Promise, I'm no expert on cecropia moths, having only raised a few, but maybe Dan in Ohio will see this and post - he's more experienced with them.
Most silkmoths stay coupled until the next night, which would be tonight in your case, but sometimes they disengage before then. The egg-laying time isn't totally predictable either - usually, they don't start laying until night time, but I've seen some eggs from an imperial moth spill out in the day time. They don't always follow the rules. :)
A good idea might be to get some host plant material - cecropias will use a lot of different plants, but cherry is really good - cut a short branch, wash it and spray it good with your kitchen sprayer, put it in a container like Tupperware with water in it and a hole punched in the top just big enough for the twig, and put that in the cage with the mated pair. Hopefully, she'll lay you some eggs on the host plant material, which is better than when she lays eggs on the bars of the cage. That's still doable, since you can put host plant material next to the eggs on the cage bar for the caterpillars to go to when they hatch, but it's better if they're already on the host plant. I never like to raise too many big moths at one time, too - even a few can exhaust you with the amount of leaves they eat and the duration of their caterpillar life! I've put silkmoths in a bag, and sometimes they laid eggs in it, and other times they just sat there, not laying one.
After you get your eggs - no more than 20 hopefully - you can open the cage door, and if it's dark or whenever it gets really dark, both moths will fly off, and she can lay the rest of her eggs naturally.
Congrats on your cecroprias!
I've linked you to a site that might help.
Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Cecropia Moths

Thanks Sherry,
I wasn't planning to keep more than 20 myself, but had a few friends nearby that may want a few. One reason I wanted to try to have her lay on a paper bag or box is so I could cut it apart and share the eggs easier. Also, I had thought of raising part of my caterpillars on one host plant, and some on another, since we have two or three of their preferred hosts in our yard (lilac, maple, willow).

One other question I had - when this male cecropia is done with my female, can he fly away and find another female, or is his life pretty much over, and could we possibly keep him for a specimen?

Again, I really appreciate any help/advice anyone has!

Thanks,
Promise

I'm sure your moths are no longer coupled but for future reference, cecropias will disengage when it gets dark. If for some reason, I need them apart sooner than when the sun goes down, I'll put them in a dark room, set a timer for 15 minutes and then go back in to figure out where the male has flown (since he was on the outside of the cage) so I can let him go. Males can mate multiple times.

I put the females in paper bags as soon as I realize they have disengaged. Most tend to start laying eggs soon after disengaging and will continue to lay eggs for a few days. OTOH, I have run into a few that do not like bags. I had one this year that sat for two days before laying eggs. Normally when this happens, I let the girl go and move on to another but this year wild males have been few and far between so I waited her out. Anyway, periodically check on her progress until you have enough eggs and then let her go.

If for some reason, you want to lengthen the time you're raising cecropia cats (I do it for teaching purposes), there are two things you can do (that I know about):
1) Experiments show you can keep the eggs in the frig for up to 10 days without affecting the developing cats. Put a few in the frig and you can stagger when the cats are coming out.

2) Raise some on box elder maple (Acer negundo). Some people call it the "poison ivy tree" because young trees resemble poison ivy. Cecropias cats still reach full size but they can take up to 3.5 months to get there.

WARNINGS:
1) Heat and high humidity are the enemy when raising cecropias. If they get too much of both, the cats can start dropping like flies, especially if conditions are crowded. If you raise them outside, make sure you have good air circulation.

2) Cecropia cats love to drown themselves so if you are raising them on branches placed in water, do what you can to make it difficult for the cats to reach the water.

You mentioned raising them on multiple plants. While the eggs are developing, I suggest taking cuttings from each plant you are considering and making sure each holds up in water for at least 3 or 4 days. Some leaves (including most maples I've tried) wither in nothing flat so they are pretty useless unless you are using rearing bags on the trees.

My latest cecropia story: Went to an outside wedding reception yesterday. It was on the west side of town, the area where I release my male moths. So, I took 3 cecropia and 4 polyphemus with me, the plan being my kids would release them somewhere in the area. The kids ended up making a bee line for the pool (this was a very laid back reception) so I took the two containers over to the side of the yard for later. The moths, especially the cecropias, ended up being the hit of the party. I gave many moth talks, lots of people took moth pics and the bride absolutely loved that I brought the moths. Some drunk women apparently did not believe that I planned on releasing the moths and took it upon herself to set them free, greatly disappointing the bride's sister who had not seen them yet.

KC

Thanks for the great advice and tips, KC! My moths separated Saturday evening, and after getting some nice pictures, I released the male. The female spent the night in a paper bag, and the next morning I counted nearly 150 eggs on the bottom and sides of the bag! I kept her inside during the day on Sunday, and then released her at night to finish laying her eggs in the wild. I am trying to distribute some of my extra eggs to friends and family who are interested in trying to raise a few Cecropia cats.

I love the fact that these large moths have to "warm up" a bit before taking off. That is how I was able to take some good pics of the male, he wanted to take off, but had to "shiver" his wing muscles for a bit so I had a chance to snap the pics. My female took several minutes to warm up before taking off last night, but when she did, she flew quite strongly up and out into the darkness. :)

I can't wait for the babies to hatch in a week or so! I will keep you all updated.

~Promise

Great thread. I overwintered about 30 Cecropia cocoons this year. Sice it's been alternately warm and cold here (typical CT weather) the eclosures have been quite staggered. I have managed to do quite a bit of breeding and will have a huge surplus of cats. I guess my quazan cherry tree will have more than a few caterpillars this year!

Maryann

KC is the Man! Just to add to his info... Last year he gave us some eggs on brown paper from one of his bags. We just tacked them up to a tree and off the hatchlings went. So, if you don't want to raise them all, this is a way to let some of them go on their merry way. Just put them high enough to easily reach the leaves.
-Elisabeth