HELENA — Governor Bullock announced Thursday, six weddings in five different counties are responsible for more than 20 new COVID-19 cases in Montana.
Bullock says these cases are related to pre-wedding festivities, like bachelorette parties and post-wedding activities, where health guidelines are not being followed.
The pandemic has led many couples to question the plans around their own wedding day.
Planning a wedding takes time, patience, and detail, but planning a wedding during a global pandemic is even more stressful.
Cedric and Kayla said, “there was a whole bunch of unknowns, of course, there were decisions that had to be made right away.”
Cedric and Kayla Hewitt tied the knot on June 20th as a new wave of the coronavirus was starting to hit the state.
Cedric and Kayla said, "Obviously, it would be a little awkward if we had to tell people 3 days beforehand, oh yeah, we can’t do this.”
Aly Robins and her husband Jayme faced the same tough decision.
Aly said, “And I thought, 'oh, this will for sure be over by June', and it kept getting worse. We were just trying to decide if we wanted to cancel or not. I didn’t really want to, because I just wanted to move forward in life.”
Both couples say they consulted state health guidelines that called for strict social distancing. They also kept their weddings to fewer than 150 people, and chose venues where they could spread out or be outside.
Aly says, “It was outside, we had a bunch of hand sanitizer and masks provided, so yeah it turned out really great and I am really glad we did it.”
Cedric and Kayla said, “It was kind of inspiring to me too, because despite the whole COVID-19 thing going on, we were still able to have our wedding, we were still able to have family and friends there, through guidelines, of course.”
Alexi Skinner was supposed to married this weekend, but decided to postpone due to safety concerns. Skinner says, “We talked about doing it in August or September, but at the end of the day I just don’t see it (COVID-19) going away that fast and I would rather just wait and not have to worry about it and not have people in our bridal party and our family be put in a situation that is not safe.”
The Governor also said on Thursday, outdoor events should still follow social distancing guidelines. Just because you're outside, does not mean the virus can't spread.
The Health Department recommends working with them and keeping all events to 50 people or less.
