DID YOU / WILL YOU CHANGE YOUR LAST NAME?

I know it’s not technically Wedding Wednesday but I thought this question would make for a fascinating conversation: did you/will you change your name upon getting married? It’s a question I thought a lot about leading up to our wedding last month and I’d love to hear where all of you shake out. Here’s where my head is, if you’re curious…

design darling wedding photos

Sneak peek of our wedding photos by Cameron & Kelly Studio! And a sneak peek of my wedding shoes 😉

I’ve decided to keep my maiden name professionally but take Will’s last name legally. Will’s last name is such a mouthful (Beuttenmuller — thirteen letters!) and since both my blog URL and my Instagram handle feature my (easy, five-letter) maiden name, it will definitely be easier to continue going by Mackenzie Horan for all things blog-related.

My mom kept her maiden name (Stanley-Brown — lengthy and hyphenated!) for most of my childhood and my siblings and I were completely accustomed to opening mail addressed to Mr. Brown or fielding calls on the land line (#tbt) asking for Stanley. She’d chosen to keep her maiden name because so many of her colleagues at Ralph Lauren referred to her by her initials, BSB. But when she switched careers and went back to school to become a registered nurse halfway during my high school years, she decided to finally take my dad’s last name… and immediately wondered what had taken her so long! She found it much easier not to have to spell her last name all the time (“Stanley-hyphen-brown-like-the-color”) and to have the same last name as my dad and her kids.

While I’m trading a relatively easy last name for one that’s, well, not so easy, I do like the symbolism of having the same last name as Will and the ease of having the same last name as our future children. I’ll also be using my maiden name as my middle name to cut down on any confusion.

Did you (or will you) take your partner’s last name? What are your thoughts on the subject? I’d say most of my married girlfriends have taken their husbands’ last names, but most of my guy friends (and my husband and brothers) say they wouldn’t mind if their wife decided to keep her maiden name. I’d love to hear what you think! (And if you have any tips to make the legal name change process less daunting, know that I am all ears!)

P.S. For those of you asking, I will be sharing all our wedding photos (rehearsal dinner, welcome party, ceremony, reception, and wedding video!) in a full “wedding week” beginning Monday, November 13. And then I will do a “honeymoon week” the following week with all the details on where we stayed, what we packed, etc. for our trip through South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya. I could not be more excited to share everything with you guys!!!