Wedding Blog
For those brides who are changing their names post-wedding, WOW, what a pain in the arse! I’ve had friends who’ve gotten married take months to get all of the necessary paperwork filled out. And for completely understandable reasons - it’s a pain in the arse! Not only do you have to travel to each different office and wait in obscene lines, but you also have to fill out paperwork over and over again, and usually it’s the same information on each different form.
There are many places where your name needs to be changed, including:
… and the list goes on, which will be different for each person.
Confused yet? Frustrated?
(source)
I know I am!
I don’t know about you, but I have ZERO interest in risking carpal tunnel! And going to each of these places in the city? No thank you!
Enter my FABULOUS bridesmaid, the lovely Miss Nicole. As one who also wouldn’t have patience for this, her engagement gift to me (I mean US) was a gift card for the complete services at MissNowMrs.com.
I started perusing the website this morning to see what it was all about, and I am floored! They do everything for you. And you only have to enter your information ONCE. Sweet! Your answers to their questions will auto-complete the various forms that you need. As they are completed, you then review, approve, and print them! They then provide you with the respective addresses, associated fees, etc. The only way they could make it easier on you is if they came to your house and licked your stamps. 
They estimate that their service saves you an average of 13 hours of time. Which is completely worth the sub-$30 price tag. Your information is 100% secure, but if you feel uncomfortable entering, say, your social security number, you can fill that in by hand after you print the forms.
Whew. It may seem like a lot of information, but it is so very simple. What a great gift idea!
Are you changing your name? If you’ve already changed it the traditional way, would this service have saved you time (and sanity)?
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That is fabulous. I had no idea something like that existed!
Thanks for the tip! I’ve been trying to decide what to get my MOH for her shower gift… I think I just figured it out!
I feel spoiled. Here in Canada it’s relatively easy, unless you want to go out of your way to have everything “officially” changed just because you want it all that way. I am keeping all my ID with my maiden name and just having it changed as it comes up for renewal. As long as you keep a copy of your marriage certificate in your wallet with all your ID, it’s no problem to use either name anywhere. You don’t have to do a legal name change here either.
OH WOW! This sounds awesome~~~!!!! 
I was so NOT looking forward to the whole name change process… thank you for the information!!!
We have been married for nearly SEVEN months, and I still have yet to legally change my name :-/ Ooops! You may have just inspired me to finally suck it up and pay for this service. I was originally all “p’shaw, I can do that myself without paying 30 bucks” but obviously I CAN’T do it myself
Thank you!! I will TOTALLY be looking into this. I’m getting married next week and had been dreading the name changing process.
You lick your stamps? Ha - no, really, it sounds like this saved you a lot of trouble. First on my mind is changing names at work, new email address, etc.
Ugh…I’m currently in the middle of this process and at a standstill already. I was able to change my name on my SS card and that was about it. My driver’s license expires next month so I can’t do anything till the DMV mails me a “photo card” for a new license and I can’t really change ANYTHING else without the license. It’s the same at work. I go by my last name at work (military) and I can’t change my name on my id card there till they order the new name tapes for my uniform. 
It’s ridiculous!
i’m doing it the easiest way of all, keeping my name just the way it is!
The full story on my name change disaster is here: http://hagensnest.blogspot.com/2009/01/it-truly-cannot-be-this-hard.html
I can’t understand how/why it’s this hard to get a name changed!!!
Thanks! This should be useful. Although I think I still have to stand in line at the DMV…I believe they insist on my sitting for a new portrait. 
That’s great! Thanks!!! Of all things wedding related, I have bitter sweet feelings toward the name change process. I can’t wait to be Mrs. VF, but oh the paper work!
I’m DEFINITELY planning on doing this! I hate the DMV and all other government offices, so having someone else/a computer program do it for me is worth it’s weight in gold!
I’m sort of confused (being mostly through with this process) what forms they are talking about. Most of your credit cards, frequent flyer accounts, utilities, insurance and such will change everything for you over the phone. Just set aside an extra hour while you’re paying the bills and make the calls - the numbers are on your statements. You’ll find a few odd things along the way - my mortgage broker wants a copy of my marriage license, and my professional licensing bureau wanted copies of my old and new drivers’ licenses. My company payroll and benefits needed a copy of my new social security card. But in general it’s not difficult or confusing, or even that time-consuming - it’s just annoying. The important thing to realize is that you don’t have to do it all at once. Do your social security and DL one afternoon after you get your marriage certificate, and make sure you do your company payroll and benefits within a couple of weeks after that. (If you’re putting your husband on your insurance, or vice versa, you generally only have 30 days after the wedding to make those changes.) Do your credit cards a month later. Get your passport in when you can - before you have to travel, anyway. Remember to change your frequent flyer accounts before you want to use them to buy tickets - or do like I did, and buy your tickets in your old name, and then call the airlines the next day to get it straightened out. As far as utilities go, who really cares? And my mortgage broker wants $100 to make the change, so it’s staying in my maiden name until I refinance. It’s no big deal. And it’s amusing when the catalogues get all confused and send you duplicate copies - one in each name.
What a great gift idea! I still have a year to go but I plan on changing my name to First Name, Maiden Name, New Last Name. I’ve heard it is even more complicated to change both your middle name and last name. We’ll see…
I’m just reading the beginning of your blog again, and I really want to reiterate: I have only filled out three (3) forms total in the entire process - for the DL, social security, and passport. Nothing else required a form. And I only waited in two (2) lines - for the DL and one for social security. So, once again - I’m just confused.
@kosstobe - once you get your new social security paperwork, you just show that to everybody else. It’s then your legal name, according to the Federal government, and from there on out it should be smooth sailing. I had a little argument from the guy at the DMV - I just put the SS paperwork in front of him, and said “That is my legal name. Isn’t that what is supposed to be on my DL?” No issues after that.
I’ve been told that basically all these services do is point you to the forms. You still have to fill them out and run around.
IMO, they aren’t worth it. It’s really not that hard to do. I was actually surprised by how easy it was. I got two certified copies of my marriage license from the county. Then I went to SSN (easy!). Got my new card. Went to DMV for the new card. From there, I just started working down the list.
This sounds like what I am looking for. I was married at the end of Jan, but had an Easter trip to take and was scared to take the risk of a messy airline situation! The name change red tape is indeed overwhelming!
try being a legal us resident. $270 to change the name on my greencard! Now i’m not changing until I can apply for us citizenship (so $$$) so i won’t have to pay for a new canadian passport too. I am starting to think maybe he should change his name…
I have a question for you - I imagine you didn’t get around to changing your name right away. So when you book flights and stuff for your honeymoon do you book the tickets using your old name? Even though you are technically married by then and using the new name? I was going to book my tickets using my old name and assumed it would be ok as long as I waited to do all the paperwork for my new name. Is this correct?
How long do you have to change your name?
@bubblewrap: As long as your ID & your boarding pass/airline ticket match names you’re good to go. I changed my license first and waited until EVERYTHING else was changed to get a new passport. That way I had a legal ID with my new name (passport) and a legal ID with my old name (license). International travel that popped up before my passport was changed, I just booked tickets in my old name. The airline doesn’t care as long as you have a photo ID that matches the ticket name.
I plan on changing my name. This is something I will consider doing.
I have to say, I used that same service, but I kind of felt like it was a waste of my money. I am not completely done changing my name on everything, but there’s only a few places where I had to fill out forms. The more annoying thing to me was actually dealing with the people. I went to the SSA first, then went to DMV. There they wouldn’t change my name to match the same as Social Security because they said I changed my middle name and got rid of my old middle name they wouldn’t make them match…it was dumb and I talked to the manager about it and they wouldn’t let me do it. I was like WTF?!?! I want my SS card to match my DL name. They said they would only match my SS card name if passport let me.
Then, it turns out the SSA printed my name wrong on my card. I had to go back there again to change it…SO ANNOYING (the first time the lady was so rude)! The second time took forever but was at least much easier. I mailed in my passport and they made the change without a problem. But, now I have to go back to the DMV again.
So yeah, the forms didn’t really annoy me, it was the trips I had to take and the rude people I had to deal with. If that service could handle that for me I would consider it to be more valuable.
@bubblewrap: Also, from what I hear, unless your honeymoon is a while after your marriage, you won’t be able to use your married name - you have to wait for your marriage license to get your SS card, which can then take weeks, and then get your DL or passport - I’m sure pre-9/11 people booked honeymoon tickets with their new names, but now that you have to show ID (a million times!) that matches, you have to go with your maiden name
@suzanno: Actually, to be technical about it, individual states govern your legal name and not the federal government. Practically, it doesn’t make much of a difference — but the DMV guy probably wasn’t wrong, it just wasn’t worth the fight to him because it all would have ended up the same way anyway.
It’s nice that this service exists, but if I change my name at all, I’ll probably add his last name as a second middle. So I don’t think I’d be able to take advantage of the service, but it probably won’t matter because not that many places care about a second middle name.
I won’t be changing mine.
We’ve been married 6 months now and I’m still not finished! I’m still my maiden name with the IRS bc I was scared if I changed it in the vicinity of tax time they would somehow lose my information. So one more thank goodness! That’s one awesome gift from your bridesmaid!
I just added this gift card to my registry. Thanks so much for the information! I would have spent all that time and been just as frustrated!
Gotta love one stop “shopping.” After putting together a wedding, they should at least make the name change process easy! :o) Thanks for the tip!
I think this is definitely worth the $30 for the ease of this! I thought I would have to take a day off work to do everything, but looks like only my license. It expires 2 months after our wedding, so I’m going to wait til then to do that part
Ugh! I haven’t even thought of this yet. Thanks for the reminder–it’s going to be a heavy lift. Grrrr.
…wait, I should have read rather than skimmed…whuh? OMG, I’m so doing this!!!!!!
@suzanno: I’ve tried to change my name on my credit cards and I actually have to send in a copy of our marriage certificate, so it’s not quite as easy as a simple phone call. To change it for my bank account, I had to bring in a copy of our marriage license AND my driver’s license with my new name. So I think every person’s situation may be a little different depending on what state you are in.
I’m going to have to agree with suzanno and say that changing my name wasn’t that big of a deal. In Iowa, you sign your new name to your marriage license. Once I received my marriage license in the mail, after the ceremony, I headed to my SS office. I filled out a short form, handed over my old SS card and got a new one sent to me in the mail. I then headed over to the DMV, showed them a copy of my marriage license, handed over my old DL and got a new one on the spot. As far as medical records, credit cards, etc, I either called their customer service hotlines, updated it the next time I went in for an appt (at the dr.s) or just left it! Do I really care if the water bill comes address to my maiden name? Nope!
Total, I waited in 2 lines and filled out 1 form. That’s it. It was actually pretty easy to do!
You’re welcome, everyone! I am happy to help out The last thing I want to deal with as soon as I enter wedded bliss is THIS.
I guess I should make a quick edit/update as to why this service is good for me - exhibit A: I HATE talking on the phone & even more, waiting on hold. Which is why I wouldn’t want to call various credit card companies, etc.
& the Chicago DMV is a lesson in maintaining sanity. and I really don’t want to test mine
I got married in, uh, July of last year and still haven’t changed my name!! Mostly out of laziness, and some out of not sure I want too.
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Mrs. Quiche, Chicago/Montego Bay
Age and Occupation: 28, Interior Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 42, Telecom Guru
Engagement Date: July 2, 2008
Wedding Date: May, 2009
Venue: Coyaba Resort, Montego Bay
About Me: I love Chicago and can’t imagine living anywhere else (Well, except Paris. Or anywhere in France, for that matter!). I’m a full-time worker, part-time student, soon-to-be-step-mom, indie music lovin’, architecture and design fanatic, macaroni and cheese addict, vegetarian, Francophile, Ohio State football obsessed, wedding planning girl. Mr. Quiche and I are “Partners-in-Crime” and cannot wait to celebrate our marriage surrounded by our family and closest friends. I plan on DIYing my little heart out (or as much as a suitcase to Jamaica will hold).
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