Name Changes

Going on Honeymoon with Your Married Name

Right, so I went on the .gov.uk website and have the official government information!

The website address for that site is www.direct.gov.uk. If you’re like me and renewing a passport that’s already run out, the process is somewhat easier.

And there is some more information on this page.

Firstly, you will need forms: PD1 and PD2. PD1 is the information leaflet which tells you all about the process, and PD2 is the extra name change form you need to include with your normal passport application.

So, basically, when you apply for your passport renewal, you send off the name changing form with your normal form and then your passport will become valid on the same date as your ceremony.

To renew an adult ten-year 32-page passport costs:

• £77.50 for the standard service

• £112.50 for the one-week Fast Track Service

• £129.50 for the one-day Premium service

IPS (Identity and Passport Services) can prepare a first passport in your married name any time up to three months before the wedding. But the passport is 'postdated'. This means you cannot use it before the day of the ceremony. Some countries will not issue visas for postdated passports. You should check with the consulate of the country concerned.

If you are going to a country that requires a visa in advance, instead of just the stamp in your passport, like China or Vietnam, I wouldn’t bother changing your name on your passport. The name on the visa and the passport will have to match else they won’t always let you in, even with your marriage certificate. It’s best not to risk it.

My wedding location just has a stamp in the passport as a visa, like Hong Kong, USA and Europe, so I’m not too worried about having my married name in my passport.

Contact your travel agent or the consulate of the country you’re visiting to check if you need a visa to visit. Or google. I googled. (When did Google become a verb?)

There is a lot of good information on the internet already, as a lot of people are asking the same questions. To be sure, however, it’s best to check with the country you’re visiting.

I can’t wait to get my passport with a new name in it! How exciting is that?!

Honeymoon!

We’ve Booked Our Honeymoon!!

Days to go: 312

I am so excited!! We have booked it, paid the deposit and now we’re pending paying the rest of it!

I am so so excited! I’ve been hop skipping and jumping all the way home! And h2b has been grinning too! We booked the holiday using my married name too! That was exciting in itself!

We will be going on a cruise! We wanted to see lots of different places and have a lot of different things to do, we thought a cruise would be the best way.

After speaking to the travel agent, we looked up the reviews of the trip on trip advisor and other review websites and they all said the holiday is fantastic! They talked about balloon rides and camel rides, h2b was hooked!

I am so completely excited! This honeymoon just makes our marriage even more exciting!

And it was fairly exciting to start with!

I have decided to travel under my married name. I went online and a lot of people have said not to do that. However, my passport has run out anyway and I will need to apply for a new passport regardless. I feel that I may as well get a passport in my married name and then I won’t have to change it later.

We didn’t get travel insurance from the travel agent because we wanted to have a shop around before we were sure which insurance company we went with. They did offer a good rate of £42 for the both of us, which covered illness, loss of luggage and things, and delayed flights. We’re still going to shop around first.

I may not have mentioned this before but I’m so excited!!! Yay!! We’re going on honeymoon!!!

xx xx