How do you handle checks given at your wedding?

I would deposit before leaving if at all possible. You may need to speak with your bank as your guests make checks out to Mr. and Mrs. ______ and your name is not officially changed yet.

Following. I'm also concerned about what happens when guests write checks to "Mr&Mrs Lastname" for sentimental reasons. Would we have to wait until after I change my name and we join accounts to cash them?

If that is the case, should we communicate with those guests about why the checks are still outstanding? ETA: lol thanks PP for bring up and addressing my question before it posted.

I would also deposit before leaving. We have mobile deposit, so I just signed the back and deposited them all the morning after the wedding. Luckily all of ours were made out to either one or the other of us, but I would check with your bank and let them know that you just got married.

Do you guys do online banking? We left for the honeymoon that Monday and we just deposited them all on our mobile app on Sunday night. I don't think it looks bad to do that....at least I hope not! We didn't want to lose any of them or have anyone get annoyed they weren't getting deposited yet. The last time I wrote a check for a wedding I think it was deposited within a week?

For those asking - you shouldn't have to wait till your name change! For the ones that were addressed to Mr and Mrs Husband last name - husband just deposited it and signed for it on his bank account app. I think there were a couple we did deposit in my account after we got back from the honeymoon and we just brought in the marriage license to the bank and they just had me sign my full maiden name and then my full married name underneath it !

Yes we do mobile banking and already have a joint account.

I hope the same @oliviaP .

It would be 12 days tops if we deposited them when we got back. Probably safer to just do mobile deposits and be done with it.

I'd mobile deposit or deposit at the atm. My checking account has my former married name on the account and my maiden name on record. If you talk to the bank before hand they can tell you what to do in this situation.

We brought our marriage license with us to the bank and they put a copy on file. I signed the checks with my married and maiden name. We already had a joint account. No one complained about the week delay.

Give them to a trusted person. Better yet, deposit them in the ATM on your way to your honeymoon. Make the bank aware of maiden/married names. No biggie.

We are probably going to deposit them via mobile app. If we have issues I will give them to my father to deposit them in a joint account I have with my dad and I can move it over to my joint acct with FH. If you give them to someone, make sure you sign them (both of you).

We left for our honeymoon about 12 hours after our wedding ended,we were gone for about 12 days. I then left for a business trip 3 days after we got back. We tried going to the bank to deposit the checks Monday to do it in one shot but the system was down. We haven't had a chance to go back yet so we've started depositing the checks written directly to either one of us through mobile deposit. We have some we feel more comfortable depositing in person because they're written to mr & mrs x. and I didn't take his last name. It's not ideal to wait as long as we have but I think within the month is fine. I also am not one who gets upset when someone takes a long time to deposit one of my checks.

Oh, and for the ones with his last name, the bank said we both needed to sign it and that should be enough to deposit to our joint account.

Following.... i was also wondering this. We leave Tuesday after our sunday wedding. Monday is a bank holiday but i was just going to deposit them in the atm before we leave. I hope it doesnt look bad? I hate having checks out in the universe for long too.

I suggest opening a joint savings account prior to leaving, if you don't already have one. Then you can deposit all of your wedding checks into the joint account with mobile banking. We brought the marriage license into the bank so they could have it on file. Some people wrote "Mr. and Mrs. Lastname" without even first names on the check, not thinking about the fact that's not anyone's legal name lol! Each bank may have a different procedure for dealing with that. So I would deposit the ones you can prior to your honeymoon, and then you can deposit ones with unusual circumstances in person or call and ask what they would like you to do. I would think within 2 weeks will not upset anyone.

You need to deposit them as soon as possible. I would be so annoyed if I had a check out there for almost 2 weeks.

We had no problem depositing checks into H's account that were made out to Mr and Mrs Richmond.

My FMIL always waits until 1 month and if the check isn't cashed by then, she reaches out because she doesn't know if it's lost or what not

I personally found this process a giant pain my ass, if my memory serves me correctly. Like to the point I will never right "Mr and Mrs _____" on a check. I had no problem depositing the "Mr OR Mrs______". AFTER my name change. I honestly will probably not ever write a check for a wedding any longer. Gift card or cash for me.

You can sign your maiden name then married name if the word and is written on the check. Also just write "for deposit only" on the back where you would sign and deposit them!

@Beachy

You should never sign checks before giving them to someone else for deposit unless you write "for deposit only." Once you indorse that check it becomes bearer paper and is legally the same as cash. Anyone in possession of it gets rights to the money.

In your situation with your father there is no need for him to put the money in his own account. Anyone can deposit checks for someone into the named person's account by dropping them at the bank.

I think it just depends on what you prefer. I'm assuming since they are writing checks that they're not in their 20's and know that the money isn't available to them.