For those who have not been to San Francisco city hall is it quite a beautiful building. Mr. Marshmallow made an appointment for us to go and get our marriage license at city hall last week. While we were just there to fill our paperwork, there were a handful of brides and grooms in various stages of marriage. Some nervous couples were waiting for the justice of the peace, some were already celebrating with their family in the hallway.
When our name was called, we went up to the counter and the clerk proceeded to process our paperwork. There at the bottom of the license, for the first time, all typed our was what is going to be my new married name. I was a little taken aback seeing it there, all official like.
I had decided early on that I was going to take Mr. Marshmallow's last name. For me, the decision was partly about conforming to tradition and partly about us becoming our own family. Talking to more of and more of my friends the decision to change your name once you are married is a very personal decision. You can keep your old name, hyphen your old and name, make your old name to your middle name and have your new name as your last name. Now a days there is no standard.
While I am very excited about starting our new family and figuring out a new signature (although I have never been any good at signing "M"s) I felt a little guilty about seeing my old name not there. I have been my old name for so long, who was this new Mrs. M? I guess I will just have to find out.
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