My daughter’s wedding is booked for November 2023. When she and fiance signed for the venue (Poughkeepsie, NY so no possibility of outdoor festiities but that’s the month she will have off as a 4th year medical student), rapid tests were just beginning to be released. We can hope that they won’t be in short supply by then!
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The issue could be though that some key person tests positive at the last minute( bride, groom, sibling, parent, best man, etc.) That’s what I worried about for son’s wedding last month.
But by November 23 testing may not be an issue anymore. Covid may be considered not that differently than other things (flu for instance) that would not derail a planned wedding. But who knows. The whole Covid thing has certainly added stress to planning important events these days.
All the best with the planning for the wedding next year!
Getting the flu (meaning the real flu, not the various minor illnesses that people call “the flu”) would be quite unpleasant, so that it may difficult for a bride or groom with the flu to participate fully in the wedding.
But note that one reason that COVID-19 is more of a problem than the flu is that it has a greater period of presymptomatic contagiousness.
I totally get that Covid has been more problematic than the flu . We just don’t know yet what any situation will be like almost a year and a half from now. And what the testing requirements, if any, might be?
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The testing requirements would be up to the wedding party. Of concern would be if rapid testing becomes less effective. If rapid testing effectiveness becomes too low, then there is not much the wedding party can do other than self quarantine as much as possible before the wedding (which includes minimizing pre-wedding activities and practicing COVID-mitigation at them) if it does not want pre-wedding activities becoming spreader events that could prevent the wedding from occurring.
I just hope we are not having to test for Covid before any important events for years to come!
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OP here to report back on last month’s wedding. Happy to say that among nearly 200 guests and about 50 staff and vendors, NOT ONE CASE OF COVID was reported to us. I think six factors contributed to this result:
- Testing. We asked everyone to take a rapid antigen test the morning of the wedding.
- Advance Precautions. Many close friends and family quarantined or took full precautions (masking with N-95 in public indoor spaces, testing before getting together with people outside household) for two weeks prior to event.
- Outdoor Time. Ceremony and cocktail hour were held outdoors, reducing the total amount of indoor time.
- Staff Masking. We provided KN-95 masks for waitstaff and bartenders. To us, it was not enough to ask them to wear a “mask.” We provided non-counterfeit KN-95s.
- Ventilation. This was key. After the cocktail hour, the sit-down dinner/dancing was indoors for four hours. We chose a venue that had completely revamped it ventilation in response to covid. Air changed six times per hour, which is the recommended rate for restaurants. This means that the entire volume of air in the room was completely replaced by outdoor air six times every hour.
- Luck. Can’t underestimate the extent to which good fortune came into play.
Thanks for all your input and the robust discussion!
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I remember how happy I was when two weeks passed after D’s wedding celebration last year and nobody called to say they had covid. Well done! And congrats on the wedding.
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