{"id":21878,"date":"2025-11-07T15:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21878"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:03:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:03:48","slug":"notre-dame-cathedral-makes-rare-exception-to-host-wedding-for-carpenter-who-helped-rebuild-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/11\/notre-dame-cathedral-makes-rare-exception-to-host-wedding-for-carpenter-who-helped-rebuild-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame Cathedral Makes Rare Exception to Host Wedding For Carpenter Who Helped Rebuild It"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21881\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21881\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/11\/Notre-Dame_credit-FRANCE24-English-YouTube.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21881\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2025\/11\/Notre-Dame_credit-FRANCE24-English-YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FRANCE24 English \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The newly re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral was the host of something it hadn\u2019t seen in 30 years: a wedding. The last wedding held at the cathedral was in 1995, when the Cathedral ceased being a parish church. However, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, issued a special authorization for the wedding of Martin Lorentz and his fianc\u00e9e Jade, which was held on October 25. Lorentz was one of the carpenters that worked on the restoration of the historic Cathedral after it was damaged in a fire. The authorization permitted 500 guests for the wedding, with many of them being other carpenters who had restored the church. Lorentz had worked on the restoration for three years, trying to maintain the church\u2019s historic look by carving and assembling the church\u2019s beams in a medieval fashion, true to the original architecture.<\/p>\n<p>Msgr. Ribadeau Dumas oversaw the wedding and noted Lorentz\u2019s contribution to the church. \u201cJade and Martin, welcome to this cathedral. Martin, you know it well \u2014 you know it from above,\u201d he said. It was a dream come true for Lorentz, who had hoped to have the church as his wedding venue while working on it. Lorentz spoke with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.franceinfo.fr\/culture\/patrimoine\/incendie-de-notre-dame-de-paris\/reouverture\/notre-dame-de-paris-le-mariage-d-exception-d-un-charpentier-et-sa-compagne-celebre-dans-la-cathedrale_7575280.html\"><em>France 2<\/em><\/a> about what the special venue meant for him. \u201cI wanted to share our love with the whole world, with everyone who needs it. It&#8217;s the best day of my life; I can&#8217;t say anything else,\u201d he said. Other carpenters echoed the specialness of the event. \u201cTo end this adventure like this is wonderful. Getting married in our cathedral is a bit like being at home,\u201d said one. \u201cIt&#8217;s crazy that this wedding was able to take place, and to see my friends here &#8230; I&#8217;m so happy,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n<p>The cathedral has been the site of some royal weddings, including Mary Stuart with Fran\u00e7ois II in 1558 and Napoleon III and Eug\u00e9nie de Montijo in 1853.The image of a newly-restored Notre Dame Cathedral giving back to one of the men who helped to restore her beauty offered a poignant recollection of birth and resurrection to the witnesses of Montez\u2019s wedding to his bride. Onlookers cheered when the couple were declared husband and wife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The newly re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral was the host of something it hadn\u2019t seen in 30 years: a wedding. The last wedding held at the cathedral was in 1995, when the Cathedral ceased being a parish church. However, the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, issued a special authorization for the wedding of Martin Lorentz and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":21881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Notre Dame Cathedral Makes Rare Exception to Host Wedding For Carpenter Who Helped Rebuild It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A carpenter who helped restore Notre Dame Cathedral married his bride inside the historic church\u2014the first wedding held there in 30 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/11\/notre-dame-cathedral-makes-rare-exception-to-host-wedding-for-carpenter-who-helped-rebuild-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Notre Dame Cathedral Makes Rare Exception to Host Wedding For Carpenter Who Helped Rebuild It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A carpenter who helped restore Notre Dame Cathedral married his bride inside the historic church\u2014the first wedding held there in 30 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/11\/notre-dame-cathedral-makes-rare-exception-to-host-wedding-for-carpenter-who-helped-rebuild-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta 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