Parlez-vous français? Bilingual probs

I know it's not quite the same but my uncle lived and died in france and his funeral was there. Obviusly a lot of his french friends came but all his family was english and travelled over from England for the funeral. We had an order of service that was bi-lingual (i.e. hymns were printed in both english and french) and also a man at the front who was translating everything into French (at the end of each paragraph), as most of the ceremony was in English due to the vicar being an ex-pat and most of the readings etc done by his english family. Although this was more long winded it was lovely in some ways as it meant that everyone was included, although a few things did seem to get lost in translation (this would def be the case with the speeches I think). If it was me I would definitly look into getting a member of the family or friend who could stand up and translate things for you...it will make your wedding unique and really make your in-laws feel welcome! HTH x

I'm bilingual and come from a family in which everybody seems to have married people from different nationalities, so have been to plenty of bilingual weddings. Sugestions: - email your french guests with info on what to expect, especially if you have a paying bar (unheard of in France) - Prepare a written translation of the service. Try to find a vicar who speaks some French. Even a few sentences will be greatly appreciated. Bilingual services, on the other hand, imho, are tedious.... - we skipped speeches all together. - make sure you play some French songs if you have a disco hth!

I went to a wedding 2 weeks ago in Scotland. The bride was french and her husband is scottish.

The church service was in English and one of the readings after the ceremony that was done by the minister, was then re-read by one of the french guests in french. The french version was also printed in the order of service.

The speeches were brilliant - the brides dad did both French and English version, the groom did the same and the best man was 100% english.

At our table were 3 french people and we managed to chat the whole way through the meal despite us both relying on 'schoolboy' french and english.

The colour scheme matched the colours of the french flag. It was a truly excellent wedding!

My friend is English and married a Finnish guy, they had a bi lingual wedding, but were choosy about what bits they translated - I think if it had been everything it would have been a total marathon! It was lovely though.

Good to hear that people manage to communicate at bilingual weddings, I do have a slight fear of everyone sat there not saying a word! just the scraping of knives and forks against hired plates....aaaargh!

I agree, translated services probably get a bit long and complex and a little guide on "why everyone will be drunk by 3pm" for those oh so well behaved non-drink downing French is propably a good idea. I'll try to persuade to vicar to brush up on his school boy french. Just have to persuade my dad to do a bit of a speech in french, at least its instantly hirarious (for the french at least!)!

Goodbye everybody! Mee-wah!!!

Kate x

We're having a billingual wedding. I'm from Belgium H2B is Scottish.

We chose not to translate everything, because it would all get too long and boring. We just mix it and it all sounds so good. For example: we're having 'Guess how much I love you' as a reading. The big one is in English and the small one in Dutch. We don't lose anything because of that. If you translate everything it might just all get too long.

Good luck on whatever you decide...

This might help you...

https://uk.yahoo.com/?fr=avbbf-uk