diff --git a/gracedb/alerts/email.py b/gracedb/alerts/email.py
index 0ffa1f3b7bfae56bc3b21a554afaa04cdd0d18b5..c79aa8385c1bf35c2df55f2c5fc5f18c41154b9b 100644
--- a/gracedb/alerts/email.py
+++ b/gracedb/alerts/email.py
@@ -152,4 +152,10 @@ def issue_email_alerts(event_or_superevent, alert_type, recipients,
 
     # Send email messages
     backend = get_connection()
-    backend.send_messages(messages)
+    try:
+        backend.send_messages(messages)
+    except Exception as e:
+        # If there is a problem sending emails just log it and continue since
+        # email alerts aren't mission critical. But we log the information
+        # since we want to understand what is happening.
+        logger.error('Error sending email alerts: {e}'.format(e=e))