Passport with New Name or Old?

dldelano

Hi everyone!
I am very excited - my fiance just booked our honeymoon to Bali! (thank goodness we travel so much for work - 10 days with free flights and hotel nights thanks to points and miles!)...

Wedding & Honeymoon in June
My passport expires in October - and they like you to be outside a 6 month window of expiration when you travel so I need to get it done before the honeymoon. So - what name do I put on it? I haven't legally changed my name yet...what kind of snowball trip would I be on if I begin the name change process this way?

Should I just renew with maiden name now, and pay again later to put my married name on a new one?

TIA!
Darcy

2xtime

I would just renew in my maiden name prior to wedding. Just be sure your plane tickets, etc are also booked in your maiden name or you will run into problems.

lindseroo

Do whatever you want, but your passport MUST match all other forms of ID and your tickets.  So basically if you want to do the passport in your married name, you should legally change your name before your wedding.  (You don't have to tell anyone about this if anyone would be weirded out by it.)

SuMmErKuTiE

If you change your name within a year of obtaining a new passport, you can change your name on your passport for free, but it must be done within the year or you'll pay a fee to get it changed.

Ditto pp.. make sure everything matches! Your passport must match your airline tickets!!! Hotel reservations shouldn't be an issue, but airlines are sticklers! It must match exactly! GL! :0)

dldelano

Good advice! I guess I'll change it with the old name now to make it easy - especially if it will be free to update the name afterwards!

Thank you!!!

kristinanddan

Just get it renewed with the old name now. If you were to change your name before the wedding, you would have to pay to do a legal name change. Just wait to change it until after the wedding. Then you have up to a year from when you renew to get a new one with your new name.

lyndausvi

I had the same issue.  I got it in my maiden name and then once I got married I just changed it for free (minus the cost of 2 new pictures)