Yes, they can decline the invitation if the test requirement was announced up front, rather than in the last two weeks before the event, after they have made travel commitments.
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Wouldn’t you want to test and spare others potential infection? Even if it was announced two weeks prior? My friend who ran our local public health department recently attended her son’s wedding. Not sure if inside or out, but she and her H as well as many attendees all developed Covid after the wedding.
I am two days into covid after a family trip. D and SIL are also positive. Other D, not yet. We have been in a Covid bubble for much of the pandemic, though they moved away from my town. We are all careful, never eat inside a restaurant, outdoors only, mask anytime we enter a store. All I can figure out is that brushing teeth in the campground, we were sans masks in the bathrooms. And I sat next to someone on the plane who wasn’t masked. I had the thought to test prior to getting together with them. Wish I had done so.
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@ucbalumnus nailed it. You should be up front about it instead of waiting until two weeks prior. I don’t understand the purpose of not telling people upfront. And some people may not want to make an expensive trip to find they can’t attend the event, and instead have to spend big bucks to quarantine. Others might want to buy trip insurance to cover a delayed flight and quarantine. You have to be considerate to people who aren’t local and can’t just stay home.
You should also make testing easy for people. If someone is out of state, don’t add the hassle of them trying to figure out where and how to test. 150 people testing the morning of the event is a lot of appointments, and not everyone understands how to do the test at home option. There may be some who would choose not to do this, and why would you wait until two weeks prior to tell them?
Personally, if I wanted to ensure my event wasn’t a superspreader, I would reduce the risk by holding it outside.
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Ok, I’m not going back through posts to find the one mentioning 2 weeks, so I don’t know why it wasn’t requested when the invitations went out. Having taken several different home tests, definitely not rocket science, the federal government mails them for free, otherwise it’s around $15 reimbursable by insurance. For all we know everyone attending the wedding could be within driving distance. One still needs to test to come back into the US, or get on a cruise ship, plenty of folks still traveling. ETA, outside weddings don’t always work well with weather.
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I took this to mean that invitees were, at two weeks out, going to be reminded to test, a request made in the original invitation. Otherwise I imagine this would have said something along the lines of two weeks out we’ll be asking guests to test before coming.
The first I’d be fine with, the second not so much.
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Yes, to me, a “reminder” is just that - please do not forget to do something that was already requested. 
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We are attending a wedding this summer. Need to send vaccine cards and provide test results done up to 72 hours before. I think the 72 hour window is pretty huge…but we will do as we have been asked. And yes, they are sending reminders out a couple of weeks before the event.
It was the first post in the thread.
While I don’t think testing is usually a big deal, sometimes it is a hassle. You should know ahead of time, and the people holding the wedding should make it easy. If you don’t find out until shortly before the wedding, it might not be enough time to get a test in the mail. And notification two weeks prior, someone might not get the memo, what are you going to do when they show up without a test, not let them in? I just flew back to the US from Europe and ensured that my trip insurance covered quarantine. This is important.
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The way that it was stated read to me just that they were going to inform everyone to test two weeks prior, not remind. I hope I’m wrong, and if not, I hope the OP can do something to notify people well prior.
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Outside weddings are not an option everywhere.
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Living in Seattle, I understand that well. If that’s not a good option, then you need to tell people they’re going to have to test when you send out the invitation. If you’re telling them they need to be vaccinated, that’s also the time to tell them that they need to test the morning prior. I remember what my kiddo went through trying to test after Christmas, he had a slight cold and wanted to test before flying home. Huge lines, no appointments, no at home tests available, he couldn’t get tested. One has no idea of what the Covid situation is going to be in the future.
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So I’m confused. You are saying that some people might not come, if they knew that they’d be barred from the wedding if they tested positive? In other words, they wouldn’t want to know they were positive, so they could blithely attend the wedding anyway? Seriously?
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Ugh. Yes. Sorry I wasn’t clear. She’s going to remind everyone to test before coming, not to test 2 weeks out or whatever.
Do people out there think it’s performance theater? Probably. Do I care? Not one iota. It’s just another means of trying to be safe(r) and care about others who may be more susceptible to illness.
When I look at the Reddit wedding stuff, I see a lot of people worried, a lot of guests and members of wedding parties having to drop out, and cases after.
People were asked in the invite to to be vaxed and to test before coming over. There are plenty of at-home tests available and we’ll have them on hand as well.
I’m not trying to be difficult. Really. If the weather prompts us to have to move things indoors, we have a large house with a lot of windows and separate areas to keep people apart. There will also be tents and canopies outdoors.
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@zeebamom - I think people keep confusing your post with what someone else said. Your post makes it clear: it is a reminder. I would be doing exact same thing you are doing for obvious reasons. Hugs, and hope your procedure is uneventful.
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Our kid is getting married on a farm-like venue. It is open air everything! Hope it gets warmer in a couple of months! Mr. B and I will be the oldest guests, so the young crowd decided they would not require testing, but strongly advised it.
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No, I’m not saying that people wouldn’t want to know. I’m saying that people might plan differently, like purchase trip insurance in case they had to quarantine and change their flight. Or get home tests well ahead of time. Or rethink the trip if they can’t afford a quarantine away from their home. It matters.
However, it’s irrelevant, because the OP just clarified that the two weeks was a reminder, not an, “Oh by the way”. In that case, I wouldn’t object at all to asking people to test.
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Still, I don’t get it. All of those things would happen IF they have Covid. Testing the day of the wedding or not wouldn’t change that fact. It would just give information they need to know when/if attending events, traveling, etc. It doesn’t give them Covid. It still sounds like you’re saying the problem is finding out they HAVE it. Not having it.
Even if they didn’t know about testing until the actual day of, why would that make any difference? The point is it’s only an issue IF THEY ARE POSITIVE. Which would be true whether or not they tested.
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To add, “Don’t ask, don’t tell” seems like a pretty anti-social stance.
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You’re putting words into my mouth that I didn’t say.
I’m not sure how many different ways I can say it. There are things I’d consider if I knew I had to test day of an event, that would be important to know about earlier, if I lived out of town. If I felt sick, had close contact, I wouldn’t go. In fact, much better to be able to test the day prior before you get on the flight.
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Get travel insurance. Make sure it covers Covid quarantine.
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Figure out where I can test, get an appointment. Order at home testing well ahead of time and understand how to perform it. Covid testing is much easier if you know in advance that you need to do it.
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Make sure I’m at a hotel that I would want to quarantine in, or have a backup plan not including air travel in order to get home.
Of course it matters whether you know ahead of time that you need to test, so you can make plans. And the OP said the two weeks is just a reminder. Not sure why this is anti-social, it’s just being considerate to your guests.
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Okay one more time and I’m done. All of these things you list would be because you had Covid, not because you tested. Testing doesn’t cause it.
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