Photo by: Elizabeth Scott Photography on Every Last Detail via Lover.ly
I was really torn about whether to change my last name. I mean, I'm a writer, so my last name is kind of a huge part of who I am, professionally speaking. But I liked the idea of having the same last name as my future kids—AND the idea of all the cute new monogrammed things we could register for.
In the end, I wound up keeping my last name professionally (and legally), but, like, our family return address stamp has Rory's last name, and at Emmett's school I'm Mrs.-Rory's-last-name. And we have monogrammed glassware with his last initial. It works for us.
Anyway, if you ARE going to change your last name legally, make sure you do THIS when you go to apply for your marriage license: Ask for multiple copies of your marriage license. Yes, it'll cost you (probably around $10 a copy), but it will save you a TON of time and energy down the road. Lots of government offices want an original version of your marriage license (with the state stamp or seal or whatever), and they won't accept a photocopy. So if you get only ONE marriage license, you'll have to mail the original to the Social Security office and so on. They send it back, but you can't go to, say, the DMV until you have an original version. Trust me, this is a MAJOR headache-saver.
Are you changing your last name?
P.S. Here are 5 Must-Haves for Getting Your Marriage License.