Christine Escoulan, elected mayor of Toulouse: “We married all those who had postponed”
The deputy mayor in charge of wedding celebrations in Toulouse takes stock of the resumption of the wedding season after two years of health crisis.
At the Capitole town hall, have you suffered the effects of the health crisis on marriages?
In 2019, out of a married 681 couples. In 2020, we did 703 with reports and this year we are at 551 with around 150 pending. Overall, we shot on the same numbers. There hasn’t really been a drop. However, couples have always had to plan ahead if they also want to organize their wedding according to the providers. Today, there are very few places left to get married in the Capitol. Of course, there is always a possibility to fix a last minute date, during the week, for couples for whom there is an emergency.
How did you handle the situation with lockdowns, cancellations and reports?
Last year, we made sure to clean up all the reports for 2020. We set up much longer time slots than usual. This helped to stall a large majority of celebratory reports. In particular, we married more people during the week. There on a real return to normal, we only have a few reports left but it is very much in the minority.
Has Covid changed some wedding traditions?
We have smaller weddings since a gauge was put in place during the Covid. Civil marriage was limited to 30 people during the health crisis. Today, it is a measure that we have kept. The gauge has been increased to 50 guests but we remain at that number. It is much more convenient in terms of security. I do twenty weddings per weekend, so that quickly makes 150 or even 200 people who are at the ceremony or are waiting for the ceremony in the Capitol. Of course, we have three police officers on site, but the gauge makes it possible to reduce incivility.