Getting Married and Changing Name Before Wedding

I wouldn’t do this. It’s way more hassle to get married ahead of time, honestly.

Then you could only have a vow renewal. You wouldn't want to deceive your guests by calling it a wedding when you are already married.

My understanding is that there is no fee to get a new passport in your married name, anyhow.

I think this idea from your FFIL will create far more problems than it will solve. It is not hard, nor expensive to renew a passport and drivers license and then change your name afterward. Don't you want all your guests to be with you when you get married?

View Quoted Comment Good point- this won’t save you any money, it is free to get a passport in your new name as long as you do it within a year of changing your name.

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Oh thanks good to know! I was afraid it was going to be another $110. It sounds like it's much better to just wait

I wouldn't do this. Your guests are coming to see you get married. Why change your whole plan just to save a couple of dollars and do paperwork? At that point it isn't a wedding anymore, it's a vow renewal.

I think you should do this. It’ll just be easier and I don’t understand how this could “cause more problems” like seriously it’s no one else’s business.

My license expired two months before our wedding and they said it’s only $12 to change your name on it.

Bad idea - change the items after you are married. It is not that hard, honestly!

Eloping prior to your wedding may be a useful in your effort to address your clerical dilemma with your identification, but if you are committed to hosting a public ceremony and reception as well, perhaps it may also be beneficial to express to your guests that you have eloped and wish that they join you to celebrate your marriage rather than to attend your wedding. Some guests may feel deceived if they learn that you were married prior to your public ceremony. I would not wish you to isolate any of your family and friends as you enter into this new chapter of life and love.

I think changing your passport is so much more of a hassle then just applying for it in a new name, I don't think you should risk not having your passport correct or on time for a trip for a trip you'll need it for. I'd just wait until you changed your name to apply for a new passport.

This seems like more of a hassle than it’s worth. Besides, the small fee to change your name is minimal compared to the cost of a wedding and honeymoon.

A lot of places charge a very small or no fee to change the name on a license or possible even the passport.

Passports can typically be changed for free if you do it within a year of issue. Most driver's licenses can be changed for a tiny fee. Just make sure that any tickets are in your maiden name

In my state (MA) it’s only $25 for a license renewal. Your name on your passport can be changed for free if it’s within a year of issue. So in my case, this would have only saved me $25 but it actually would have cost me more than that to get married beforehand (cost of ceremony at courthouse is more than $25 here) and still pay my officiant for the day of.

It's too risky this close to your wedding/honeymoon date. Getting your marriage certificate, then waiting on the name change paperwork to go through and THEN filing for a passport renewal, it's not as quick as it sounds. You may be waiting months for things to finalize. It my renewal year too, I just did everything under my maiden name and will deal with the name change stuff when we get back from the honeymoon. Last thing we need to stress out about is not getting my passport back in time!

I'll be legally married a little prior, so I'll change my license, passport, medical information, change the deed to our home, etc. to my married name. I think it just depends on what you want, it's not a huge expense to change all of it. Free for things like medical insurance, regular insurance, credit cards, etc. you just have to call and deal with all that. Where I am, a new license is $25, a new house deed is $30, passport is $50 I think. Don't let comments on here deter you from doing what you want to do, it will still be a wedding in front of your family & friends, and God (if that's what you believe in).

View Quoted Comment I'm doing this same thing.

I don't get the whole argument against doing this as far as you will be fooling your guests and it's not fair to your guests that they won't see the wedding if you legally get married first. We did this for insurance purposes and told everyone that yes we are legally married but we are definitely having our wedding celebration as planned in Oct. Every single person is still as excited to come to the wedding and understood why we did it the way we did. It's actually custom to do it this way where his family is from so his mom was not shocked at all. We are having a DW and I'm glad I will have everything in my new name for it for booking everything. We are also house hunting and I was really against signing all that paperwork in my previous name which was from a previous marriage.

We did our legal ceremony in a walk in place and just said the simple vows with my son there. We didn't invite anyone because that would have taken away from our actual celebration. We consider Oct our wedding. We'll celebrate both days. I know it's a huge no no to SO many people in WW but it worked for us and not a single person has said well you don't need the ceremony now.

No one cares if people choose to get married in a simple ceremony beforehand then has a reception or vow renewal. It is the couples who choose to lie to people that comes off as.....wrong. Why the lie?