Love: Kendra Flynn & David Verity, Jr.

Married

Nov. 2 at Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Erma, N.J., with the Rev. Jack Howard officiating. A reception for 160 guests followed at the Grand Hotel in Cape May.

They met

Kendra, 28, and David, 30, met through mutual friends in February 1996, when she was a junior and he was a senior at Lower Cape May Regional High School. They went to each others' senior prom at the same hotel where they held their reception.

Kendra majored in marine biology at Long Island University, and her studies took her to Australia, Costa Rica and Fiji. Certain that the adventurous Kendra didn't want to live in Cape May forever, David would tell her she didn't have to come back if she didn't want to. "We were always trying to break up," Kendra said.

Then, three years ago, David enrolled in Santa Barbara College in California and became a certified underwater welder and commercial diver. When he graduated in May 2005, she flew to California. "It took us 10 days to drive across the country," she said, and along the way, they decided they wouldn't ever break up again.

He proposed

Kendra is curator of fishes for Rainforest Cafe in Atlantic City. On a typical Wednesday morning - Nov. 8, 2006 - she was diving in the tank, looking after her finned charges. "Someone was knocking on the aquarium, loud," Kendra said. "I looked up, ready to wave to somebody, and he had a sign that he drew in crayon that said, 'Kendra, will you marry me?'

"I almost drowned. I shot up to the top of the tank because I thought I was crazy. Then I went back underwater, and looked out again, and he was still there, shrugging his shoulders. I gave him the thumbs up!"

9 to 5

Kendra continues to work at Rainforest Cafe. David is a commercial scallop fisherman, and a crew member of the Courageous, which is based in Cape May.

Making a home

The couple live in Rio Grande, N.J.

First steps

Ben Harper's By My Side.

Doing it their way

David saved 140 scallop shells before the wedding, and the couple spent weeks sanding off the rough edges so family and friends could write messages on them. Kendra plans to fashion a wind chime from some of them, and place the rest in a decorative basket.

While removing scallops from the shell a few weeks before the wedding, David found a small pearl. (While pearls are more commonly found in oysters, other shellfish make them, too, marine biologist Kendra says.) One day, Kendra says, she'll wear this pearl on a chain.

Not a dry eye

"I didn't know if I was going to make it down the aisle," said Kendra. "I was hyperventilating. I told my dad he was going to have to carry me. But then, as soon as I saw David, I was just fine."

Bloopers

Kendra's sister, Amanda, had a hard time waiting her turn to read an Irish blessing during the couples' vows. "I knew what I needed to say, and I couldn't wait to say it," she said. "I would start to say it before the pastor was finished . . . and then everybody would laugh."

Kendra says

"Keep it simple, and when the day comes, whatever is done is done, and whatever is not doesn't matter. In the end, what matters is having your friends and family there to celebrate - you don't need all of that other stuff."

Honeymoon

Two weeks in South Africa, including a safari in Botswana and a dive with great white sharks in Cape Town.