Rapid Covid-19 Testing for Guests/vendors?

Meh I wouldn’t mess with it. What happens if someone tests positive? What do you do then? Is also be concerned about privacy and HIPAA type stuff. Also, my understanding is antibody testing tells you if you’re immune to c*vid, aka if you have antibodies against it. To tell you if you have c*vid, typically you need a PCR test which takes time and you need to do in a lab setting. Don’t know if they have rapid tests for infection available yet.

Okay I’m reading more about the tests and it looks like they do have a way to supposedly distinguish antibodies for a current infection from a past infection or vaccination, but I’m not sure how accurate that would be. Especially if people were vaccinated within 3 weeks of receiving it, you might be looking at lots of false positives from vaccinated people. Also for antibody testing, you need blood, so at a minimum a finger prick but maybe they need a draw.

Well as an example in Rhode Island, we won’t be required to pay for that expense, Per the latest information… Keep in mind things change in the state like our weather haha, but initially they said the tests were only going to cost a little over 100 bucks for about 80 of them. So not expensive at all from where we are

View Quoted Comment As long as they will allow dancing if we get tests then I don’t care how accurate or not accurate they are. I have no problems running the risk of false positives in order to salvage my wedding day. That’s just the point that I’m at right now. Every other precaution will be in place. There’s no reason why Daven busters and pool halls are full on open, yet my outdoor wedding by the water where everyone will be properly distanced and seating will be with household members only, is made out to be some sort of dead zone.

I personally think this would be a total waste of wedding budget - is it required? If not, these test aren't 100% accurate. I feel like it would only be done for the look of a "covid friendly" wedding. I've seen a few brides on WW request a negative test a couple of days prior to the wedding, but I think that's all you can really do. Even then, you can always come in contact after your test - there's honestly no real way to 'ease' guest's minds. I couldn't imagine spending that kind of money - and it would be extremely pricey - on an inaccurate testing. IMO!

View Quoted Comment Some states it’s actually free now and required. But it’s not expensive at all but I guess it may be a state yo state thing for cost. When they were initially going to charge us it was a little over $100 bucks for about 80. As far as the testing being inaccurate goes, I really don’t care at this point. There’s plenty of other people and events that get to utilize rapid testing in order to have what they want. I want dancing at my wedding and if I have to use inaccurate test to get that, that’s what I’m going to do. There are plenty of other things that you can go to that don’t require any testing that are much worse than a safe socially distanced outdoor’s wedding.

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Hmm, I've heard it is pretty expensive here in SC! Maybe price varies from state to state! I agree, if I weren't able to have a wedding with dancing and celebrating, I wouldn't even have it! If the testing is required to have your wedding, I would obviously say absolutely go for it. But if it isn't required, I was just saying I think it's a complete waste to do.

View Quoted Comment I agree, it is all a complete waste. But at the same time, there are many expenses that I’ve had to pay for my wedding that are also complete waste that don’t allow me to have dancing. Pushing out the wedding is out of the question I would be charged way too much money and I would lose way too too much money as well as far as dated favors and rooms booked etc. At this point I’m going to do whatever I can do to make my wedding a blast. People are so afraid of Covid they don’t need to show up.

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Totally understandable! We're holding onto the hope that things are somewhat normal by September when we get married. South Carolina is lifting a lot of restrictions so we are hopeful. We don't want to require masks or not allow dancing at our wedding - we are doing a grazing table and a lot of people have said that was 'unsafe' for us to do - if we can't do those things, we won't have our wedding. It sounds really silly but we've both said we don't want to have a Covid themed wedding. But I totally agree, if you are scared, you shouldn't come! If you've invested a lot of money, I can definitely see doing whatever you need to do!

I would not recommend it. If a guest is too nervous about it then to put their mind 100% at ease, they may want to stay at home

View Quoted Comment 100% agree with the whole no Covid themed wedding thing! Lol I love how that is put.

I would not recommend either. If people are afraid then just don't come to the wedding. There is no way to make sure those test are even accurate at the time.

My initial thoughts are 1) rapid testing can be cost prohibitive and 2) didn't they do rapid tests at the Rose Garden ceremony at the White House that ended up being a super spreader event? I feel like if rapid tests aren't all that accurate they are either going to provide a false sense of security (or perhaps a false alarm) and won't do much to actually make the event safer.

I don’t understand doing this at the door. I 100% get requiring all your guests get tested ahead of time and have a negative result to arrive. That’s awesome, if the couple can organize that somehow for ease of guests, even better. BUT to do it at the door, everyone’s already there together. If someone’s result comes back as positive , at that point doesn’t it make sense to shut everything down?

I'm moreso curious about people who have provided tests for their wedding, or been to a wedding where they had to take a test - what their experience was? (Rather than debating the ideas of if it's worth it or not.)

There's a lot of pros and cons to getting married during covid in general, and how to go about doing it.

I think important factors to consider would be the following:
What is the actual administration procedure? Is it invasive or does it require any supplies and/or materials that must be kept sterile? Does anything need disposed of in particular receptacles, such as biohazard bags? How much additional time will this require before the start of the ceremony? Who is in charge of giving each person the test and reading/tracking results? How much actual physical space would be needed to have this set up and where in the venue would this be?

(Please keep in mind that I’ve been Covid-tested before at a drive-through testing site, but I am not familiar with what exactly a rapid test entails!)