SAN ANTONIO — It will be a destination wedding for a California couple in San Antonio's Historic King William District Saturday.
Their special day will feature a nod to the upcoming solar eclipse in their decorations. The couple also ordered custom solar eclipse glasses for wedding guests.
The path of totality had everything to do with Kendall Hall and Matt Klein's decision to wed in the Alamo City.
With many of the wedding guests being astrophysicists, the bride included, they know exactly where to go to get the best view.
"What makes this even more special is this is the last eclipse in the U.S. for two decades," said Hall. "It's happening at the right time."
"We got lucky," added Klein.
The stars will align for the newlyweds as they celebrate their marriage through Monday.
"We're all here to party tomorrow for the wedding then also go camping Sunday and see the eclipse on Monday," said Klein. "Everybody's already in town, so we can just move the party over."
The eclipse-themed ceremony is fitting!
"I have a PhD in astrophysics, meaning that I love astronomy," said Hall, who is also a physics professor.
Several members of the wedding party are astrophysicists. The wedding officiant is an astrophysicist.
"We've had a ton of people helping us. They've all had different ideas from themed cocktails, a sun and the moon cocktail, things like that," said Klein. "There's been a million ideas. All themed, all very fun."
"Any outrageous idea that made you think, 'That's cool, but it might be a little much for the wedding?'" we asked.
"We didn't do the cocktails," said Klein, laughing. "We did margaritas."
The couple ordered 200 custom solar eclipse glasses made by American Paper Optics, the number one manufacturer of eclipse glasses in the U.S.
"[They] have our names, a nice design and our wedding colors," said Hall. "We also have a few designs in our table places, eclipse things."
The front of the glasses features a nod to the circle of light that will be around the moon Monday, resembling a wedding ring in the sky.
"Right before totality, there's a little bit of the sun left so you can see a ring of sunlight and a bright piece of sunlight so it looks like a diamond ring. It's called the diamond ring phase," Hall explained.
50 friends and family from the wedding will go camping in Concan for Monday's total solar eclipse. The group will bring two giant binoculars and three telescopes.
One telescope will project the eclipse onto a big screen. It was made in 1957 by the bride's grandfather.
Hall says we're alive at the perfect time.
"The moon is slowly moving away from us," she explained. "About 100,000 years ago, the moon wouldn't have been big enough in apparent size to completely cover the sun. In about another 100,000 years, the moon will completely cover the sun. We're living in the perfect time in history to see the solar corona during the solar eclipse."
Mass weddings will be happening in multiple states in the path of totality.
Elope at the Eclipse in Russellville Arkansas, for example, is providing all the decorations, flowers, wedding cake and bubbly free of charge. They even reimburse the $60 marriage license fee.
Seneca County, Ohio's Elope at the Eclipse will offer couples the opportunity to exchange vows or renew them during the eclipse.
The next total eclipse will be in 2044, visible only in the Dakotas and Montana.