Requiring Vaccines and Negative Test Result? Sending out invitations in a week.

I wasn't a Covid bride but I have experience with this as a guest from several weddings I've attended this season. Basically, we had to email photos of our vaccine cards 2 weeks prior to the wedding and proof of a negative test 2 days prior.

I think it's a fantastic idea to require both proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test, and as a guest, I would be so relieved to hear you were doing so! My husband and I have declined all invitations to weddings recently where the couple wasn't doing this.

In theory, I see the potential appeal of wanting to do this, but realistically, I don't know that it will actually prevent spread. We know multiple people who have been fully vaxed & boosted, who currently have Covid AND they tested negative multiple times when their symptoms began (super mild, like left them thinking "is this allergies? Maybe a cold? Better test for Covid anyway...") before they finally had a positive.

I would for sure require vaccines, as many venues and travel companies (airlines) will require. Covid testing could be determined closer to the date, depending on the state of the pandemic.

I've been to several weddings last year where they required this, and the guests complied. However, what will you do if they don't get their test results back in time? Currently the demand for tests is so high that people may be waiting several hours just to get one, then the turnaround time can be several days.

I did this with my June 2021 wedding however it was before even delta and during that small window of time when all seemed to be going well. Cases down super low, low positivity rate and high vaccination. I’m in NYC where testing was already a requirement but by the time of my wedding got adjusted to being only weddings of 100 or more because apparently 99 person weddings can’t have covid 🙄. We decided to have a small 46 person wedding and still required a negative test and or vaccination to attend. We set up a Dropbox link for guests to send a pic of their results and vaccination statuses. Tests results were due the week of the wedding. All guests were more than happy to do so and all sent their results and vaccine cards on time. Test either pcr or rapids were required to be done within 3-4 days of the wedding. However, I no longer know if this approach would would work. If I were to get married now I would only accept a pcr because what is happening is people are testing negative on rapids for days in a row before they finally get their positive and that’s because rapids need a certain level of viral load to turn positive. I see this trend all over social media right now, people thought their houseguest or whoever they spent the holidays with to be unaffected due to one or more negative rapids in a row only for them to find they were positive and it took until day 4 or 5 to show on a rapid. This happened to my husband this past week. Luckily he had symptoms that alerted us to take precautions while we waited for his rapid to finally be positive after a few days. So do consider only accepting pcr tests as rapids cannot detect well those who are asymptomatic or newly infected with low levels. It is still said that those fully vaccinated tend to spread the virus at lesser rates due to not having the same amount of viral load in their body as those unvaccinated. Not sure if this is true but you can look into it and determine if you would also like guests to be vaccinated. I didn’t require vaccines just tests. I had half of the guests vaccinated and the other unvaccinated.

Hi! Also a SoCal bride with a 180ish person guest count. Unfortunately we couldn't afford any venues large enough that were outdoors so we went with an indoor auditorium with the LA parks organization. We are requiring everyone over 12 to be vaccinated to attend and I'm hiring someone to check cards at the door as not all our guests are techno-savy enough to trust sending cards in online x_x. I want people to test before but our invites have already gone out and like other ppl have said, this doesn't seem like a guarantee right now anyway. When we went to pay off the venue they told us that since LA has an indoor mask mandate in place right now, our guests would also have to wear masks - which suuuuuuucks. If you have the opportunity to put testing also required on your invites, i would say go ahead. You can also buy bulk rapid tests online and have people test before entering (the surge may be over by April so they may be easier to get) but this will cost you a couple thousand (also money we didn't have) and be a logistical nightmare.

Sorry I can't offer any positive advice. x,x I think you will have sone benefits of being outside and having it be low risk

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So happy to hear that this is something that would make you feel safe! We ultimately want everyone to be safe even though it may inconvenience our guests.

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At the end of the day, there are precautions we are placing to mitigate the risk of spreading as much as possible. Nothing will prevent spread 100%. If guests are uncomfortable with the risks then we are urging them not to come.

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Makes sense! We are playing it by ear with the testing but we are sending out the potential requirements with our invitations so our guests are aware of what the precautionary measure will be.

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Oh, that's good to know! Yes, that's my exact question. I don't know how to enforce guests to turn in their negative test results in a timely fashion by the deadline. The only thing I could think of is to hire a third-party to track and enforce this for us?

I didn't invite anyone that wasn't vaccinated. I didn't even think about requiring a negative covid test...with Omnicron and such a surge in cases all the sudden this may be something I need to do. I have a feeling covid may affect who will even come; like my friend with cancer may not even attempt to come due to the risk regardless of everyone being vaccinated and having tests. I really wouldn't worry about upsetting anyone in these times; this is a real issue.

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Such great reassurance. A good reminder that this pandemic and its real effect on people is more important than hurt feelings. Thanks for the comment!

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Such great reassurance. A good reminder that this pandemic and its real effect on people is more important than hurt feelings. Thanks for the comment!

Yep, people make choices when when don't vaccinate themselves. They don't get to refuse vaccine then simultaneously complain about restrictions. I would protect those who are in attendance, because that's your responsibility as a host.

If you’re honestly concerned, just focus on a negative COVID test. Vaccines reduce your chances of death and hospitalization but are not preventing catching it at all anymore.


My aunt hosted Christmas this year and we have a couple of family members who decided not to get the vaccine and she made them show a negative test to attend. My sister who is triple vaxxed and my cousin in law who is at least vaxxed both ended up giving COVID to half the people who attended, the majority of which were vaxxed or even boosted. We know who it was based on timeline of symptoms.
Testing is the only thing you can really do outside of having an outdoor wedding which you already are

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Great suggestion. Someone else suggested this and considering the number of breakthrough cases, testing seems like the only thing that would really help in this scenario.