Gov. Gina Raimondo today said she will be issuing clearer guidelines for weddings later this week after she was asked about a ruling from CommerceRI, the state’s economic development agency, that said an outdoor wedding planned for July 4 on Block Island could not be held after the Department of Health had given the wedding the go-ahead. Raimondo made her remarks at her briefing on Monday, June 8.
Raimondo said she was unaware of this specific event and asked for more details about it. Raimondo also said the wedding could probably go ahead as planned because it was scheduled for July. In June, she pointed out, that while indoor weddings were now restricted to 25 percent of the seating capacity of the venue, all gatherings were still restricted to no more than 15 people.
Raimondo said the different decisions by differing government departments was the result of a “miscommunication.”
Secretary Stefan Pryor of Commerce RI, Dr. Seema Dixit of the R.I. Department of Health, as well as other state officials held a conference call with Block Island businesses on Friday, June 6, and said that Block Island was on the radar for state health officials because of the
