Since the majority of weddings happen over the summertime, this blog series is dedicated to getting you (or someone you know) ready for The Big Day.

Here’s a quick rundown of this week’s topics:

Monday: Marriage licenses and legalities
Tuesday: Wedding insurance and combining your other insurance policies
Wednesday: Learn how to prepare your own Wedding Day Emergency Kit
Thursday: Honeymooning travel tips
Friday: Changing your name and notifying others

This Wedding Week series is YOUR resource so you can choose which topics you’re interested in and go at your own pace.

Are you ready? Click here to get started!!

Until the end of September, travelers will be allowed to fly without a passport to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, if they present a State Department receipt, showing they had applied for a passport, and government-issued identification, such as a driver’s license.

If you do choose to travel without a passport understand that you could face more scrutiny and experience longer delays passing through security.

Read more about the changes at these sites:

• State Department
• USA Today
• CNN
• NYTimes

Planning on traveling by air to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean after September? Get started on the passport application now!

You could already be a victim of identity theft…but just not know it yet.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the average amount of time between the time the identity theft occurs and is noticed by the consumer is 14 months.

14 months! Just think of the damage that could happen to your credit score in that amount of time. So, how can you spot identity theft? One thing you can do: order your free credit report.

How to order your report

It’s pretty easy - I just checked mine online, printed it out and it took all of 10 minutes. All you need is your Social Security Number and your personal information. You can also order by mail or over the phone.

At the moment, you are only allowed to order a free copy of your report every 12 months. To keep a better watch on your credit, order one report from just one of the three companies (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion) now, order the next in three months and the last report in 6 months. (Put reminders on your calendar!)

If you suspect you’ve been a victim of identity theft, consider ordering copies from all three companies.

What’s in your report

So what’s included in your free credit report? It depends on your credit record and history but it may include:

• personal information, addresses, employment history
• any alerts on your credit file (e.g. fraud alerts, security freezes)
• credit summary (open and closed accounts, accounts in good standing, accounts currently past due, negative account history)
• detailed account information
• inquiries (i.e. companies that have requested or viewed your credit information)
• collections (list of accounts that have been turned over to a collection agency)
• public records (records of bankruptcies, liens or judgments in federal, state or county records)
• dispute file (how to dispute incorrect information found in the report)
• your state rights and options (e.g. security freezes, additional ID theft laws)

What’s not in your report

• your credit score (you will have to pay a fee to receive this information)

Spotting fraudulent activity

Read through each section of your report carefully and look for anything out of the ordinary - open accounts you were unaware of, fraud alerts, accounts turned over to collection agencies…

If you seen something that’s incorrect or suspicious, read the “dispute file” section for instructions on how to resolve the problem, or contact the company that issued the report.

Want more? Head to Be Prepared - Identity Theft.

We’re working on a few stories on dealing with damages and insurance claims after a storm - and instead of making you wait for the published articles, I just had to share a few tips with you right now! Yes, they’re that good!!

I spoke with Stephen Hadhazi, a public insurance adjuster in Houston, TX, and the publisher of DocuDamage.com. (Click here to learn more about his site.) He offered up some of the best tips I’ve heard about conducting a home inventory:

• When videotaping your home for a home inventory, Stephen says “consumers should take video inside each room of their home and stand in the middle, turning in a circle to get everything.”
• “Take close up shots above door ways and windows on the inside of the home, also take good video of the brick veneer around exterior windows. What you are doing is documenting that it wasn’t damaged prior to the storm.”
• “If someone lives in a pier & beam style home (home on blocks) rather than on a concrete slab, it could be useful to videotape someone holding a level to the foundation showing that the house was level.”
• “One of the most trying experiences following a hurricane is when the adjuster tells you that he believes like the cracking around the doors or windows is just ’settling’ which is excluded under the policy,” says Stephen.
• “Taking the short amount of time to video tape these things (with the time/date stamp turned on) will potentially help get tens of thousands of dollars per home paid additional to what the person would have received had they not documented the fact that the home was not damaged prior to the storm.”

Thanks to Stephen and DocuDamage.com!

Want to read the whole insurance story? Sign up for our free biweekly newsletter (click here and fill in the fields on the right hand side of the page)!!

[Via Consumerist] Worried about flight delays? The Bureau of Transportation Statistics has just published a list of flights that were regularly late or delayed in April 2007.

Click here to see if your next flight’s on the list.

[Via Lifehacker] - If you were injured or ill and unable to speak, would anyone know how to find your:

• insurance papers
• medical information
• spare keys to your house and car

“If there’s ever a time when you don’t want to be caught unorganized, it’s in the middle of a health crisis. You need certain documents on hand and ready to go when you’re in situations like these.” - Lifehacker. (Click on the link to read more of their article…)

WHN also has handy emergency and personal information sheets that you can print out and fill in to help you keep track of all your important and vital personal details.

Thanks to Lifehacker! Have a handy organizing tip? Share it below in the Comments!

It could be the start of something big…

The 2007 Atlantic Hurricane season begins today and National Weather Service forecasters expect between 13 and 17 tropical storms, warning that seven to 10 of them will turn into hurricanes, with half of those likely growing into “major” storms.

Get your home and family ready for the windy, wet hurricane season ahead:

• Be Prepared - Hurricane
• Hurricane Categories
• Hurricane Advisories and Warnings
• 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season Names
• Insurance Tips from Hurricane Katrina Survivors
• Additional Hurricane Links