Covid Testing Before Your Wedding -- What’s the Best Strategy to Avoid Last Minute Cancellations?

As states loosen restrictions on weddings and social gatherings, many couples ask, “When’s the best time to get a COVID test?” 

by Jessica Levey
02/24/21

As states like Rhode Island and New York increase guest capacity for in-person weddings, as long as those guests can provide a negative COVID test, many couples are scrambling to understand the best testing strategy. 

To start, it’s important to know that states requiring a negative COVID test before attending a large wedding will each have their own testing requirements. 

For example, in New York, Governor Cuomo is asking guests to quarantine for 5 days before getting a PCR test within 48 to 72 hours before the wedding. In Rhode Island, new rules require a negative test within 48 hours of the event. 

This type of testing strategy can help keep infected guests from attending a wedding, and potentially spreading the virus. But it doesn’t do much to prevent last-minute cancellations, mere days before a wedding, should a bride, groom, or other VIP guest test positive.

But what if a bride, groom, or other VIP guest tests positive, only days before an event?

To keep those you love as safe as possible, and prevent last-minute cancellations, Luke Renchan, a wedding professional and key organizer of RICWEP, describes a more detailed strategy for testing. 

Wedding professional Luke Renchan describes a detailed, ideal strategy for testing. 

Renchan recommends having all brides, grooms, or VIP guests -- the people who must be at a wedding for it to happen -- to get tested multiple times, during the span of 2 weeks to 2 days before the wedding. Renchan suggests testing 4 times:  at 2 weeks, 1 week, 72 hours, and 48 hours before the event. 
 

Renchan suggests testing 4 times: at 2 weeks, 1 week, 72 hours, and 48 hours before the event. 

This strategy maximes safety and provides just enough time before an event to adjust plans or reschedule, should an essential member of the wedding party test positive. 

Want to know more about planning a wedding right now? 

• 6 Wedding Trends We Love For 2021
• Elope With a Dreamy, Teeny-Tiny, Covid-Era Ceremony
• Can you apply for your marriage license online? It depends.
• Cancellations suck. Does wedding insurance cover them during a pandemic?
• How to talk about COVID-19 wedding ceremony safety without making it weird, for wedding officiants and couples