Notre-Dame Cathedral hosts first wedding in 30 years — for carpenter who helped rebuild it after devastating blaze
- - Notre-Dame Cathedral hosts first wedding in 30 years — for carpenter who helped rebuild it after devastating blaze
Ariel ZilberOctober 31, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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Notre-Dame, the iconic French landmark that caught fire five years ago, hosted its first wedding in 30 years when a carpenter who helped rebuild the cathedral married his fiancée beneath its newly restored Gothic vaults.
Martin Lorentz, 29, a craftsman who spent three years reconstructing the cathedral’s medieval wooden framework, exchanged vows with his now-wife, Jade, on Oct. 25 inside the historic Paris monument — the first marriage there since 1995.
News of the wedding was reported by the National Catholic Register and France 24 TV.
Martin Lorentz, 29, a craftsman who spent three years reconstructing Notre-Dame’s medieval wooden framework, exchanged vows with his now-wife, Jade, on Oct. 25 inside the historic Paris monument.
Their wedding was the first inside the iconic church in 30 years.
The ceremony was approved as a one-time exception by Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, who granted special permission in honor of the workers who helped resurrect the 12th-century masterpiece.
Weddings at Notre-Dame are exceedingly rare because the cathedral is not a parish church and does not normally conduct sacraments for individual couples.
As the seat of the Archbishop of Paris and a national monument, it serves primarily as a site for major religious and state ceremonies — Masses, funerals and national commemorations — rather than private events.
Only the archbishop can authorize a wedding there, and such dispensations have been granted just a handful of times in its 860-year history.
About 500 guests attended Saturday’s ceremony, most of them fellow artisans, engineers and restorers who took part in the massive reconstruction effort after the 2019 blaze that destroyed Notre-Dame’s roof and spire.
“It’s the happiest day of my life,” Lorentz said of the couple’s big day.
Lorentz, who hand-cut oak beams using 13th-century tools and methods, had asked the archbishop earlier this year for permission to wed in the cathedral he helped save.
“It’s the happiest day of my life,” Lorentz told reporters.
“I want to share my love — our love — with the whole world, with everyone who needs it.”
Lorentz, who hand-cut oak beams using 13th-century tools and methods, had asked the archbishop earlier this year for permission to wed in the cathedral he helped save.
“I don’t think I can say anything else.”
Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, the cathedral’s rector, officiated the Mass and welcomed the couple with a personal touch.
“Jade and Martin, welcome to this cathedral. Martin, you know it well — you know it well, you know it from above,” Ribadeau said, referring to the roof beams Lorentz helped craft by hand.
The Notre-Dame fire on April 15, 2019, destroyed the cathedral’s spire and most of its wooden roof. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The fire caused severe damage but left much of its structure and many priceless artifacts intact. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
When the newlyweds emerged from the cathedral, dozens of carpenters formed an honor guard, raising their axes in salute. Tourists who gathered outside joined in applause as the couple stepped out into the crisp Paris air.
The Oct. 25 ceremony symbolized the cathedral’s gradual return to life after years of painstaking restoration. Reconstruction crews have rebuilt the roof and spire using the same medieval methods that shaped the original structure 860 years ago.
Notre-Dame reopened Dec. 8, 2024, with Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris presiding over the historic moment with French President Emmanuel Macron before 1,500 guests. Dignitaries included then-President-elect Donald Trump, then-first lady Jill Biden, Prince William, Elon Musk and 50 heads of state.
Macron has described the rebuilding as an “immense source of pride for the entire nation.”
For Lorentz, the wedding capped years of personal dedication to a monument that has defined both his craft and his faith.
He told French media that he often worked late nights cutting oak beams “as they had been 800 years ago,” before watching them lifted into place over the nave.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
