The wedding day is the most important day of the Gitane bride's life, where she moves from a girl to womanhood. French Gitans, in the south of France, are full of spirit, they live and breathe to the rythms of rumba and flamenco music and dance. Any chance to celebrate brings song and dance together with 'palmas', hand clapping. Before or during the wedding, the bride makes her difficult transition from a girl to womanhood, where her honesty is tested in secret, by the elder women of her clan, with the 'mouchoir' handkerchief. The bride will typically have three wedding dresses, the first one is white for her religious faith, and that is a traditional marriage colour for Roma, secondly a special robe which is the proof of her honesty to match the hankerchief, the french word the 'mouchoir' where the flower stains are her proof, and the final bridal gown is usually an over the top carnival outfit. The groom's outfits will match the brides in colour, but the groom will not have seen his fiancee's outfits until the day of the wedding, when she wears them. Thousands can attend very big wedding celebrations which can sometimes last until daybreak.

Men in the bride's family often tear their shirts in honour of her transition. There can be well known Gitan musicians and singers, especially from the families of the Reyes and Balliardo, such as Manitas de Plata or members of the Gypsy Kings group, they are family, cousins, uncles or great uncles. In Roma tradition the men congregate with the men and the women stay with the women. Everyone will dance with the bride, one after another, some putting money into a hat, for luck and helping the married couple on their way.