I have a vacation booked for GC in January.. but I had a major blonde moment (and I am blonde lol, so I can say that) when I booked the airline tickets, I booked them in my married name, thinking hey that will be my name when I travel! WELL.. I won't have my married name until September 22nd, so I can't apply for the passport until then, giving me 14 weeks between the application date and the travel date. I'm sweating bullets here.. I'm not thinking I'm going to get that passport within 14 weeks.. is there any way I can have my maiden name on my passport but still travel under my married name?

The airlines etc won't care whether you're traveling under your married name or your maiden name. You just need to make sure that your airline ticket is in the same name as your passport.

Can you call the airline and get a last name changed on the ticket? That way you could just travel under your current passport and not worry about changing it in a rush. (Assuming you don't have any international travel for the first few months of 2008)

Heh--is it too late to consider keeping your own name?

Yes, if your passport is in your maiden name all you'll need is to bring a copy of your marriage certificate with you and you'll be OK. Of, course, that will entail you sending off your passport once you get back to get a name change.

Your other alternative is to wait until you are married and apply for your passport using the "for an extra fee expidited service". Go to the passport website (http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html) for more information.

As you probably know do to recent changes in the US immigration laws there has been a backlog in the processing of passport applications but recent posts on various travel sites indicate that the backlog is easing. People reort that when using the expidited service they've received their passports in 2 to 3 weeks.

Altho mine was a renewal, using the expedited service, I sent the application in on 12June and received the new one yesterday - just 2 weeks.

I think I'd much rather go ahead and apply for the passport asap in my maiden name.. and bring along my marriage lisence, I don't know why I booked the plane tickets in my married name but they won't switch it for me. I don't mind sending it off to be changed after the vacation, we won't be going on another one for probably at least two years.. I just need to know that they're going to let me into GC and back to the States lol...

Apply in your maiden name.
You can either travel with the marriage certificate, or "update" your passport.
When you change your name, you can send it to passport agency to put a name change amendment on it-it doesn't take as long as getting the passport in the first place.