This post has been made in collaboration with HitchSwitch. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. 
For many couples, one of the things on your to-do list after the wedding and the honeymoon is for someone to change their last name to match their spouses. And for many people, like myself, the task can be daunting and very time-consuming.
Though I took this summer off to focus on me and check off many things that have been on my to-do list for the past four years, changing my last name was something that I knew was going to take me longer than it actually could. With my career and lifestyle, once my last name is changed on one document, it needs to be changed on everything. It’s like that for most people, but some can get away with having their name different in various places without it influencing what they do.
With my circumstances, I had three months to get my name changed on all of my legal documents and with my job so that everything would continue on seamlessly. And honestly, I didn’t have the time to get that all done myself. Between my social security, my driver’s license, my passport (because I do travel often), and even my teaching certificate, there was just so much to do. And then I found Hitchswitch.
Hitchswitch is a service for newlyweds to help aid in the process of getting your name changed on all the necessary documents. Their service includes packages fit for your lifestyle. If you have the time but just can’t find all the documents, they have a package for you. Or if you are like me and just don’t have much time to do anything and literally just want to sign and date your paperwork, they have a package for that.
This service made it easy for me to have my paperwork ready to get my name changed in a matter of weeks. The package that I received arrived in a small box and inside was a folder with all the instructions and paperwork that I needed to complete in order to have my last name changed to my husband’s.
And when I say that I had to complete the paperwork, I mean that the only things I really had to fill in were my social and sign with my new married name – everything else was already filled in for me ahead of time. After that, I just had to follow the instructions to submit the paperwork to the right places so that everything can come back.
I started this process about two weeks ago, and so far I have my last name legally changed with my social security card, my driver’s license, my teaching certificate, and with my bank. Honestly, I could have had a lot of it done within two days but I was dragging my feet and I there were days that I didn’t feel like getting up and heading to any office or even walking to the mailbox.
Next week, I’ll be putting my application for my new passport in the mail. (Again, this is something that I could have done sooner, but I’ve been busy vacationing and just being an all around procrastinator). For the passport process, it was super easy. I remember when I applied for my first passport and had to go get my picture taken at a local drug store and then go to a library to have all my paperwork processed. But not this time, I didn’t even have to leave my home for anything because of Hitchswitch.
I literally used an app that had a prepaid code to take a picture of myself for my passport. Then it was sent in the mail. It arrived and I attached it to my pre-filled out application. Then stuffed the application, my current passport, and my check into the already postmarked envelope. No muss. No fuss. Done in plenty of time.
Overall, this was a process that could have stressed me out but didn’t. Hitchswitch gave me the time that I needed to do everything else that I needed to do this summer and they handled all the small things that I could have done myself, but really didn’t have the time to.
This process, if I had done myself, could have taken me the months that many other newlyweds that I talked to said they spent. But instead, it was only a few weeks and then I was done.
