Changing your Passport to your married name, before the wedding...

You sign the marriage register, not the certificate. The registrar issues you with the certificate at the end of the ceremony, which does not have your signatures on. As your passport is only valid once you have that certificate, I can't see why you'd have to sign a different name on the register beforehand.

Yes sorry, I meant the register, it's too early for my mind to function!

My thoughts are aligned with what you've written Helenia. I'm quite traditional and want to make sure that I sign the register in my maiden name , so when my friend told me this it threw me slightly!

No, your friend is wrong. You don't take your OH's name until you are married. You sign the register in your maiden name.

Good! Thank you pammy67! :-)

I changed my name on my passport before the wedding, pammy67 is correct

Has this changed? I have been married before in 2006 and my marriage certificate has my signature on it.

Thanks bia57. I am happy that this is the case! ?

I don' know if you've already booked your honeymoon or not, but bear in mind that the name on your passport has to match the name you booked the holiday in (i.e. if you change your passport to your married name you have to make sure you book the honeymoon in your married name as well).

You sign in your maiden name. As that's what you are named when you marry

Hi Northernrose!

No, we havent booked our honeymoon yet, the flights for our destination aren't released until this November. I just wanted to be 100% sure before I booked the honeymoon about the whole passport / wedding register situation! ?

Thank you for this murphy88! I'm glad this is the case! ?

No idea what it was like before my own wedding (2011), and it may vary between councils/registry offices, but mine just has our names handwritten on it by the registrar, and the only signatures are the registrar and their deputy. We only signed the register itself.

We (me hubs and witnesses) signed the register and all the copies of our certificates (we did 3 copies so it took a while)..

But yes it was in my maiden name as you already have confirmed

(I also changed my passport prior to the wedding, this was mainly because it expired a few 4/5 before the wedding so didn't bother to renew it! otherwise I would have waited til the renewal to change my name- cheapskate you see)

Hi,

Can anyone help me! We are getting married on August 20th 2015 and are planning on having our honeymoon on September 12th 2015. But it is in Dubai and I have to change my surname as we are staying out there with family - we cant stay in the same room under their roof if we don't have proof we are married. I want to try and have a hassle free honeymoon so want to sort out my passport as soon as I can. Has anyone else had to do this? How much earlier can you change it and what do you need to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks

Bex

Bex, can you not book and travel in your maiden name but take your marriage certifiate as proof that your married? we booked out honeymoon before i'd even thought about getting passport changed so i could travel in married name and our travel agent strongly recommended I book and travel in maiden name to save any pre-wedding panics if there's a delay at the passport office.....

Hi Rebecca, are you getting married in a registry office/hotel or a church? I changed my name before the wedding, I had to get a form and get the registrar to fill it out to prove we were getting married. You can change it up to 3 months ahead but be aware that it will be forward dated so you won't be able to travel on it until your wedding day. Don't forget to book your honeymoon in your married name too as it must match your passport.

This should help:

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

^^^^^ this. I've just changed my passport and got it back within about 10 days. It is post dated to the wedding day and means we can travel on honeymoon the next day as Mr and Mrs. I got the form from the registrar without any hassle and just filled in the passport form, paid the fee and away we go!!

Hey Ladies

Thank you so much for your help and advice! I just googled it and found a form - PD2 - that I need to fill out and get the registrar to sign. I think I will do this in June/July time! Thanks so much guys - nice to have some support and help!

Hope your wedding planning is going smoothly

Bex

I had my 'new name' passport in the post last Friday! So exciting!

You sign the register in your maiden name, the only thing you sign in your married name is your new passport application - that was weird!

Hope that helps

i think it's a maximum of 3 months before you can change it