diff --git a/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/get-by-errors.js.snap b/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/get-by-errors.js.snap
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..45f4cde1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/get-by-errors.js.snap
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+// Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
+
+exports[`getByLabelText query will throw the custom error returned by config.getElementError 1`] = `"My custom error: Unable to find a label with the text of: TEST QUERY"`;
+
+exports[`getByText query will throw the custom error returned by config.getElementError 1`] = `"My custom error: Unable to find an element with the text: TEST QUERY. This could be because the text is broken up by multiple elements. In this case, you can provide a function for your text matcher to make your matcher more flexible."`;
diff --git a/src/__tests__/get-by-errors.js b/src/__tests__/get-by-errors.js
index 6069caec..c7e8cadf 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/get-by-errors.js
+++ b/src/__tests__/get-by-errors.js
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 import cases from 'jest-in-case'
+import {screen} from '../'
+import {configure, getConfig} from '../config'
 import {render} from './helpers/test-utils'
 
+const originalConfig = getConfig()
+beforeEach(() => {
+  configure(originalConfig)
+})
+
 cases(
   'getBy* queries throw an error when there are multiple elements returned',
   ({name, query, html}) => {
@@ -39,6 +46,19 @@ cases(
   },
 )
 
+test.each([['getByText'], ['getByLabelText']])(
+  '%s query will throw the custom error returned by config.getElementError',
+  query => {
+    const getElementError = jest.fn(
+      (message, _container) => new Error(`My custom error: ${message}`),
+    )
+    configure({getElementError})
+    document.body.innerHTML = '<div>Hello</div>'
+    expect(() => screen[query]('TEST QUERY')).toThrowErrorMatchingSnapshot()
+    expect(getElementError).toBeCalledTimes(1)
+  },
+)
+
 cases(
   'queryBy* queries throw an error when there are multiple elements returned',
   ({name, query, html}) => {
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index f8109352..dbb80da0 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import {prettyDOM} from './pretty-dom'
+
 // It would be cleaner for this to live inside './queries', but
 // other parts of the code assume that all exports from
 // './queries' are query functions.
@@ -14,6 +16,13 @@ let config = {
   asyncWrapper: cb => cb(),
   // default value for the `hidden` option in `ByRole` queries
   defaultHidden: false,
+
+  // called when getBy* queries fail. (message, container) => Error
+  getElementError(message, container) {
+    return new Error(
+      [message, prettyDOM(container)].filter(Boolean).join('\n\n'),
+    )
+  },
 }
 
 export function configure(newConfig) {
diff --git a/src/queries/label-text.js b/src/queries/label-text.js
index 3669db20..59fce539 100644
--- a/src/queries/label-text.js
+++ b/src/queries/label-text.js
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
+import {getConfig} from '../config'
 import {
   fuzzyMatches,
   matches,
   makeNormalizer,
-  getElementError,
   queryAllByAttribute,
   makeFindQuery,
   makeSingleQuery,
@@ -104,12 +104,12 @@ function getAllByLabelText(container, text, ...rest) {
   if (!els.length) {
     const labels = queryAllLabelsByText(container, text, ...rest)
     if (labels.length) {
-      throw getElementError(
+      throw getConfig().getElementError(
         `Found a label with the text of: ${text}, however no form control was found associated to that label. Make sure you're using the "for" attribute or "aria-labelledby" attribute correctly.`,
         container,
       )
     } else {
-      throw getElementError(
+      throw getConfig().getElementError(
         `Unable to find a label with the text of: ${text}`,
         container,
       )
diff --git a/src/query-helpers.js b/src/query-helpers.js
index 062e9df9..3c3295ae 100644
--- a/src/query-helpers.js
+++ b/src/query-helpers.js
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
-import {prettyDOM} from './pretty-dom'
 import {fuzzyMatches, matches, makeNormalizer} from './matches'
 import {waitForElement} from './wait-for-element'
-
-function getElementError(message, container) {
-  return new Error([message, prettyDOM(container)].filter(Boolean).join('\n\n'))
-}
+import {getConfig} from './config'
 
 function getMultipleElementsFoundError(message, container) {
-  return getElementError(
+  return getConfig().getElementError(
     `${message}\n\n(If this is intentional, then use the \`*AllBy*\` variant of the query (like \`queryAllByText\`, \`getAllByText\`, or \`findAllByText\`)).`,
     container,
   )
@@ -59,7 +55,10 @@ function makeGetAllQuery(allQuery, getMissingError) {
   return (container, ...args) => {
     const els = allQuery(container, ...args)
     if (!els.length) {
-      throw getElementError(getMissingError(container, ...args), container)
+      throw getConfig().getElementError(
+        getMissingError(container, ...args),
+        container,
+      )
     }
     return els
   }
@@ -86,7 +85,6 @@ function buildQueries(queryAllBy, getMultipleError, getMissingError) {
 }
 
 export {
-  getElementError,
   getMultipleElementsFoundError,
   queryAllByAttribute,
   queryByAttribute,