It’s been a long time since we were last under the impression that we might be able schedule our way around COVID-19. Faced with the reality that COVID-19 likely isn’t going anywhere any time soon, we are—at this point—planning on proceeding with our wedding as scheduled.
TL;DR (or jump to the summary): We are requiring all guests at our wedding to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Even so, it is not possible to hold a 100-person event without risk in our current environment; there will be risk associated with attending our wedding. We are going to do everything we can to give you the tools you need to minimize that risk to the greatest extent possible. We hope you will join us in spite of these risks, and we will understand if it’s not something you feel comfortable doing.
Read on to learn more about what we plan to do to help keep you safe, and what our expectations are of our guests.
Vaccinations & Boosters
Evidence from a multitude of peer-reviewed studies shows that vaccination continues to be the most powerful tool in our toolbox for avoiding death and serious illness from COVID-19—including from the Delta and Omicron variants. We know at this point that the memory cell responses produced by both the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are extremely effective at preventing death, hospitalization, and serious illness against all currently circulating variants, including Omicron.
Even so, we also know that your risk of infection from COVID-19 has increased significantly due to the Omicron variant—antibody levels from the mRNA vaccines fall off markedly at about the 4–5 month mark after receiving your second dose, and Omicron has shown itself to be adept at evading COVID-19 antibodies. Recent studies have shown that a booster dose of either mRNA vaccine returns your antibody levels to their peak for at least 3 months, and raises your body’s ability to defend against infection from the Omicron variant significantly, to roughly the equivalent of the two-dose regimen’s efficacy against Delta. That’s why, if at all possible, it is an extremely good idea to receive a booster of an mRNA COVID vaccine before attending our wedding to greatly reduce the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19.
We expect that all of our guests are vaccinated against COVID-19, and we strongly recommend that you receive a booster before attending our wedding. The CDC has recently updated its booster guidance to recommend you receive your booster 5 months after receiving your second dose of a two-dose mRNA vaccine.
If you choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, we respectfully request that you decline our invitation.
Masks
As unpleasant as it can be at times (especially during a long day of air travel), wearing a mask is the single most effective step you can take in your day-to-day life to limit the spread of COVID-19. A well-fitted N95, KN95, or KF94 mask is extremely effective at reducing the spread of airborne droplets and aerosols that can spread SARS-CoV-2, and can also provide some protection for you against inhaling virus particles in the air around you.
At this point in time, it’s very important that you upgrade your mask game if you haven’t already—wear an N95, KN95/KF94, or at a bare minimum, a surgical mask with a nose bridge. Multi-layer cloth masks were a useful tool at the beginning of the pandemic for reducing large droplet transmission while simultaneously leaving medical-grade masks for healthcare workers who need them; the increased transmissibility of Omicron has unfortunately rendered them insufficient, however, and it’s time to retire them.
We will be providing two KN95 masks per guest to be delivered to your hotel rooms upon check-in (for those staying at Caesars Palace on the group reservation). Surgical masks with nose bridges are also abundantly available throughout Vegas’s many hotels and casinos. We will also do our best to have extras on hand at all of our events. We quite like the flat-front KN95 masks from the Good Mask Co., but any independently-certified N95, KN95, or KF94 will do (these are often certified by NIOSH, which is a great indication that you have a good mask).
N95 masks only come in one shape with straps that go around the head, and meet the US standards for medical-grade respirators. KN95 and KF94 masks are non-medical-grade masks that conform to the corresponding Chinese or Korean standards (respectively), and come in multiple styles and fits, most with ear loops.
All three kinds of masks are certified to filter approximately 95% of particles at a size of 0.3 microns, and their efficacy actually increases for particles that are both larger and smaller. You should use a new mask each day, as the electrical charge in one of the layers of these masks dissipates with use.
When We’ll Ask Guests to Wear Masks
Updated 2/11: On February 10th, effective immediately, the State of Nevada made the decision to end their indoor mask mandate. While individual businesses are still empowered to impose their own requirements (and indeed, we expect at least some of the retail stores in Las Vegas to do so), this likely means that the vast majority of visitors to Las Vegas will not be wearing masks, the vast majority of the time.
With this in mind, we have adjusted our expectations of our guests. You should expect to wear a mask:
- While traveling to and from Las Vegas (in airports, on the plane, and in public transportation and taxis)
- On the bus to and from the wedding ceremony
We also encourage our guests to wear their masks in these situations, even though it will not be strictly required:
- During the cocktail hour of our reception, while not actively eating or drinking and especially when conversing with other guests
- While walking around the restaurant during the reception, for instance, to talk to other tables or visit the restroom
- During the Sunday brunch, while not actively eating or drinking
When Masks are Likely to be Optional
In general, masks will be considered optional:
- Any time you’re outdoors, including during the ceremony (updated 2/11)
- During the reception when seated at your table for dinner
Even when outdoors, please be mindful of the distance you are able to keep from other parties, and consider wearing your mask when many others around you are wearing them out of kindness.
Above all, you should match your mask wearing to your comfort level, and should feel supported and welcome to wear your mask to any and all events during your stay in Las Vegas. We will still provide you with masks upon check-in, and will have them available at all of our events.
Testing
While testing is far from foolproof, consistent surveillance testing is another important tool for limiting the spread of COVID-19. In addition to recommending (hopefully obviously) that you not travel to Las Vegas if you’re feeling unwell or have any symptoms of COVID-19, we strongly encourage you to attempt to secure a COVID test as close to the ceremony as possible while still leaving you sufficient time to receive the results. For a PCR test (conducted by a healthcare facility, or potentially at some airports, and processed by a lab), that’s one to two days in advance; for a rapid (“at-home”) antigen test, results are typically available in as little as 10–15 minutes.
Updated 2/11: We have acquired enough iHealth COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests to provide one box to each party (i.e., one two-test kit per hotel room) upon arrival in Las Vegas. Details will be shared via text message on your arrival day in Las Vegas.
Updated 1/18: It is now possible to order four free COVID tests per postal address from the USPS. If you have the ability to do so, we ask that you save one or two of these tests for your travel to Las Vegas.
Bring one along to take the morning of the ceremony, if you can, butPrioritize a pre-travel test to save yourself the maximum amount of inconvenience!
We are in the process of securing have secured rapid tests for all of our guests, and intend to have them on-hand for you shortly after check-in (for those staying at Caesars Palace on the group reservation; guests staying elsewhere are welcome to stop by and pick one up). We strongly recommend that you use one of these tests the morning of the ceremony before leaving the hotel, both as an additional safety measure for all of our guests, and for the added peace of mind and reduced stress that come with the confirmation of a negative test.
Omicron
If you had asked me in July of this past year how I was feeling about the prospects of our wedding, I would have said “positively giddy.” The emergence of the Omicron variant has understandably put a damper on what many of us had hoped would be the start of the “post-COVID” era.
There are some promising things to note about the Omicron variant: while it is significantly more contagious than previous variants, it seems less likely to cause severe disease, hospitalization, and death than previous variants. While vaccine efficacy is lower with Omicron than previous variants, the current vaccines are emphatically not rendered powerless against preventing severe disease from Omicron. And Omicron appears to have a shorter window of contagiousness, with most people capable of shedding the virus one to two days before the onset of symptoms, and two to three days after.
But perhaps the most promising piece of recent news about Omicron is that it appears to be leaving as quickly as it arrived—South Africa is already experiencing a sharp decline in cases of COVID-19 caused by Omicron, and even here in the Bay Area cases have started to plateau. Experts expect this trend to continue in all regions affected by Omicron.
Given this, it is our sincere hope that the Omicron wave is thoroughly finished well before April 2nd rolls around, and it appears likely (knock on wood!) that that will be the case.
COVID-19 has, of course, shown itself to be difficult to predict in the past, so we will continue to evaluate our decisions as the date approaches. We are not going to put our guests in an unsafe situation, and while we will be unable to bring the risk from COVID-19 to zero regardless of the circumstances, if the situation has not markedly improved from today by the time the week of our wedding arrives, we will make the call to cancel.
Summary
In summary:
- We are requiring all of our guests to be vaccinated, and we strongly encourage everyone to receive a booster before traveling to Las Vegas.
- While masks will largely not be required for most of the events during our wedding weekend, we stronly encourage our guests to wear them when interacting with other guests indoors.
- We strongly recommend taking a COVID test before departing for Las Vegas, and ideally, the morning of the ceremony if possible.
- We will be providing two KN95 masks and at least one rapid antigen test for each of our guests upon arrival.
- The course that the Omicron variant has taken in other countries is encouraging, and we are sincerely hopeful that the Omicron wave is long over before our wedding date arrives.
- We will continue to evaluate the situation as the date approaches, and will make the call to cancel if the situation does not appear to have markedly improved.
We are so excited to see each and every one of you, and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure you are able to do so safely and comfortably.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to either one of us. We love you very much, and can’t wait for April 2nd!