With the press reporting recently married Spice Girl (remember them?) Geri Halliwell, has announced, via social media, that she’s taken on her new Formula 1 Red Bull team boss husbands name.
It’s very sweet and poses quite an important question… Are you going to take your husbands name?
Being an older first time bride it felt a bit weird changing the name I’d been known by all my life. It also seemed a bit disloyal to my own family. Silly I know but I put off calling myself by my husbands name for a while. It’s not like you formally have to apply for a change of name by deed poll or anything. You can if you wish, but it’s easier to gradually change your legal documents like drivers license, passport etc when they’re up for renewal.
My other reason for not being in a rush to switch to my husbands surname is that it’s a bit of a Serbian mouthful, unlike my easy to pronounce English maiden name. So I delayed the pain, of having to spell it out and repeat it several times every time I say it, for as long as I could.
Saying that, at the time we got married and I updated my facebook status to ‘married’ I did change display name! Just like Geri Horner.
And even though the Spice Girls were incredibly naff even when they were famous, Mr and Mrs Horner do make a cute couple. Good on you Ginger Spice for keep up tradition.
As a side note, a bride recently asked me how to go about changing your name. It’s easy – rather than going through the rigmarole of officially applying to change your name as you would via deed poll – you can simply just wait til documents are up for renewal – like drivers license and passport and when you apply for your new one, just record your new married name and provide your original Marriage Certificate as proof.
Keep in mind when you sign your Marriage Documents on your wedding day, you must sign with your maiden name.
And I would recommend travelling under your maiden name on your honeymoon to avoid any confusion between airline tickets and your passport – as you won’t have time to update your passport! We wouldn’t want you to have any hiccups on your honeymoon!
