You've planned the wedding and booked the honeymoon. Congratulations! You've now handled the easy part of getting married. What? You thought you were done? Hells no. It's time to get into the meaty stuff: finances, where you're going to live, and the mother of all decisions: whether or not to take his last name. While you might be tempted to save this topic for an after-wedding pow wow, don't. You'll want to sit down with your future husband and hash out the details before you sign the dotted line on your marriage license. As I see it, you have four options, some of which are good and others which scream future headaches.

Option #1: Take His Name

Obviously this is the easiest choice. After you get married, you take his name and then begin the long, arduous process of changing your social security card, work information, tax records, and so on. What makes this is easy is the fact that most people will default to thinking that you've taken your husband's last name.

Option #2: Keep Your Last Name

If you feel particularly tied to your last name, consider keeping it. This will of course save you the annoying task of changing the name on basically everything you own, which can be quite the headache before it's said and done. You may run into issues with your future husband or his parents, but so long as it's not a deal breaker, all you'll have to endure is a few painful, explanatory conversations that end awkwardly. The bigger issue will arise when you decide to have children. If you are planning on using your husband's last name for your children, you may end up dealing with uncomfortable moments when your children's friends or friends' parents question whether or not your child comes from a divorced family.

In this scenario, you're also likely to receive mail that is addressed to you with your husband's last name. Hotels and rental car companies will also default to using whichever name has been used for the reservation, which means that sometimes your husband will be referred to using your last name.

Option #3: Hyphenate Your Names

This option started to rear its ugly head back in the late 1980s and hasn't been put to deathý yet. The reason hyphenation is marital suicide is simple: there are just too many letters to think about. Case in point- a friend of mine who decided to hyphenate two Polish names. Her ten-letter name became a twenty-letter monstrosity that people could barely pronounce and definitely could not spell. Two years later, she had a son. All told, the kid has fifty letters in his full name when you include his middle name. That's right, they gave him a middle name too.

Besides the obvious pain that it will cause your future children, think about the big picture. Do you really want to say the phrase, "oh no, there's a hyphen in there," every day for the rest of your life? It's just not worth it. Go for options one, two or four and save yourself the trouble.

Option #4: Create Your Own Family Name

This is the compromise that my fiancé and I chose when we decided that neither of us wanted to give up our last names. I will remain Jaime Case and he will stay Chris Hodgesý at least in the workplace and with our various personal pursuits. Together, we are going to create a family name that will be used by us as a couple and will be taken on by our future children (and our various pets). While we haven't decided on the name yet, we're currently working through several ideas. Part of our "maybe" list is made up of old family names that have died over the years. A few of the other names we are considering are just what we consider good, solid American names that have stood the test of time.

Finally, we have a few rogue names on the list that are a bit out there, but represent our personalities and the feelings that we want to create in our future family. In the end, we're unlikely to share the possible names with friends and family until we make our final decision. We'll select our top choice, marinate on the name for a while, and then finally get comfortable with it. Like a tattoo, your name stays with you forever. You can remove it or change it, but the process is much more painful than when you initially make the decision. Go with your heart and choose the name that matters most to you and your future spouse.

Emotional Considerations

Before you can seal the deal on your future name, make sure you've talked with the people who matter most to you and your fiancé. While you might not consider it a big deal to drop your husband's surname in favor of a brand new name, your future father-in-law may hold a grudge for years to come. While this shouldn't stop you from moving forward, it might be worth the time to consider if the potential trade offs are worth it. Taking the time to explain the rationale behind your decision may alleviate the stress for family members who may be more traditional or come from an older generation.