Total Eclipse of the Heart

On the night of the 2017 solar eclipse, Kylee Augustine and Michael Rice had their first date. They connected over the sun, moon and more at an IHOP in Russellville, Ark., where the conversation was so good that Mr. Rice drank six cups of coffee, he said.

On Monday, after nearly seven years of dating, they watched their first eclipse together as newlyweds. Minutes before the area plunged into a hushed darkness, Mr. Rice and Ms. Augustine joined about a hundred couples at the Russellville Soccer Complex in saying, “I do,” eagerly eloping at the town’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” festival.

They donned eclipse glasses as soon as they exchanged rings, and they repeated celestial-themed vows to love each other through even the darkest of moments.

“I promise to cherish you like this rarest of events, treasuring each moment as if it were a fleeting or shooting star,” the couples repeated, as Craig Wayne Boyd, a country singer-songwriter, officiated.

“For in my world,” they continued, “you are my sun, my moon and all my stars.”