Cincinnati couple shares story after wedding becomes a ‘super spreader’ event

Dozens of wedding guests contracted COVID-19 after a Cincinnati area couple’s wedding. The newlyweds talked with WLWT, hoping others learn from their nightmare after their big day turned into a “super spreader” event. Anthony and Mikayla Bishop met at Xavier University. They have been dating for almost five years and got married on Halloween in Blue Ash.Due to the pandemic and to protect their guests, they cut their guest count from 200+ to 85. Eighty-three guests attended the wedding ceremony and reception. Two weeks later, 32 guests have tested positive, including the newlyweds and three of their grandparents. Two grandparents had to visit the emergency room due to severe symptoms.”Weddings are definitely scary right now. I didn’t think that almost half of our wedding guests were gonna get sick,” Mikayla Bishop said. “You’re in the moment. You’re having fun. You don’t think about COVID anymore.”The couple provided masks and hand sanitizer at the entrance to the venue but quickly found out that few guests took advantage of them.”My big moment honestly was right when the ceremony started and the doors opened and both my parents walked me down the aisle. The first thing I see is I see everyone’s face. And that’s when I realized wow. Nobody’s wearing a mask,” Mikayla Bishop said. “I’m walking down the aisle. We can’t do anything now.””When I saw everyone not wearing masks I was just like, ‘Oh, well I guess we’re just gonna kinda go with it I guess,'” Anthony Bishop said.The couple developed symptoms after driving to a cabin in North Carolina for their honeymoon. Anthony said he only lost his sense of taste and smell. Mikayla said she could barely get off the couch.They also started hearing from family members who were feeling sick or testing positive.”Every single day we’re getting a call. Oh here’s another person. Here’s another person. Here’s another person. And it starts to take a toll on you,” Mikayla Bishop said.The Bishops said they felt guilty about guests getting sick, especially their grandparents.”What’s crazy is that our grandparents were the only ones that wore a mask the whole time. They actually wore their mask except for when they were eating their dinner,” Mikayla Bishop said. They added that their grandparents were not on the dance floor, but the couple believes dancing made their wedding riskier. “That’s what was maybe the super spreader is the dance floor,” Mikayla Bishop said. “Everybody’s in each other’s face and there’s no masks.”