AKRON, Ohio — Monday's once-in-a-lifetime celestial event in the skies is being celebrated by two Akron couples getting married.
Toni Auvil and Ryan Arce of Cuyahoga Falls and Tim Bryan and Kylie Thanasiu of Akron will be married just before the sky goes totally dark. Some might even call it a total eclipse of the heart.
Both couples have been building their love stories for decades.
"We were in high school, and we met at a party exchanged numbers and you know ever since then we've been smitten," said Kylie Thanasiu, Eclipse Day bride.
"I think we met in like 2009 technically. And we worked together at Main Street Gourmet in Cuyahoga Falls," said Toni Auvil, Eclipse Day bride.
Auvil continued, "we have four boys, one of them is right next to me, like right here."
The couples entered and won a contest held by the Akron Municipal Court. Municipal Court Judge David Hamilton and the Cascade Locks Park Association joined forces to provide an "out-of-this-world" wedding on the day of the total solar eclipse in Northeast Ohio.
"It's just a magical phenomenon to find someone that you love and then to be able to share it on a historic day like this," said Thanasiu.
Judge Hamilton will officiate Kylie and Tim's wedding at 1:00 p.m. and Toni and Ryan's wedding at 1:15 p.m. Both weddings will take place at the Mustill Store in Akron, near Cascade Locks Park.
"I thought it was a great idea I mean, who else is going to be able to say they did that," said Ryan Arce, Eclipse Day groom.
The weddings will kick off a Solar Eclipse Party, which is slated to run from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The Cascade Locks Park Association Team will distribute free eclipse while supplies last.
"It's such an awesome thing to see that everyone is going to come together that day and enjoy the eclipse together in such a rare and beautiful moment with the wedding and the eclipse," said Tim Bryan, Eclipse Day groom.
The vows and reception all centered around the skies, an unforgettable moment almost written in the stars,
"We're putting a ring on it, and the moon is putting a ring on the sun. They say the moment right before totality looks like the diamond ring effect. I just think that's so gorgeous, the celestial message that it's time to put a ring on it," said Thanasiu.
