North Texas couple engaged during annular eclipse to be married during solar eclipse
NORTH TEXAS — All North Texans have the opportunity to witness history during the solar eclipse this Monday, but for a Lewisville couple, the celestial event will have even greater meaning.
Eylsia Sloan and Rodger Penton got engaged during an annular eclipse and will get married during the solar eclipse.
They went on their first date in September of 2022.
"And once we did that, then we pretty much hit the ground running," Penton said. "And since then we haven't stopped seeing each other."
It wasn't long before they started talking about forever.
"I wanted to make that engagement slightly more special than just, you know, your run of the mill engagement," said Penton, who has loved astronomy since he was a little boy.
He planned a road trip to Corpus Christi to see the annular eclipse and propose. That magical moment made deciding on a wedding date even easier.
"He said, 'This is a crazy idea, but just want to run something by you. If you're not good with it, totally fine. But what do you think about getting married on the eclipse, which is on April 8th?' And I was thinking about it," Sloan said. "I was like, oh it'll be really cool."
On Monday, 80 of their closest family and friends will gather in Sulphur Springs to bear witness to their vows and to a historic cosmic event. The wedding will begin around the same time the eclipse starts.
So by the time the moon fully blocks out the sun, the ceremony will be over, cocktail hour will be going on and the couple can fully enjoy the moment with their guests.
"You're going from light, back to dark, and back to light again," Sloan said. "So it's kind of starting a new chapter in that way."
"Yea, I guess a rebirth of our relationship," Penton agreed.
Sloan and Penton are both in their late 30s, and neither have been married before.
"Don't just settle for something just to get married," she said. "You know, it's a really important thing. And I think I'm really happy that I waited as long as I did. I'm definitely the happiest I've ever been."
It's a love worth waiting for and worth celebrating as the moon, the sun and earth align.
