Passports and name change

After your marriage licence is filed, you still have to physically do more work to get your name changed. To avoid that hassle I'm just waiting until after our honeymoon to hit up the DMV and social security office.

If you're going on your honeymoon right away, book your trip under your current (maiden) name that's on your passport now and then change your name after you return. If you're delaying your honeymoon, depending on by how long, you can book your trip in your new name, change your name and order a new passport before you travel. For me, I'm not going on my honeymoon until 8 months later so I will have plenty of time to change my name and get a new passport before then. I booked my trip in my new name.

I forgot to add that I don't have a passport yet so I don't want to get one under my current name just to change it next year

View Quoted Comment I'm in kinda the same boat. I had to get one for a work trip though, and the guy at the post office told me you have up to a year after your passport is issued to renew it with your married name for free

Many people travel first and do the name change later since many of the things take a while. Especially if your going soon after your wedding. You will need your marriage license to do many of these changes. So it's not an overnight process, plus if you book things early with your married name and your paperwork isn't completed yet you will not be able to travel. You need a new social security card and license showing the new name. We just had an example of a groom who purchased airplane tickets using his last name and they were leaving right away for honeymoon. Not enough time for her to change her name to match and the airline won't let her fly without matching identification.

We booked mine under my Maiden name to travel with my current passport.

View Quoted Comment That's good to know. I'd hate to get a passport and have to pay for a new one to update my name

View Quoted Comment

If you get your passport in your maiden name and then submit the information needed to change the name on it to your married name within a year of getting the first one, you will not have to pay to get the new one. This is what I will be doing since we are leaving for our honeymoon 2 days after the wedding, plus it will give me time to change my name over without feeling too rushed.

View Quoted Comment If you do get one, they’ll do the name change for free as long as it’s in the same year. I learned that from WW

I'm planning to change my name well after the wedding. I purchased a 10-year passport back in 2014 so I might as well enjoy it one last time (honeymoon in 2019) before I get a new one (since it will only be 5 years old ).

We’re travelling about 10 days after the wedding so I’ll change my passport when we get back, but start the process for new SS card and such right after the wedding (I’m a teacher and it would make it WAY easier to change my name at work at the start of the school year rather than part of the way through it!)

Depending on where you’re going and who you’re flying with, if you book your ticket under your new name or old name and do not have the proper passport, just arrive about an hour earlier than you originally planned with a copy of your marriage certificate and birth certificate. Airlines understand this happens and are usually pretty cool with changing the name on the ticket for a wedding as long as you have the supporting documents

Our honeymoon was on the second day after our wedding so I used my old passport under my maiden name for travel. After we came back, I made all the legal name changes and got my new passport.