Enterrement de Vie de Garçon

“Enterrement de vie de garçon.” Basically, this translates to “burial/funeral of the boy”. No, it doesn’t necessarily mean that someone has died – well, not literally, anyway. This is what many of us refer to as “the Bachelor Party”.

Naturally, I can’t speak for all French people, but I can tell you that the traditional pre-wedding festivities for the guys here isn’t the same as it is for most American guys.

Based on my observations, it seems that the bachelor celebration in France consists of a few basic factors:

– Attack the groom-to-be when he least expects it, and then abduct him.

– Relieve the victim of his possessions. i.e., wallet, cell phone, etc.

– Dress him in ridiculous clothes – the more humiliating, the better.

– Take him to a highly populated area & display him before the public.

– Get extremely fucking drunk.

The activities that these guys embark upon for the weekend (yes, this sophisticated entertainment goes on for an entire weekend as opposed to just one night) varies, depending on the region & on what the poor bastard’s friends decide to do.

With the case of my husband, Olivier, he had started out looking like this…

…& after his friends got a hold of him, he ended up like this:

Once they were satisfied with his appearance, Olivier’s friends then put roller blades on his feet & made him do laps all around the area of the Sacre Coeur – which for those of you who may not know, is a huge basilica & popular tourist attraction here in Montmartre.

Later that day, I found myself painting his fingernails, promising that I had some polish remover to take it off with later. Of course, I was bullshitting.

It wasn’t something that I ever imagined doing, but of course I wanted him looking his best later on that night when he & his friends would be out drinking & going out for ice cream. Yes – going out for ice cream. I am not kidding.

Unlike many American bachelor parties, there is a good chance that the bride-to-be will see photos of the festivities. But, uh…after seeing a ton of pictures like the one above, I almost think that they should start thinking about banning cameras.

At least, I’m sure Olivier feels that way.

[tags]French customs, bachelor parties[/tags]