Media

Vogue pulls article glamorizing Martha’s Vineyard wedding linked to COVID-19 cluster

The portrait of "fall elegance" was removed from Vogue.com this week, as the island deals with a 118-case surge.

The West Chop Light and Coast Guard Station on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Mark Lennihan / AP

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa

2 minutes to read

An outdoor wedding on Martha’s Vineyard last month was “all fall elegance,” according to an article published Monday in Vogue magazine.

However, the bucolic Oct. 11 event in West Tisbury is also now believed to be the source of a COVID-19 cluster on the island.

According to a Vogue spokesperson, the magazine made the editorial decision to remove the article from its website this week, after it came under scrutiny from local media outlets. A tweet linking to the article, which was up as late as Wednesday night, had also been deleted by Friday morning.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Times reported Wednesday that the 35-person wedding at Lambert’s Cove Inn (which did adhere to the state’s 100-person limit on outdoor events in lower-risk communities) is suspected to be the source of a 10-case cluster including guests and workers that preceded a monthlong surge in cases on the island. While local health officials haven’t publicly pinpointed the source the recent 118-case surge, they have said that it is believed to be a wedding held on the same day as the one featured in Vogue. According to the Martha’s Vineyard Times, a health official also “pinned the wedding cluster to the Lambert’s Cove Inn” in an email to a local resident.

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According to an archived version of the Vogue article, the couple getting married had changed venues and downsized the guest list by almost 100 people due to COVID-19 concerns. In addition to holding it outdoors, they also “provided masks at the ceremony entrance, and the venue had sanitization stations around the grounds, limited guests per table, and all passed food was pre-plated and served individually,” the article said.

However, the gallery of photos that accompanied the piece showed the majority of guests not wearing masks during the ceremony, photos, or reception. Under state COVID-19 rules, both indoor and outdoor event venues in Massachusetts must require attendees to wear a face covering.

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In an email to the Martha’s Vineyard Times, the bride stressed that it is “extremely difficult to pinpoint the origin of the outbreak or where it stemmed from,” but added they they “deeply regret the impact it’s had on our guests, family, and the Island community.”

According to the New York Post’s Page Six, some local residents were angered at Vogue for glorifying the wedding and not mentioning the subsequent COVID-19 cluster, amid fears that the article might encourage others to hold similar events as the pandemic worsens — both in Massachusetts and across the country. The controversy comes after a 55-guest wedding in rural Maine in August led to between 170 and 270 coronavirus cases and at least eight deaths due to the illness.

According to Vogue, the magazine’s editorial team ensured that “appropriate” precautions against COVID-19 were being taken at the Martha’s Vineyard wedding.

“However, as no gathering has zero risk, we found out afterwards that guests had contracted COVID-19 — and believe they did at the wedding — and so the editorial decision was made to remove the piece,” the spokesperson told Boston.com on Friday.

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