony team. Unless you speak French, you’ll need to make sure he or she speaks good English. It’s also good to have an officiant who has experience conducting small ceremonies and elopements in an outdoor setting. Some couples also choose to have a friend or family member be their officiant which is a wonderful way of making your ceremony extra special. You can read more about choosing an officiant further down in this article.

Hair and makeup is an absolute must for beautiful photos, and being pampered is the perfect way to start your big day. Having your hair and makeup done professionally not only ensures you look stunning, it’s also a wonderful confidence booster. When choosing an artist, make sure they speak English and can bring your vision to life. Because you’ll likely not have time for a trial in Paris, it’s important to select someone experienced and talented enough to create your look without one. Finally, if you’ve opted for a sunrise ceremony, confirm that they are able to arrive early in the morning so everything runs smoothly.

Finding an English-speaking and reliable chauffeur is also very important to ensuring you have a memorable ceremony and photo tour. We don’t recommend relying on Ubers or taxis to move from one photo location to the next. In our experience, doing this means waiting for long amounts of time and staring at your phone when all couples should be doing is enjoying their photo tour and the beauty around them. You also won’t be able to leave personal items in an Uber while you’re taking photos with your photographer. With a chauffeur, you’re guaranteed a seamless photo tour as they will be in the right location right when you need them, and in fact, they wait for you, not the other way around.

If you’re considering walking from one location to another, be mindful that some of the most iconic locations are quite far from each other. For example, it takes 48 minutes to walk from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre! 

At Perfect Paris Wedding, we simply love our chauffeurs and wouldn’t do without them. As an added bonus, our chauffeurs are extremely friendly, they can give great tips on where to go in Paris or on restaurants to try.

Finally, a florist that can make you your dream bouquet and boutonniere is key for your big day. We do not recommend waiting until you arrive in Paris to find a florist as they may not specialize in bridal flowers, and if you would like a specific look, they may need to order flowers in advance in order to include them in your bouquet and boutonniere.

Instead, we recommend researching and comparing florists ahead of your arrival in Paris. This way, you can compare what each florist offers as well as their delivery policy and their prices – bridal flowers can get pricey very quickly!

Briefing your flower artist should be easy: simply send them inspirational photos of your dream bouquet. You can check our Pinterest board for inspiration.

Finally, you’ll need to coordinate the drop off time for your flowers. We suggest having them delivered at the beginning of your hair and makeup session to allow for any delays in the delivery – or the day before your wedding if you’re having a sunrise ceremony.

In addition to the must-haves for your ceremony and photo tour, there are other services that can make your wedding day in Paris extra special such as live music at your ceremony, a champagne toast during your photo tour as well as your photographer capturing the bride’s preparation and first look.

If you want to put on your Wedding Planner hat, make sure that you allocate enough time to search for the perfect vendors online, compare their offers and prices, negotiate with them and agree on all the conditions. Make sure to check their methods of payment as well as their payment plans. You’ll also want to review their terms and conditions carefully and check their cancellation policy as well, as if they will provide or recommend a replacement in case of unforeseen issues. Once you have built the perfect team of vendors, you’ll need to create an easy to understand timeline, brief your vendors and coordinate with them before your wedding and also on the day of your ceremony.

If instead, you’re looking for a stress-free experience, you can consider our all-inclusive package which includes a personal planner who will put together your entire ceremony team and deal with all of the contracts. It also includes all of the must-have services mentioned earlier with our amazing English-speaking team members who have been thoroughly vetted and with whom we have worked for years. Also included in your package is a remote coordinator who will work behind the scenes on your big day, putting out fires without you even knowing about them.

In our opinion, this is the best option in order to have a stress-free and fun day!

STEP 4

Before you book your flight to Paris, check hotel rates for your planned dates. Occasionally, you might find cheap flights with expensive hotel prices due to events in Paris, or vice versa. Make sure to look into both before making your reservations.

We suggest you book your hotel or apartment rental close to your ceremony location. This simplifies your big day logistics, eliminates traffic worries, and makes it easier for guests to arrive on time via taxi or private car with a chauffeur.

If you’ve booked our all-inclusive wedding package and you have any questions about a location, don’t hesitate to reach out to your planner. They’ll be more than happy to advise you on specific hotel locations.

We recommend Booking.com to find a hotel as their map feature can help you to see exactly where your hotel is and which arrondissement it is in. You can also check out our list of Bride Recommended Hotels to see where other couples have stayed and loved.

You may be wondering if it’s better to book a hotel or an apartment rental for your Paris elopement. There are pros and cons to both.

A hotel is a wonderful option as you’ll have the hotel staff to help you with anything you might need during your stay such as recommending a trusted dry cleaner to have your dress and suit pressed as well as guiding your hair and makeup artists and florist to your room without interrupting your preparations. Staff members should be able to speak English and be able to help your guests book taxis if needed.

One downside to a hotel is space. Hotel rooms in Paris are known for being quite small. If you’re planning on having bridesmaids keep you company while you are getting your hair and makeup done or if you would like to have the Bride’s Preparation captured by your photographer, a hotel room may be a bit snug. Make sure you check how big the room you are booking is. For example, a 50 square meters room (50 mètres carré or 50 m2) means 5 meters by 10 meters, which is about 16 feet by 34 feet. This would be a 500 (five hundred) square feet, room which is quite large for a Paris hotel.

A solution to the problem of space would be to book an apartment rental. Depending on the rental, you would have the living area to prepare for your big day which is often more spacious. 

An apartment rental may offer more space as well as a more authentic Parisian feel. It may also be located in a nice and lively neighborhood where Parisians actually live!

However, there could be some downsides to renting an apartment. There is no front-desk and you’ll need to communicate with the owner and organize retrieving the keys. You’ll receive fewer services and your guests and ceremony team may have difficulty accessing your rental. This may cause delays or interruptions to your preparations on the day of.

Also, keep in mind that many apartment rentals are not equipped with air conditioning. If you are having your ceremony in the summer, you may want to pay close attention to if air conditioning is included as an amenity. 

A final consideration for an apartment rental is if the building has an elevator, and if not, on which floor is the apartment located. An apartment rental may lose its appeal if you’ll have to go up and down seven flights of stairs in heels!

In summary, when choosing your accommodations in Paris, make sure to check:

• If it’s conveniently located in central Paris
• If it offers air conditioning (A/C)
• How accessible it is (and how many flight of stairs you’ll need to climb)
• If you have enough room to comfortably have your hair and makeup session

STEP 5

There are many things to consider when choosing a location for your Paris elopement. Would you like an indoor or outdoor ceremony? Would you like the Eiffel Tower in the background? How much privacy would you like? Would you like to have a violinist play during your ceremony?

We recommend having an outdoor ceremony. Why? Because Paris is like an open-air museum filled with exquisite architecture, beautiful parks and iconic monuments. We want you to feel excited about a ceremony setting that’s out of the ordinary because you are going to have a special experience that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.  Don’t worry about people being nearby – they often add a special ambiance and may even applaud at the end of your ceremony!

You don’t need to worry about strangers being in your wedding photos. A professional wedding photographer will know how to make sure that your photos look perfect, as if no one else was in Paris that day.

If you’re not sure yet about your ceremony location, it’s also perfectly okay to make a decision as you get closer to your ceremony date. You never know what you might get inspired by as the day arrives! Also, if you have booked a package through Perfect Paris Wedding, do not worry about rain – we always have a backup plan!

If you do decide to have an outdoor ceremony, your first consideration should be what you would like to have as the background of your ceremony. Do you want the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop or do you envision another location and then having photos at the Eiffel Tower during your photo tour? 

STEP 6

Who do you want to celebrate your wedding? Do you prefer to have a professional wedding officiant to perform your ceremony or would you like to have a friend or family member do it?

There are many talented wedding officiants in Paris. But what makes a great wedding officiant? They should be experienced, professional, and have a warm, engaging personality to set a comfortable and joyous tone for the ceremony. A benefit to having a professional officiant is they have lots of experience performing ceremonies and know exactly how to make your ceremony special and memorable. In Paris, most officiants are female and there are a few pastors if you would like to have a religious ceremony. 

Some couples choose to have a friend or family member officiate their ceremony. This can create a very intimate and unique ceremony. But you might still need the help of a professional officiant to write your wedding vows.

Finally, you may wonder how long an elopement ceremony usually lasts: usually they would last about 15 minutes but can be a bit longer if you decide to have a ‘walk down the aisle’ for the bride, a first look, music, or a first dance. 

STEP 7

The perfect dress for your wedding or vow renewal ceremony should fit your style but should also be practical for an outdoor ceremony and potentially a photo tour around Paris.

We do not recommend having a long train on your dress as it can make the dress difficult to walk in or can get very dirty and very quickly walking along the streets.

Also, when choosing a dress, make sure to take into consideration how it will fit into the car, especially if you have chosen a vintage car as they offer less space.

We also recommend choosing the right shoes for your ceremony location. If you’re getting married in the Trocadero Gardens, for example, a pair of stilettos will sink right into the grass. Bringing a comfortable pair of sneakers is always a good idea for in between photos when you might be walking on cobblestone or grass. 

To avoid the risk of losing it, we recommend you take your dress on the airplane as carry-on luggage rather than checking it in. Once you arrive at your hotel or apartment rental, we suggest you have your dress steamed right away, preferably a few days before your ceremony to leave time for delays. If staying at a hotel, the staff can recommend a dry cleaners they have worked with in the past, or if staying in an apartment rental, you can take it to the nearest ‘pressing,’ or dry cleaners in French. We also recommend taking it to the dry cleaners the day after your ceremony if possible in order to remove any stains made on the day.

Some couples ask if they can rent or buy a dress and a tuxedo in Paris, but we don’t recommend this option. Often dresses need to be bought at least 6 months in advance to allow time for fittings and alterations, and tuxedo rentals are not commonplace in France. It’s best to buy a dress or rent a tuxedo in your home country and bring it with you for your trip.

STEP 8

The good news is that you’re already in Paris! What better place to have a honeymoon than the City of Love? Some couples choose to stay in Paris while others choose to visit other parts of France or Europe.

In our opinion, the best way to celebrate the night of your ceremony is to have a delicious meal in one of Paris’ amazing restaurants whether with your guests or a romantic dinner for two.

Some couples choose to have a wedding cake with a beautiful Parisian setting in the background, which is something we can help you organize.