In a tradition which is still followed in small French towns, the groom meets his fiancée at her home on the day of the wedding and escorts her to the chapel where the ceremony is being held. children stretch long white ribbons across the road which the couple walks and the bride cuts these as she passes.

Inside the chapel the bride and groom are placed beneath a silk canopy while a priest bestows his blessing. The canopy is called a carre and is meant to protect the newlyweds from spiritual harm. It also serves at the baptism of the couple first born child.

After the ceremony the couple exits the church, laurel leaves and small coins are thrown in their path  for good luck. The reception follows the wedding and is a boisterous affair which may go on into the small hours of the morning. Many couples prefer a traditional wedding cake made of several pastries covered with syrup. A popular tradition in france is ‘the beheading of the champagne’. The practise goes back to napoleons troops the hussards, who used it to exhibit their horseman ship and prowess with a sword. A skilled horesman would ride at a champagne bottle held by a woman and strike the neck with his sabre to open it. These days decorated replicas of sabres are produced for the occasion.