Name/Passport Change Waiting Time

AshleyLR06

I'm getting married in mid-October, but we're not going on our honeymoon until NYE weekend. Is two months enough time to get my marriage license, new SS card, driver's license, and (most importantly) passport. We're booking our vacation in a few days, and I'm not sure which name to use!

Thanks in advance!

AmoroAgain

Yes and no.  You can go into your local passport center, with documents showing that you travel in less than 6 (?) weeks, and you can get your name change done quickly.  (Make sure you make the appointment for before 12, as it doesn't say on the website that any time after that, and they won't do your renewal)

So, if you do it that way, yes, it can work, but otherwise, you might be cutting it kind of short.  Also, if you're going to be making the reservations for your maiden name, they *can* give you a hard time. Luckily, when I traveled on reservations made under my maiden name, I just showed them both of my passports (the one with the maiden and the one with the new) and things were fine.  But you will have to walk around with the two passports. 

alithebride

get your passport in maiden name. you have a year after the date of issuance to change your name for free. since you'll only have about 10 weeks it's cutting it close and you'd probably expedite it which costs more. get passport now in maiden, book everyhting in maiden (bring marriage cert in case the resort needs to see it to prove you're married but NOT to use as travel ID) and then when you come back send in passport with paperwork from travel.state.gov with marriage certificate and get your new name passport. the thing is to get your passport with your married name right after you get married you need to wait for the marriage cert back from the state which can take a few weeks. since you don't really know how long it will be it's better to just get it now in maiden and change after HM.

AshleyLR06

Thank you both! The timing seems to be the most annoying part. I just renewed my registration on my car (in a different state than we'll be living), my driver's license (also in a different state) expires 3 weeks before the wedding, and I've heard some weird stories about people getting marriage certificates back late. I think I'll just book everything in my maiden name, keep my current passport, and worry about the legal changes later. One less thing to stress me out. :-)