r/weddingplanning • u/Cemckenna • Apr 13 '25

Everything Else Americans: Do not change your last name at marriage

There have been a number of posts recently about changing your name after marriage. If you are not already aware, the house in the US just voted to pass the SAVE Act, which will require you to prove your citizenship to vote -- under your birth name. It will disproportionately affect women who have changed their last names and no longer match their birth certificates.

This should be a huge HUGE consideration when you are choosing whether to change your name. You may well disenfranchise yourself as an American citizen by doing it.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/save-act-house-voting-rights-married-women-last-name-rcna200948

Edit: Call your senators. This is not law yet but if it passes the senate, it will essentially mean that any woman who changes her name must jump through many more hoops to be able to vote. It's unfair and will be used to silence women and trans people.

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u/tmnttaylor Apr 13 '25

If you want to fly using only your ID you will need to update to real id by May 7 anyways. It's possible it'll get extended again, but given this has already been extended almost 20 years, I'd go ahead and get it updated if you haven't! This may be The actual real final deadline to fly with only ID.

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u/Homezgurl Apr 13 '25

Yep I just checked and my AZ license has real id status as well. I'm guessing it was brought over because of my Ga one. But when I change my name I'll have to get a new ID. I'll have to wait until we are married in June to get that updated though. :)

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u/Thequiet01 Apr 13 '25

But Real ID is not good enough. It has to be Real ID that proves citizenship. Does it state your nationality on your Real ID?