Love: Kathy Taylor & Carl Oberg

In September 2011, Carl's employer, Pennoni Associates in Philadelphia, sent their new structural engineer to Harrisburg for a three-week PennDot course in bridge inspection. Kathy's Western Pennsylvania company, Northwest Engineering, sent her to the same place.

One rainy morning, she walked to class from her hotel, did her best to shake off the damp, and saw a classmate sitting with his shoes off. "Did you walk here in the rain, too?" she asked in commiseration.

Carl had driven and his shoes were dry. He was just relaxing. But that little exchange got them talking, and they began eating dinner together.

"Where are you here from?" Carl asked one night. "Tidioute," Kathy said.

He couldn't believe it. That tiny Warren County town is where his much-loved, late grandmother, Crystal, grew up. Carl spent much of each summer with Crystal, whom he called Mere-mere. Crystal, who by then lived in Haddonfield, taught him to swim and took him to church and sailing.

Kathy enjoyed hearing about his grandmother, and learning that she and Carl both love running and biking. Also, it is more fun to talk bridges with Carl than any person. "He has such excitement about them," she said.

They always enjoyed each other's company at dinner, but one night over Mexican food, "It just felt different," Carl said.

"He looked at me and said, 'If this wasn't being expensed, I'd buy you dinner,' " she said, still laughing about it.

Later that week, the bridge course ended, and each returned to their opposite sides of the state.

Driving home was really hard, Kathy said. She made her first trip to Philadelphia within two weeks.

Carl then lived in a teeny-tiny University City apartment. "I made dinner for her that night - chicken and rice pilaf - and she told me it was the best chicken she'd ever had."

By the end of the weekend, they were feeling like this new thing could be the thing. "I came down every second weekend after that for a couple of months," Kathy said.

"We wanted to see where things could go, and came to the conclusion that the best way to do that would be for her to move down here," Carl said.

Kathy liked Philadelphia, and she was in love with Carl. But she also loved her three cats, and he is allergic. "When he told me he would go get allergy shots so I wouldn't have to get rid of my cats, I was pretty sold," Kathy said.

In March 2012, she landed a job at Philadelphia's Ammann & Whitney. They moved to an apartment on the outskirts of Haddonfield, and as soon as his allergy shots kicked in, Black, Pumpkin, and Bambi joined them.

Carl introduced Kathy to city living and sailing. The two have refurbished a Comet, a boat built and sold by Carl's father, Victor, and his Uncle Dave before Carl was born. The couple road-tripped with Kathy's parents, Dave and Julie, to St. Louis to pick it up in the summer of 2013. "It was our project together," Carl said. "We've spent a lot of hours working on that boat."

Kathy's shared some of the country life with Carl, too. At her family's farm in Gifford, on Christmas Day 2013, the two went skeet shooting in the back pasture with her dad and Uncle Mark. The older family members drove back to the house, but Kathy and Carl were enjoying the chilly air.

"We were having such a good time, and walking back, she just had the biggest smile on her face," Carl remembered. So he felt in his pocket for the ring he'd been carrying for the right moment, and knelt in the pasture.

In April, the couple moved into Carl's childhood home in Westmont. His mother, Judy, now lives in Marlton.

The two engineers who met earning their bridge inspector certification were married on the stabilized ruin of a real beauty - the Kinzua Railroad Bridge in Mount Jewett, near where Kathy grew up.

They stood on the clear floor of the observation deck at the end of the remaining structure, with the valley spread out below them and thirty-some guests all around.

Kathy's grandparents' pastor, the Rev. Max Simms, led a short ceremony, and then everyone headed to the Taylors' farm. There was room for more in the farmhouse and pavilion than on the bridge, and about 75 guests enjoyed a variety of kebabs and a baked potato bar.

"We didn't want anything fancy," Kathy said. "We wanted it to be like a barbecue - laid-back and relaxed so everyone could enjoy themselves and talk."

Carl remembers the perfection of looking at Kathy, beautiful in her wedding dress, and the valley beneath their feet. It had rained all day, and he had figured they'd have to move the ceremony under cover. But then the clouds parted, and the sun shone down as they took their vows. It was metaphoric, he said. "It was all finally happening."

The ceremony ended, and Kathy and Carl began walking back across the bridge. They were in the middle of the remaining span when "this pure joy and excitement came over me," she said. "It was this real happiness that it was finally official."

A bargain: "It cost us $25 to rent the park for the ceremony," Kathy said. That cost included a reservation for the Kinzua Bridge State Park pavilion, in case of rain, and permission to marry on the deck.

The splurge: In addition to a jar of homemade jam made from farm blueberries, all 75 guests received Zippo lighters engraved with the couples' names and wedding date. Zippos are made nearby.

The couple plans a weeklong winter trip to someplace warm.

Officiant: Pastor Max Simms, Hilltop Baptist Church, Gifford, Pa.

Venue: Ceremony: Kinzua Bridge State Park, Mount Jewett, Pa.; Reception: the bride's parents' farm, Gifford, Pa.

Catering: Top of the Line Catering, Bradford, Pa.

Photo: Dennis Heyman Photography, dennisheymanphoto@gmail.com

Dress: Jay West, Haddonfield