How would you feel about vaccinations being required for wedding attendance?

Not being mean, but it is asking too much to require your guests to be fully vaccinated to attend your wedding. I feel this is infringing upon your guests freedom. I would decline, although I am fully vaccinated. I think you will lose some friends over this. Sorry, just being honest. You could always have a micro wedding and just have family and very close friends

Out of Our 46 guests About 20 to include my husband and I were vaccinated. We offered options of our ceremony on zoom and a filmed video. I wouldn’t feel comfortable requiring the vaccine even though I’m a firm believer. I encouraged older family who were not vaccinated to watch safely from home. All guests who couldn’t attend were grateful I provided the option.

Getting a vaccine should be optional. As some have said, you may have some family and friends that are against the vaccine, like myself. We supposedly live in a country where we have the freedom of choice, but it's getting to a place where that is slowly going away. I feel as though people will soon be discriminated against just because they choose to not take a shot. I also don't think getting tested prior to the event makes a difference either. Reason being I was exposed on a Wednesday, took my test on a Friday, received a negative result on that Sunday and started showing symptoms that Sunday and tested negative. It's your day and you choose what you would like to do, but in my opinion I don't believe or trust any of this.

Our venue right now is requiring one of 2 things
1. Proof of vaccine
2. Proof of a Covid test at least 72 hours in advance
Idk if this helps you. They are also doing contact tracing right now as well. We are getting married in NY so they are bringing a little more strict in that state

View Quoted Comment You guys are lucky to get 72 hrs. my state is requiring a test within 48 hours. I don’t know how the testing goes in New York for you guys but in RI, it’s very hit or miss with how quickly you’ll get your results back if you do the send out test. We are just worried that our guests won’t get their results back in time because people either get them back the next day or 3 to 4 days after. so we’re going to pay for rapid testing on site just in case. It’s an extra two grand, but at this point I’d rather have this than have my guests turned away at the door. Rapid testing Locations aren’t as available in my state and appointments fill up quickly and we have a lot of guests that don’t have rapid testing sites near them. Are you worried about the whole testing thing?

View Quoted Comment So they don’t even need results they said, that’s why they are doing the contact tracing. I am a little worried because my fiancé’s family is way far far far crazy right in that they don’t believe in the vaccine and they don’t want to do the test. Thankfully there is an aunt that has told me they will do the test but that’s it. I know the majority of my family if not all will be vaccinated by then! There is a rite aid down the road from our venue apparently they they are working with for the testing.

View Quoted Comment Wait I’m confused, so just to be clear your guests don’t have to present their negative test results for entry in NY?

View Quoted Comment They have to present the fact that they had a Covid test done. The results get sent to the venue

View Quoted Comment Or they can do there test and hand them the results. Up to them

We are requiring vaccinations. We also had to push ours back a year, and my fiance and I feel VERY strongly that it is everyone's responsibility to do their part to ensure this pandemic ends, and so we are going to require that folks are vaccinated. For their safety, our safety, and because to be honest, people who are unwilling (not unable) to be vaccinated, are not necessarily folks that are welcome. I don't think we have many people who would then be 'uninvited' because we are lucky and most of the important people in our lives feel the same.

I think it would be pretty rough to actually enforce. People have a right to medical privacy.

If you want COVID testing prior and your state/city/venue doesn't require it, I would factor in the cost and pay for guests tests-if they do require it, it'll likely be free. I don't think there's a good way to request/demand people vaccinate though to attend.

ETA: As someone fully vaccinated, I don't think it would sit right with me if the wedding party demanded I get vaccinated/show proof or not attend- I'd probably choose the latter unless an extremely close friend or immediate family.

View Quoted Comment One may argue that having a super spreader event, like a wedding, is not being very responsible if you want to go that route. While you may be focusing solely on those at your wedding, a person who has been vaccinated can still be a carrier of the virus (and still get it with milder symptoms) and spread it to those outside of the wedding (on the plane, hotel, etc.)...thus, the pandemic continues.

I have a wishy washy opinion on the COVID vaccines as it is. If you get it then, that’s great. If you don’t, then that’s great too!


I’m personally adding a Coronavirus page to my website keeping everyone up to date and explaining that if they are really concerned, then they can either 1. Wear a mask and social distance best as they can while attending. Or 2. They can reach out to me and let me know if they would like to watch virtually and I will setup a livestream of the ceremony for that person(s) I would go above and beyond for a livestream if it was just one person and even send out one of my favors.
I would never make it mandatory to attend my wedding though, but to each their own.

Just a perspective to consider when requiring vaccinations...
1) If the at risk guests are vaccinated, it doesn't matter as much whether other guests do or don't have the vaccine.

2) Some people cannot get the vaccine due to medical or health risks. For example, I have to be very careful what vaccines I get as I have an autoimmune disease that often interacts terribly with vaccines. I can't even get a flu shot without getting horribly sick from it
3) Some young, healthy people may not be ready to gamble with a new vaccine that is out, as the side effects can be worse than actually getting covid. My friend who recently got vaccinated is now panicking because they just recalled the Johnson and Johnson vaccine due to serious complications with blood clotting. So while people may very much want to be at your wedding, they may not be ready to take on a brand new vaccine without knowing the long term effects of it yet.
In the end, do what is right for you and your guests. I just wanted to provide you with a perspective from the other side of the arguement! I hope you have an awesome wedding day 😊

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Sure, you can absolutely argue that, which is why we postponed it a year, and have only decided to go forward with our new date and not just cancel and elope when Dr. Fauci reported that due to the wide scale vaccination efforts we should have herd immunity in the United States by the summer, which would hopefully mean that the days of super spreader events- especially if 100 percent of attendees and vendors have been vaccinated- is behind us. I'm hopeful that that is the case. We are also making our guest list even smaller- and it will be exponentially less than the restrictions by that time in our state, based on what our governor has stated about vaccination efforts and how that will change restrictions here. We have always been more cautious than the restrictions, and we will stay that way. We are also willing to cancel if this summer it seems like herd immunity is not going to be possible before our date- meaning that it would still be too dangerous for our few out of town folks to travel.

For us, it boils down to this: We have never been friends with anti-vaxxers, and we will not be starting now. Part of our decision to require vaccinations is that we want to ensure safety. The other part is that we don't particularly want to associate with people who are anti-mask or anti-vax. Again, we are very lucky in that I don't think ANY of the folks we plan to keep on the invite list will have refused a vaccine.

*I'm editing to add that we are requiring that people who CAN get the vaccine do or not attend. There will be kids at the wedding, and currently they cannot be vaccinated, for example.

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I'm in no way against vaccines, but I'm also not here to be a tester on a brand new vaccine that has no real knowledge of the long term affects it may have. And I'm also no one to judge or tell my friends, who do normally vaccinate, that they have to receive a particular one that they may not be comfortable taking in order to attend my wedding, or in your words, be friends with me - whether it be due to health risks, doctor's suggestions, religious reasons or that they simply don't feel that there is enough research on it. I'm don't think that we can use the term "anti-vaxxer" here. When I was in college, I couldn't even register without up to date vaccines. So I'm not sure that that term can be used for someone just not jumping at one that's still considered experimental.

View Quoted Comment I don't believe this issue has anything to do with "anti vaxxers". For example, I fully support well-tested vaccines and I will be sure my future children are vaccinated. However, this is a new vaccine and long-term effects have not yet been tested. For some, it's not worth the risk it poses as it can have worse side effects than actually getting covid. Furthermore, there are medical reasons why some people cannot get the vaccine. Therefore, I would argue this is much different than the "anti vaxxers" movement.

View Quoted Comment I absolutely agree with this. I'm all for vaccines, however I don't feel comfortable getting a new vaccine that nobody knows the long term effects it may have. They just had to stop giving people the Johnson and Johnson vaccine because people are getting blood clots. There is a saying "the cure is worse than the disease" and I believe that because when you watch a commercial for a medication there is usually a long list of side effects that goes with it and some are worse than the disease itself. Also I agree I would never stop talking to someone because they don't want to get vaccinated. I don't care what their reasons behind not wanting to get it and it's really none of my business. To judge, look down on people or cut people out of your life because of their views on a vaccine is pretty immature.

View Quoted Comment People seem to forget that there is reason to be careful about medical innovation and side effects. I have had horrible side effects from a drug I was put on years ago that didn't go away even after I stopped taking the drug; they have harmed my body for the long-haul, potentially for life. And that drug went through the normal long FDA approval process! None of us should get to decide for someone else whether or not they want to take that risk.

^re that comment, the side effect wasn't known at the time so it wasn't disclosed to me. I have the same concern about the vaccine