I Now Pronounce You...Mr. and Mrs. Star...Officially!

Unlike most couples, who either maintain their individual last names after the wedding or have their common surname bestowed upon them nearly instantly by their marriage license, our shared last name was six months in the making. And our new last name was bestowed upon us by a surly county clerk in a dingy office. But that's beside the point.

I wrote about our unique name change decision before, so I won't bore you with how incredibly awesome my husband is again, but I just wanted to thank you all for your support and well-wishes and announce that we have completed the many steps to officially change our names together!

After the hours of trying to figure out what paperwork we needed, the four trips downtown to the civil court, the hundreds of dollars in fees, a publication in The Irish Echo newspaper, and at least a migraine or two, we finally get to start right where brides who change their names on their marriage certificate start the day after their honeymoon -- with trips to the DMV, Social Security Card funtimes, and sit-downs with the bank manager.

Sure, it's been a royal pain-in-the-you-know-what, but worth it? You betcha. We both walked around with giddy grins on all day yesterday and even felt the urge to go out to a celebratory brunch! We finally feel like our marriage is "complete," so to speak.

Care to share your name change headaches to help make us feel better?