A Texas wedding photographer says she got COVID-19 after a groom hid that he'd tested positive for the virus a day before the event
- A wedding photographer contracted the coronavirus after the groom attended his nuptials one day after testing positive for COVID-19, according to a new report from Texas Monthly's Emily McCullar.
- The Texas-based photographer only found out the groom had the virus after a bridesmaid told her, McCullar wrote.
- The photographer has asthma and three children, according to Texas Monthly.
- When the photographer expressed concern that her children could die as a result of the groom's actions, per Texas Monthly, the same bridesmaid replied: "I understand, but this is her wedding day."
A Texas wedding photographer contracted COVID-19 after working at a wedding where the groom knew he had the coronavirus, according to a new article from Texas Monthly's Emily McCullar.
The article reports that the groom - who is not named in the story, like everyone else at the event - tested positive one day before the wedding, knowingly putting his guests at risk of infection.
The photographer only discovered the groom was sick because of a bridesmaid, who told her about the groom's diagnosis after the wedding vendor had spent over an hour with the unmasked bridal party indoors, according to Texas Monthly.
The bridesmaid excused the groom's diagnosis and attendance at the wedding by saying he was asymptomatic, the photographer - a mother of three who has asthma - told the publication. There is a wealth of evidence published in medical journals and by health authorities that people with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 are infectious.
The photographer chose to leave the wedding early as a result of the groom's diagnosis, McCullar wrote, adding that her departure was "tense" despite the clear risk staying at the event posed.
The wedding planner and bridesmaids thought she was in the wrong, with the bridal party going as far as accusing her of "ruining" the bride's day, according to Texas Monthly. And when the photographer tried to express her concern for her own health and that of her children to a bridesmaid, she was shut down, the article says.
"What if my children die?" the photographer asked, to which the bridesmaid replied: "I understand, but this is her wedding day," according to McCullar's story.
The photographer isolated from her family following the event, and she ended up testing positive for COVID-19 a few days after the wedding, according to the article. She told the couple about her diagnosis, but they refused to apologize or pay for her test, McCullar wrote.
The anonymous couple featured in Texas Monthly are just one of many to hold a purportedly unsafe wedding during the pandemic.
Engaged people have chosen to go forward with large weddings over the last nine months despite the risks they knowingly pose to their guests and those they come in contact with. These parties have often turned into super-spreader events, including a Maine wedding that led to 177 COVID cases and seven deaths.
Those who work at such events often suffer from the parties as well, with partygoers putting service workers' lives on the line for the sake of their own fun.