The mairie and the celebration are separate events
French law requires the civil ceremony at the mairie, and the religious or symbolic ceremony is a separate event of its own, often on a different day. Anglophone guests routinely assume one event and book travel for the wrong day. Each ceremony is its own schedule entry with its own time and place, so guests plan around what they are actually invited to.
The vin d'honneur has no English equivalent
A drinks reception whose guest list is wider than the dinner's, it exists in no equivalent form in Anglophone wedding culture. Some guests are invited to this part of the day and not the rest, and need a schedule that says which. Each event carries its own description, so the split is stated rather than hinted at.
14/09/2027 is read differently on the other side
In France a date is day/month; across the Atlantic it is month/day. The same September 14 wedding is written 14/09/2027 on one side and 09/14/2027 on the other, and the format that looks obvious to one half of the guest list reads as an impossible date to the other — just when flights are booked. Each locale renders the date in its own convention from a single stored date.
The timeline runs far later than Anglophone guests expect
Dinner at 21:00, dancing past 02:00, soupe à l'oignon at dawn. A French wedding evening is longer and later than guests used to a short evening expect, which changes childcare, taxis and hotel bookings. Explicit start and end times per event set expectations before anyone books a transfer.
Common questions
Can both the civil ceremony and the celebration appear on one site?
Yes. Each is its own event entry, so guests see both dates, both venues and which parts they are part of.
Can guests reply in their own language?
Yes. The RSVP works in either language and every response arrives in a single list.
Can vin d'honneur-only guests get a different schedule from dinner guests?
Yes. Each event carries its own description, so you can state plainly who is invited to which part and when it starts.
Do accented characters work in guest names?
Yes. Names are stored and displayed exactly as entered, including accents in RSVP fields and confirmations.