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You come back from your honeymoon, starry-eyed, tanned and rested. Life is good. You go back to work and the Human Resources Department willingly changes your name. After all, they were at your wedding. You take your first check with your new name and excitedly run off to the bank to cash it. But then the teller bursts your bubble. They won’t deposit or cash your check because your bank account is still in your maiden name; your ID still has your maiden name. You think, “Oh wait, the marriage certificate is in the car,” you run and grab it to show it to the teller, only to have the teller inform you that your marriage certificate is for show but not a legal document and you walk out of the bank fuming, wondering “Why with all the wedding advice - which dress, where to seat people, what to serve, how to word the invitations, not one person told you about this?”

You drive back to work and finagle a little extra time off to make another trip to the courthouse to get an “official” copy of your Certificate of Marriage. The clerk types in your information looking for your file in her computer but can’t find anything but your marriage license. She asks when you were married, you respond with a date just under two weeks. This is when she looks at you with an empathetic look and informs you that your Officiant has up to 30 days after the wedding to file your marriage paperwork and to keep checking back.

If you are like most of us today time is valuable and many of us don’t have a lot of it to spare. Take my advice and when you get your Marriage License, ask the Auditor for cost for copies of your Certificate of Marriage when they receive it. Then, when you meet with your Officiant give the Officiant a money order, payable to the Auditor for the amount of your copies and a self addressed stamped envelope. Request the Officiant mail the money order and envelope with your Certificate of Marriage. Upon receipt, the Auditor will mail you back the official copies with no extra trips to the courthouse. One humongous headache averted. Now you have extra time to get your nails done.

A friend has found the person they want to spend the rest of their life with and your invitation to their wedding has arrived in the mail. The address of the ceremony is at a local church and dread comes over you. The last wedding ceremony you attended you found yourself nodding off and beginning to snore when your date kicked you awake. You were lucky that time, this time you are a bridesmaid and you get to stand through the never ending droning of the minister. Maybe you can exchange comfortable flats for stylish heels.

Now you are planning your ceremony and the memories of standing and sitting through tedious ceremonies make you cringe. You wouldn’t do that to your friends and family. Thankfully those days are past. Now you can personalize your wedding ceremony to last as long as you wish, from 20 minutes, no more than 30. Options for keeping your ceremony lively and free from snores include mixing it up with a meaningful tradition, having a friend read a poem or sing a song. Create some fun with your ceremony so that it becomes a priceless memory for you, family and friends.

Have the wedding that's talked about how fun or beautiful the ceremony was, not the one your guests sleep through

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Wedding Magazines

A wedding magazine is the perfect start to planning your wedding; browse for ideas, pick styles and colors, and get in touch with the reality of planning.

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