Taryn Elliott, 38, and Rhett Kamm, 52, consider themselves "lucky."
On April 8, 2024, the couple got married while the radiant solar eclipse reached totality. Wedding footage capturing the moment has gone viral.
On Instagram, their wedding planner, Alexa Kay, from Alexa Kay Events, shared footage of the couple getting married during the celestial event. The video, which has amassed over 12 million likes and a cool 57 million views on TikTok, has resonated with fans worldwide.
"How amazing that they did that!" one person commented on Instagram.
Another jokingly compared Kamm and Elliott's wedding to "Twilight" character Bella Swan's and said, "Not even the 'Twilight' movie wedding was this cool."
But, if Bella actually did get married to Edward during a total solar eclipse, she might have felt even more anxiety on her wedding day — on top of the whole, you know, marrying a vampire thing.
In an interview with TODAY.com, Elliott and Kamm said their nuptials were "nerve-racking."
They said the only thing they felt when watching the moon pass over the sun was a great sense of "relief" because everything had gone exactly as planned.
"There was a lot of luck involved," Kamm says. "It was like a relief that it happened correctly."
Elliott explained that the weather in Dallas wasn't looking good in the lead-up to the wedding. Earlier in the day, the forecast had predicted thunderstorms. She feared that all the planning she and Kamm had put into their nuptials would be ruined in the blink of an eye.
"It was just a miracle that the clouds kind of parted at the right time and we were able to see everything. It was cool," she says.
Just moments before the eclipse happened, Kamm and Elliott paused their wedding so their guests could take in the view.
Each attendee was given a special pair of eclipse glasses that allowed them to gaze up at the luminescent sky. It was then that both Elliott and Kamm cried while watching the moon eclipse the sun.
"We did our vows up until about five minutes before totality and then paused everything so everyone could just watch it and experience it," she says.
"Honestly, that was the coolest part about the wedding. It was amazing to stand up there and listen to all our friends and family's reactions to the eclipse. They were cheering and crying and gasping. It was really cool to be able to experience that with all of them."
After the ceremony, the newlyweds went to their reception, which was themed after Vincent van Gogh's famous painting "The Starry Night" and "Alice in Wonderland."
The reception spoke true to their shared love of stargazing and astronomy.
"It’s something we’ve always enjoyed doing together," Elliott, who has a degree in physics, says.
They've witnessed eclipses before as a couple. In fact, it was their first date. In 2017, the Arizona-based couple traveled to Casper, Wyoming to watch the eclipse.
When they got engaged in 2022, they wanted to pay homage to the beginnings of their romance and get married during the next eclipse hitting the U.S. — and the last to do so was on April 8, 2024.
"It just kind of made sense," Kamm says.
"It totally felt right because the last eclipse brought us together and it really was one of the most magical experiences ever. It is such an incredible, full-body experience that's so humbling," Elliott adds. "You really feel connected to the universe, but small at the same time. It's just so cool."
Kamm, who works as a pilot and a chef, met Elliott, an intellectual property attorney, in 2017, when she sought flying lessons at his job.
He says he loved the fact that she was into science and had a wiener dog.
"As we flew together, it became apparent that her desire to learn didn’t just extend to flying. She was and is still an extremely curious person," he says. "As I got to know her over time, I’ve come to realize that isn’t just a part of who she is, it’s what she is and it makes her fascinating to be around."
As for Elliott, she says she was drawn to Kamm's wit.
"From the first moment I met Rhett, I valued his intelligence, his kindness, and his humor," she says. "He’s an extremely talented pilot, and it was great seeing how much all his staff liked and respected him."
"I started liking him the more we talked in between flying. Spending time together at the eclipse and dinner after, we just clicked laughing together and talking about a wide range of topics for hours," Elliott adds. "The more I got to know him, the more I liked him. He’s smart, sweet, handsome, fun, interesting and talented."
After fulfilling their dream of getting married during the eclipse, the pair are now planning what they're going to do for the next one. Elliott says she already has something in mind.
"The next one goes through Spain and I have family that lives there. I've been wanting to go back and visit, so we'll probably try to plan something around that," she says. "And then the one after that goes through Egypt which would be something really cool to see."
