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Shirley
Expert November 2020

How can i avoid being a public health official

Shirley, on February 13, 2021 at 11:31 AM Posted in Etiquette and Advice 0 4
So I was married in a minimony last fall. I wanted things to be done after that, but my family begged me to have a celebration this year (lots and lots of tears). The problem is that I don't want to be a public health official and I feel like hosting an event requires me to be one.


Here's what I mean: last year, before we decided to scale back to just parents and grandparents, guest after guest was calling to ask me whether mask wearing would be enforced or give me a lengthy explanation of why they felt unsafe (up to an hour long on the phone) or demanding that I require negative tests for attendance or that I uninvite anyone who would be flying. It took so much joy out of the months leading up to the event that it is the reason I ultimately uninvited everyone and scaled way down. Also, I had a very small outdoor shower on a huge lawn in a friend's back yard, and some guests demanded I chastise other guests for not wearing masks even though they were 20+ feet away sitting with their household only.
Now don't get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to feel safe and to set their own personal boundaries. If someone didn't come, I would never be offended. But I have no interest in fielding call after call about my event and being placed as a public health official at my event, I just dont. I don't want to come off as rude, but I would rather call off the party than go through that again. It sucked the joy out of everything.
Is this unavoidable if you're having a wedding during covid, or is there a way that I can communicate that there will be people traveling/I won't be requiring testing or vaccines/etc and those who feel unsafe shouldn't attend and need not feel guilty or feel the need to explain themselves?

4 Comments

Latest activity by Amanda, on February 13, 2021 at 1:32 PM
  • Michelle
    Champion December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    Stand your ground. Postpone the celebration until you feel it is safe that this is not an issue to deal with. You can have a vow renewal years down the road if/when you choose on your terms when you won't have to go through this headache of making sure everyone abides by health and safety regulations.

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  • C
    Dedicated November 2021
    Claudia ·
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    It sounds like you're being forced to do it. Just don't 🤷🏻‍♀️. But if you're letting your family pressure you, your last paragraph pretty muuch covered it: We'll be having this event but know we wont be requiring or policing masks, social distancing etc.
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  • Ava
    VIP May 2022
    Ava ·
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    I feel if you host a celebration during 2021 this is inevitably going to be the result. Maybe just push your celebration to mid or late 2022. That gives plenty of time for everyone to be vaccinated and feel safe attending events. Plus it doesn’t sound as though you are really that excited about having an event anyway. So maybe if you push it back a year and a half to 2 years your family will have lost interest in the second celebration by then and you will be completely off the hook! You could just tell people now that you are postponing indefinitely, and tentatively looking at the middle or end of 2022, which should stop people from asking you about it.
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  • A
    Expert September 2020
    Amanda ·
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    It sounds like you’re not really interested in moving forward at this time, in which case I’d say cancel. If you truly want to move forward, I’d try to explain every question in detail on the website, direct people there and leave it at that. It sounds like that wouldn’t fully solve your problem though...
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