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If you plan to change your name after you tie the knot, be warned: It’s not always a seamless process. Here, six brides share the problems that took them by surprise when they went from Ms. to Mrs.
“As a frequent traveler, I had built up rewards under my maiden name — not a ton, but every little bit helps — and it wasn’t as easy as logging into the airline’s user settings and changing my name like I thought it would be. Some of the airlines required mailing in a copy of my marriage certificate, which I didn’t have enough certified copies of because I had to use them for things such as getting a new driver’s license and social security card. I ended up having to sign up for new accounts under my new last name and let some points and rewards go.” — Kristen
“I didn’t want to lose my last name, but I also didn’t want two last names or a hyphenated last name. Instead, I wanted to add a middle name. But rather than do that, the social security employee gave me two last names. I didn’t discover there was a problem until I went to pay my taxes five months later and I didn’t exist. After than debacle, I didn’t try to change my name again until our four-year anniversary.” — Jane
“I had a store credit card, and when I changed my name on it, they refused me credit until I placed my husband’s name on it instead. It was as if I had never existed until I got married. I should have let it alone, but I ended up closing the card because I was furious.” — Carol
“I hyphenated my last name when we married and it is amazing how many websites do not let you hyphenate. You learn over time that airlines prefer that you just run the two names together, but others only work when you leave a space with no hyphen. It is so annoying when you try to type it correctly with the hyphen and it gives you an error message. I guess you just get used to it after a while.” — Paige
“My issue with changing my name was how long all my new credit and debit cards, checks, and things like that took to come in. You have to carry both your old ID and new ID to prove that the credit cards are yours when purchasing something and then show both at the bank. I also found it difficult to change online accounts like PayPal, because they require forms to be submitted to prove name changes.” — June
“Shortly after I changed my name, I lost my new social security card. When I got a new job the following year, I went to the social security office to get another copy. However, they couldn’t give it to me because my new driver’s license had the wrong birthday on it. I hadn’t even noticed. So I had to go through the whole process again because of the DMV’s mistake. It was terrible.” — Lainey
See More: A Quick Guide to Changing Your Name