‘Elope at the Eclipse’: Nearly 150 couples trek to Ohio get married during total solar eclipse

SENECA COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) - You know that hit song by Bonnie Tyler from 1983, with the lyrics:

“Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there’s only love in the dark. Nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the heart.”

Well, it happened in 2024.

On April 8, nearly 150 couples traveled to Seneca County, Ohio for “Elope at the Eclipse” to wed during the total solar eclipse.

Destination Seneca County hosted the free event at the East Green Amphitheater in Tiffin, near Toledo.

Bryce Riggs, executive director of Destination Seneca County, said the idea started last year and kept growing.

He said dozens of couples from all over the country registered and obtained marriage licenses, so county leaders decided to do a mass wedding ceremony.

The weddings were officiated by Judge Damon Alt of Seneca County Common Pleas Court.

Riggs said he created a ceremony that would last approximately four minutes during totality.

Couples from Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio were registered to get married.

Riggs said some couples traveled more than 16,500 miles to Tiffin, Ohio, to begin their lives together in darkness.

Event leaders also hired a photographer to snap photos as well as provided live music for the first dance, champagne for the first toast and a personalized wedding cake.

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