Changing your name? What’s the first step?

First is Social Security, then driver’s license, then everything else.

I believe you have to get your social done first because you will need that and your marriage certificate in order to get your drivers license

We were able to pick up our marriage certificate at the township clerk a week after everything was filed. The first step is to change your social, with that you can then change your driver's license and passport. Once you do the driver's license, you can start changing things like credit cards, insurance, etc.

You will need your marriage certificate first. Once you get that, you start with changing your social security card, then driver's license and then everything else.

Once you file the marriage certificate, you'll get a certified copy of the marriage certificate. You need that to change your social security card.
After the SS card, you get your license/state ID. From there, everything else.
If you have a passport and you're going on a honeymoon where you need it, start the process when you're back from the honeymoon. The main name change takes 1-2 months max (mine was 2 weeks!). The passport can take 1/2 a year.

Congratulations!

Thank you so much for asking this because I'm going to need it

Yes, you have to have your marriage certificate (pro tip: get a few certified copies as well!) to do any of the name changing. Visit your social security office first. Get that completed, then your drivers license, and then everything else. Most important items first: passports, bank accounts, employer, insurance, anything where you are required to prove that "you are you" to use. It's time consuming (I'm almost a year beyond the wedding and there are still a few places I haven't changed my name) but as long as you get the important ones done early on, you can do the rest as you go.

Once you get your marriage certificate you can get your social security card. That should be the first step. Though I was told I needed my new social security card to get my license and that wasn’t true for me... when I went to get my license they said all I needed was my old license and my marriage certificate. But maybe that just depends on your state or the particular DMV i was at? Still, I’d just do social security card first just in case. That took me 20 mins to apply for, including wait time. Then do license next.

You need your certificate and then you start with Social Security. I still haven't changed some of my credit cards. It's such a pain. My bank is 2 hours away from me and won't send me forms. They always tell me to just come in. So who knows when that will get changed. I'll probably just drop them as a bank for being such a pain lol.

The first thing I actually changed was my name at work...before it was even legally changed lol

Social security first. They will give you a receipt confirming the request but you won't be able to get your driver's license updated until the following day--when their system updates overnight. (which is frustrating when you took a day off work to get it done). Also, make sure your state is currently doing the "new" IDs you can fly with. I found out Kentucky is not yet doing them so I'm going to wait until I get my social security card before I even try to get a new driver's license.