300+ Couples Plan Mass-Wedding in Arkansas Before Eclipse

Russellville, Arkansas, home of Arkansas One Nuclear Power Plant, a great place to stock up for a trip to Petit Jean State Park, and from what I hear the Pickle Capitol of Arkansas. I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to go to Russellville, but we just learned about a big one coming up, 300-plus couples are headed there on Monday, April 8, not just to watch the eclipse in a central totality location, but to get married right before the eclipse. For reals!

You read that right, over 300 couples are participating in a mass wedding just before the eclipse begins on Monday, April 8. It's all free and apparently, they are still signing couples up. I wonder what the record is for couples getting married on the day of an eclipse in one place?

The event is called "Elope at the Eclipse", I found the details at TotalEclipseRussellville.com.

Simulated eclipse over Arkansas One Nuclear Power Plant - Google Maps - Canva

Funny Thing

The event had a bunch of prizes and stuff for the first 100 couples who signed up to be married at the event, they sort of "Eclipsed" that early on in the promotion. With just over a week to go, how many will there be? There will probably be a few more now that more people are learning about it.

According to the Sign-up page on the website:

All you need is a willing partner and a marriage license. We provide the officiant, decorations, flowers, wedding cake, sparkling juice for toasting, and a live band for your first dance -- ALL AT NO COST TO THE COUPLES!

It is about as cheap as a wedding can get, a marriage license in the state of Arkansas will run you about $60, so there's that. Then you might have some travel expenses, so far as we know, couples are coming in from over 20 states to take part in this very unique wedding opportunity.

The wedding event of 2024 will take place at the Soccer Fields located at 901 Lock and Dam Rd, which is right down the street from the Lock and Dam on Lake Dardanelle.

Here's a map:

The whole thing is a little on the odd side for me, but if you're looking for a match made under the stars, you can't get much more celestial than this.

If social distancing is a thing for you, might wanna skip it.

Good luck!

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