Signing your marriage certificate with you is so fun!

So, you've signed the marriage documents with me, you are both officially married, and now you've returned from your honeymoon or just a bit of time to yourselves after your big day, and you are ready to change your name, well, where do you go from here?!

Well, the first thing that happens is when I register all your paperwork, I also order your official marriage certificate. This is different to the fancy certificate you receive on the day, which may surprise you to know that this is actually not legally binding, just a cute memento to hang on your wall and frame. Once I order your marriage certificate and registered your marriage, it can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks for your marriage to be registered. This is just the waiting times for the BDM, and we unfortunately have no control over how soon marriages are registered, but I've been told that if your certificate is urgent, you can ask the BDM to speed this up, and give your valid reason to do this.

One step closer to changing your name!

Once you have received your official certificate of marriage, you can then go ahead and change your name! However, please do note that the ways you can change your name include Taking the last name of person 1, taking the last name of person 2, or combining both of your last names. If you would like to change your last name to something else before the wedding eg. from Smith to Jones, you would need to do a legal name change either before or after the wedding, and then can legally either change both last names, or combine the last names together. It is up to you what you decide to do here!

Once you have your certificate, I always find the most important places to change your name are with places you use and visit all the time, such as your license and passport, bank and job. All you need to do with these most of the time is fill out an online application with the relevant place to change your name, or some may still require you to go in, such as changing your name on your license, just to ensure it is you and everything has been confirmed correctly.

Right before pronouncing you as a married couple!

Before you know it, you are both having your new and improved surname or surnames, and can continue with your new name knowing that it was all because you made the epic decision to get married and have me as your celebrant, holding your hand the whole way during your journey, knowing that we all did it together!

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions at all about changing your name before or after marriage!