Just like your marriage license is a must-have for your wedding day, so too are passports, visas, shot certificates, and any other valid legal document you'll need to travel anywhere outside the United States. You might already have a valid passport from your previous travels, in which case you can cross that little item off your to-do list. But is it still valid: Have you checked into whether or not you'll need a visa to visit some of the international sites you have in mind? Do you know if you'll need any immunizations before jetting off on your wild safari or rainforest. You'll learn how to find out the exact steps to take so you're not turned away at the airport or the border, having to dial your hotel to cancel your reservations.

Passports

If you have a passport, or if your passport has expired (or will expire by the time of your honeymoon), you'll need to apply for a new one. Apply as early as possible. The entire process can take six to eight weeks from application to receipt, and any number of snafus can occur along the Consider this the most important part of your preparations if you're planning to travel overseas, and this does include Bermuda, the islands, cruises, and other sites that aren't quite clear-cut as foreign destinations.

Sign by the X

To apply for your passport-or for passports for your children if you'll be taking them along on your trip: even infants need their own passports!-start at square one obtaining an application from any of the accredited passport agency stations. There are some 45,000 of them in this country so it shouldn't be too hard to find one of the following locations:

• Select U.S. post offices.
• Select federal, state, and probate courts.
• Select libraries.
• Select municipal offices.
• By appointment at one of the 13 main passport agencies in Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC (which has two agencies, one being for special circumstance issues). Please note that these are the places to go if you need you passport in a hurry.

To find out quickly and conveniently the closest passport facility near for ease of application, log on to the U.S. Department of State's passport finder page at iafdb.travel.state.gov and enter city, state, and ZIP code. Be sure to call the recommended facility to ask for its hours and requirements before you hop in the car. Although the state makes attempt to keep its records up-to-date, things do change daily.

The forms themselves will lead you through the process, directing you as to how to submit application and how, to submit identification forms. Follow the directions and submit forms into the system. Following are some questions might wonder about:

1. What happens need rush-order our passports: For so many reasons, whether lost passport on a trip taken a few weeks before the wedding or just didn't notice the approaching expiration date in that little blue passport booklet, with all the craziness of the wedding plans, might find yourself in urgent need of a new passport. If this potential nightmare happens, just make an appointment to in person to nearest passport need to show the clerk airline tickets and travel confirmations as proof of urgent for a new document. You’ll pay a fee, but It will be worth the expense to passport in hand.

And if you don’t live within easy distance of any of the main passport agencies? Call in to arrange for reliable overnight mail delivery service, protecting what you send by certified mail with return receipt.

2. What proofs of identification are needed?: You'll certainly need a of birth certificate as authentic proof of who a certified of birth certificate stamped with a embossed seal, along with the signature and date it was registered. Right now you might be wondering where your birth certificate is. Like many people, might not have a copy ready or not even sure you ever had one in the house. If this is the case, then you can submit request for an official, certified copy of your birth certificate.

3. How do we apply for our kids’ passports?: If a parent, you can apply in person for passport. One or both parents must present with the for the application process, and the parents must submit identification for themselves as well as for the child. (Clearly, the government has rules about protecting children.) You’ll need to consent and continue the process for child's passport application.

Smile and Say "Cheese!"

Every passport, without fail, includes a photograph of the bearer. For the passport application process, you'll need two copies of the same picture. In some instances, you'll have your photo taken at the passport issuance agency where you turn in your applications, and in others you might be able to get a passport picture taken at a camera shop or travel club office.

The standard size of a passport photo is 2 inches by 2 inches, and professional camera shops and travel clubs know just how to produce passport-appropriate pictures. Yes, you may be able to submit your passport application online in the state where you live, but at that point you still need to submit a photograph of yourself that fits the passport office's requirements. This means your picture needs to be deemed of high enough quality-of a certain resolution, not grainy, not a poor image-before it can be used on your passport. Since technology isn't always reliable, I advise you to take a real photo to a passport application facility and submit it the old-fashioned way. Your odds of the process going more smoothly and efficiently are a bit better this way.

Photos must be clear, black and white or color, taken within the past six months, with you face-front. For your own safety while abroad, do not wear any civil service or other type of uniform while getting your picture taken. Wear regular street clothes that would not identify you as any kind of threat in case of trouble on the road. Take off tinted glasses, but wear your regular glasses if they're a normal part of your daily appearance. This isn't a model portfolio you're posing for; it's a document for your identification and while overseas.

Once you get your passports, treat these little booklets like gold. A very smart move is to make a photocopy or two of the information page of your passports. Tuck one away in a safe place in your home (perhaps a lockbox or safe), and pack the other copy among your luggage for the trip. If, by some stroke of crisis, your passport is lost or stolen during your trip, you will have that copy of your information to at least help you get back home.

Visas

A visa is a special stamp on one's passport that allows him or her to legally remain within a country's borders. Each country has its own rules and requirements for granting visas to any travelers, and I can't emphasize enough that the process ranges from ultra-strict fraught with red tape to the laughably simple. Some countries require that Your passport be legal for six months prior to applying for a visa, and fees range wildly as well. In the Resources, you'll find a list of many countries' consulates and Web sites for your research needs.

It'll Only Hurt for a Second

If your honeymoon plans will take you way off the beaten path or even just to a seemingly harmless foreign country, you might face a requirement for several immunizations. World travel means that so many people are landing in regions they've never been to before, and their bodies may not be used to the kinds of conditions in their destination. Thus some destinations make it mandatory for all visitors to be immunized against such unwelcome souvenirs as malaria, diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases. Your certificate of vaccination might then be just as important as your passport to be allowed into the country!

Customs Forms

Forget taking home those Cuban cigars or maybe even a coconut from your Hawaiian adventures. The U.S. Customs Agency has strict rules about what you can bring home from your travels. During your return you'll most likely receive a customs claim form before your plane even lands back home. On these forms, you'll declare the value of any items you bought while on your and depending on the country you visited, you may be granted an exemption of from $200 to $1,200. After that amount, you may have to pay duty taxes on the rest of your new purchases.

To make this process easier, and to speed your way through customs just a bit more quickly, be sure you pack all of your new goodies in one bag, all together, with their receipts easily accessible. Be honest on your claim since the authorities are extra vigilant about checking all items in customs.

Customs agents are also checking your bags for any items that you aren't allowed to bring into the country from a safety point of view. You don't have to have a degree in botany or be on the board of an ecological committee to know that some plants, fruits, flowers, and even foods can harbor dangerous insects, bacteria, and soil-implanted dangers that can transport a disease from one country back home to your own. The folks at U.S. Customs take this very seriously, so check out the list of no-no's at www.aphis.usda.gov/travel for complete information. Here you'll find out if you can take home a small vial of pink sand from your Bermuda getaway (usually, you can) or if you can keep the shells and starfish you collected on the ocean's edge (only if they're clean). But also find out about the strict penalties for importing anything from ivory statuettes to tobacco products to plants, bulbs, or seedlings.

For specific information on import rules from Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, check out the U.S. Department of Agriculture's special pamphlets on just these destinations, order the pamphlets and get more general information on customs allowances at www.aphis.usda.gov/travel/pub.php.

Take this part seriously. Violating any customs or import rule, even unintentionally, can land you in a world of trouble. The new security measures at airports, and the new vigilance on importing, means that your illegal souvenirs might be sniffed out by canine customs officials or detected by X-ray machines and scans. Fines range from $250 and up, and if the violation is severe enough, you're going to jail.

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