Wedding Blog #25 - The Adventure of Changing My Last Name

Hello wonderful readers! I decided as one of my last Wedding Blogs I would share the adventure of changing my last name.

Well to start off with we live a little over an hour away from the county we got married in, so to get a copy of our marriage license (which you have to purchase, you don't just get after you paid to get the license in the first place, craziness!) you can do it two ways: first way is you can go online and order a copy for the $14 fee plus $7 to use the site plus shipping plus you have to fax them a copy of something notarized saying you are who you say you are, which a notary is usually paid to notarize, or you can take option two and just driving the hour and getting a copy for $14. I chose to drive there and get a copy on my day off, plus I visited my best friend and had lunch with my mom so it was a good day and worth it.

So once I had a copy of that in hand I decided I would ask my best friend that just got married what I needed to have with me to get my name changed, she said my marriage license and drivers license or ID. Ok, check and check, I have both of those. I decided I would go on my next day off and get it all done at once, well to change your drivers license you have to have your social security card changed first, but the day or two before I went to social security the government shut down happened and one of the services that shut down was changing your name on your card, so no social security card change means no drivers license change. :-( Finally the government opened back up and I got a couple days off, so I went to the social security office closest to me and waited an hour to get my name changed. I brought my marriage license and passport (you can also bring your ID) to get the job done. The next day I was at the DMV 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a line, by the time I got the form filled out, waited, paid for a new driver's license, and took a new picture, it was a hour. But with both of those done I could go on to change my name on my bank and get a new debit card and change my name at work. Once you have those two things changed you can change it all over. :-) So now I am officially all around Mrs. Thorsen! Loves.