Registry Office Wedding Questions?! Help please :)

securityguy

The business about names on passports and tickets for honeymoon dates back to a past age in which booking into hotels under different names was the stuff of shameless hussies. Does anyone care any more?

hazel934

Just in case anyone is interested re passport, u can actually change the name on your passport up to 3 months before the ceremony. Your old passport will be cancelled. The new passport is ‘post-dated’ - this means you can’t use it before the ceremony, but if you wanted to travel under your married name and didnt need a passport in the run up it might be an option, I looked into it but decided against as Id have to apply for ESTA for the states on the day of my wedding

https://www.gov.uk/changing-passport-information/marriage-and-civil-partnership

kloana

lal205 wrote: »

Firstly, will this cause problems as I will be flying with my maiden name? I wont have changed my name anywhere as I will have only been married 24hrs.

Echoing other comments, all you need to do is ensure that your passport and all bookings match in name. Your travel agent/airline/hotel, etc. won't give a fig if you're newlywed or not

Your maiden name is still yours to use for the rest of your life/at will/whenever you want (and of course you don't have to take hubby's name at all). I use both my names interchangeably, for different reasons. I actually started changing everything over but couldn't be bothered carrying on! So what I've changed and not changed seems quite random...some bills and accounts, but not others My passport and driving licence are in my maiden name, and will continue to be so forever, even though everyone who knows me calls me by my married name.

Congratulations x

lal205

Ha that's quite fun to use two names, maybe I'll do that! Although I do have OCD so I don't think Id carry that off for long!
I will keep my booking and passport as is and just change everything when I get back.

Nice to know we don't gand to pay over £300 for the registrar fee, that did worry me a little!

Thanks

Seanymph

Have the loveliest day.

I married my husband at the registry office, with just our children as witnesses - all three signed even though two were under 18.

It was lovely, the two registrars were wonderful, and I look back and am so pleased we didnt' have any sort of production over it.

TonyMMM

Seanymph wrote: »

Have the loveliest day.

I married my husband at the registry office, with just our children as witnesses - all three signed even though two were under 18.

There is no minimum age requirement for witnesses - as long as the registrar is satisfied they are old enough to understand what is going on and the significance of it.

BarryBlue

When we got married there were still 4 years left on my wife's passport so she didn't change her name as it would have cost for a new one. Very MSE!

I think the best way to get married is at a register office with very few people and no fuss. It is just a change of your legal status, nothing more or less, so why people spend £20000 or so to achieve the same thing is beyond me. With a simple ceremony you can enjoy the day without and stress or worry. Do it for you, not everyone else.

Gloomendoom

BarryBlue wrote: »

I think the best way to get married is at a register office with very few people and no fuss. It is just a change of your legal status, nothing more or less

Some people believe it is quite a bit more, so a registry office ceremony would not be appropriate for them.

so why people spend £20000 or so to achieve the same thing is beyond me. With a simple ceremony you can enjoy the day without and stress or worry. Do it for you, not everyone else.

Agreed, and if you want to throw a big party for friends and family, do it. If you don't, don't.

InsideInsurance

kloana wrote: »

Your travel agent/airline/hotel, etc. won't give a fig if you're newlywed or not

Technically it depends where you are going, there are a few countries where certain scandalous things like premarital or homosexual sex is still outlawed and even individual hotels that do the same (as per the guesthouse that banned all unmarrieds from sharing a room http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9945791/Christian-guesthouse-owners-find-way-to-carry-on-banning-gay-couples.html)

kloana wrote: »

Your maiden name is still yours to use for the rest of your life/at will/whenever you want (and of course you don't have to take hubby's name at all). I use both my names interchangeably, for different reasons.

There isnt really ownership on names, you can call yourself pretty much whatever you want irrespective of birth/ marriage/ adoption certificates as long as you do not attempt to defraud anyone or gain anything by it.

Certificates are only useful for convincing others that this is actually your name but some things are surprisingly easy to change your name on and as long as you plot the right path it can be easy to get things changed over (if you want).

Of cause forms may become difficult to fill in if you use a dozen names and the police/ immigration or whoever may question why you've so many cards in different names in your wallet if they had reason to look

The Mrs has 3 active names, her maiden name, her "spanish" way of writing married names and the "british" way of writing married names and she has occasionally been asked why cards/passports etc dont match each other at hotel check ins or hire car companies etc

BarryBlue

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Some people believe it is quite a bit more, so a registry office ceremony would not be appropriate for them.

Agreed, and if you want to throw a big party for friends and family, do it. If you don't, don't.

The trappings are all incidental and optional. Marriage is a legal institution and you can partake for very little money. People may want it to be more but there is only married or unmarried. You are or you aren't, the add-ons make no difference to that.

All the best weddings I've known have been register office ones followed by a knees-up. The flashy, expensive ones and the churchy ones are usually dire in my experience.