Should COVID Safety Precautions Be A New Form Of Wedding Etiquette?

Logistically speaking, COVID tests, quarantine and air travel would be involved

Hi Team APW,

My partner and I were invited to three weddings in 2020. The first one was originally supposed to be in June and after the pandemic rolled through, it (thankfully) got rescheduled for 2021. The second one is in October and the third in November. My partner was asked to be a groomsmen in both the October and November weddings.

The October wedding would require air travel, so we made the difficult decision to decline the invite, and my partner bowed out of being a groomsman. The response from the Groom was that they weren’t going to say anything about the pandemic to their guests, and just see how their guests reacted to the invite.

The November wedding is plowing through with no changes. They are still having out of state bachelor and bachelorette parties, with no discussion about the plan for staying safe from COVID. The state my partner will be going to for the bachelor party requires a COVID test before traveling there (in the state we live in, tests are free if you have symptoms, but $200 without symptoms, and lying and saying you have symptoms to avoid the fee is insurance fraud).

I recently got an invitation for the wedding shower and it didn’t mention anything about COVID safety. Nothing about masks, whether or not its inside or outside, if they expect guests to stay 6 ft apart, etc. I am leaning toward declining the invitation (and sending a gift) because I don’t have enough information to know if it’s safe to attend, or not.

Should COVID safety precautions be communicated in event invitations? I think if guests are going to take safety seriously, it has to come from the bride/groom/host that the safety is important and non-negotiable. I think they are being selfish by continuing with their plans without acknowledging that they are putting people at risk, and by putting the emotional burden of disappointing them on us if we choose to decline due to our safety.

I think couples should have a COVID safety plan and be prepared to communicate it until there is a vaccine.

What do you think? Should safety precautions be communicated to guests prior to the event? Who does the liability fall on? it up to guests or the hosts to figure out what to do? Give us your two cents in the comments!

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