On July 12, the two teachers faced each other in the hills overlooking Los Gatos and made a promise to "always aspire to maintain our best for one another."

Before a crowd of family, friends and fellow Los Gatos High teachers, they vowed to commit to each other "a life of continued love, respect, honesty and discovery."

That life began in the fall of 1998, when both were first-year English teachers at Los Gatos High. Paris landed the job in her hometown after graduate school at Rutgers University; Kevin left the field of public policy after a dozen years and entered education as a profession.

"The first couple of years teaching is just hell. Absolute hell. Your head is just spinning," Kevin said. With only four new teachers going through that experience that year, Kevin and Paris grew close. They often strolled into each other's classrooms and made comments in front of students, such as, "They actually hired you? You teach here?"

"We really spent three or four years building up a friendship—we were partners in crime," Kevin said.

"We liked each other way better than we liked the people that we were dating," Paris added.

Since neither of them had pictures of their respective significant others on their desks, students from that first year began to suspect that the two were secretly married. "We would just light up when the other walked into the room," Kevin said.

The next class realized that their teachers weren't in a relationship but tried to engineer one. The students sent emails under their teacher's name to the other, Paris said, like "You looked really cute today" or "You didn't stop by the classroom. I missed you."

"It was like a bad Boston Public episode," said Paris, a Leigh High School graduate.

Photograph by Saori Yoneda Calling herself the 'anti-bride,' Paris DeSoto learns how to apply makeup from a brochure on her wedding day.

"Everybody saw the chemistry," said close friend and teacher Kristen Sandoval. "They were just friends. They were very chummy together, but everybody said they should be together."

Later that year, a group of teachers went on the infamous Lake Tahoe trip. Kevin and Paris drove up together and there was "absolutely no weirdness at all," Paris said.

It was there that Kevin realized his relationship was over, and it was there that he and Paris shared their first kiss.

"As soon as we broke up with our other relationships, it was like, 'OK, we're a couple,' " Kevin said. "The paths that both of us took in our lives, they were circuitous, but they led here."

Soon after, they shared their first "I love you." Paris said, "I could've said it at Tahoe. I could've said it six months before Tahoe. I could've said it two years before Tahoe."

Paris and Kevin "came out" as a couple at the senior prom in March 2001, which they attended as chaperones. A slow song came on, and as the two danced, a group of students formed a circle around them, chanting, "Rogers! Rogers! Rogers!"

"Then he leaned over and kissed me full on the lips," said Paris, who is opposed to public displays of affection. "When the kids make out in the halls, it makes me want to barf."

Kevin proposed on a Saturday in April 2001. The Monday after the engagement, "it was 7:46, a minute after the bell had rung; the kids were like, 'Is that ring new?' "
Paris said.

Photograph by George Sakkestad The day before his wedding, Kevin Rogers (center) goes with his future father-in-law, Ed DeSoto, for a final tuxedo fitting at Selix Formalwear. Shop employee Sherri Corral makes sure that the collar fits the groom's neck.

"Paris gives clarity to me. She's the one to say, 'This is all nice and romantic, but what the hell does it mean?' " Kevin said. "I don't ever have to be afraid that she's going to judge me."

Known as the romantic one of the couple, "Kevin is so sweet. He does the nicest things that most men wouldn't ever think of," Kristen Sandoval said. "And Paris is kind of rough around the edges."

"He's like Winnie the Pooh. I'm like Eeyore," Paris said.

The two have the same love for literature, for adventures and for the outdoors. "Paris pushes me. She calls it my Fountain of Youth program," said Kevin, who at 43 is nine years older than Paris. "She's such a great travel companion. To have that kind of comfort and intimacy and feel fine being quiet is a hard thing to do—it's a sense of belonging."

"There's this thing inside that I just can't express. This thing says, 'This is right. She's it,' " Kevin said. "Is there such a thing as the right person? With Paris, there's no question."

Paris agrees. "From the moment we met, we felt like family," she said. "I trust him with everything. He's got more integrity than anyone I know."

"Sometimes I tend to run away from my feelings. Kevin makes me deal with my stuff," Paris said. "He doesn't try to change the way I am. He's very accepting of me." Kevin, Paris said, is patient, easygoing and spiritual—in contrast to her own "control freak" personality.

"When you know, you know. I knew from the way Paris talked about Kevin that she knew he was the right man for her," Kristen added. "He was different from anybody else."

Photograph by George Sakkestad Los Gatos High School teachers Kristi Grasty (left) and Tiffany Elsberry Hamm put the finishing touches on the fondant outer layer of the three-tier wedding cake.

Kristen offered her magnificent hillside home as a wedding venue. On Santa Rosa Drive, not only does it overlook all of Los Gatos—including the Westhill Drive home in which Paris grew up—but it is also the place where Paris and Kevin's relationship blossomed, since Kevin was renting a room from the Sandovals when he started dating Paris.

"As soon as we figured out that we were going to have it at Kristen and Gabe's, everything came together," Kevin said.

"We didn't have to solicit. People came up to us and said, 'Do you need help with this?' " Paris said. "What's really developed in planning this wedding is because everything's connected. It defines what's great about Los Gatos."

Among those who offered to help were teachers Russ Leal and Ralph Aguayo, who played the music at the ceremony; teachers Tiffany Elsberry Hamm and Kristi Grasty, who made and decorated the three-tier wedding cake; former student Stephanie Johnson, who created all the bouquets and floral centerpieces; teacher Joe Ripp, the photographer; and caterer Miles McEntee, a longtime friend of the DeSoto family as well as a Los Gatos High parent.

On July 12, Ed DeSoto led his daughter—who was wearing a dress borrowed from Tiffany Hamm—down the flight of stairs that led from the Sandovals' home to their backyard. A small crowd witnessed the brief, intimate ceremony. With matron of honor Paige DeSoto Moses and best man Tim Rogers by their sides, Kevin and Paris listened to officiary Alan Carlisle—Paris' uncle—recount their story.

"From the beginning, they shared a deep trust and understanding of each other," Alan said. "Fate, timing and the road trip to Tahoe finally made it all happen.

Kevin and Paris chose two selections to be read at their ceremony: "Untitled poem" by Roy Croft, recited by Kevin's sister Maureen Colebrook, and a section on marriage from Mitch Albom's book, Tuesdays with Morrie, read by Paris' brother-in-law Mike Moses.

"What you promise today must be renewed and decided again tomorrow," Alan told the couple.

Following the ceremony, a reception was held on the Sandovals' long driveway. Guests listened to the various toasts—sentimental, hilarious, often lewd—offered by Paris' sister and brother-in-law, Kevin's sister and brother, and Paris' father as they dined on salmon, chicken and wedding cake.

Photograph by Saori Yoneda Paige DeSoto Moses (far left) toasts her sister and her new husband by making references to the bride's childhood stuffed rat, Purplie, and displaying Paris' current bed buddies, Sam and Ralph. In his toast, her husband, Mike Moses, said receiving the 'son-in-law of the year' title from Ed and Chrystie DeSoto was no longer a sure thing, to the amusement of the in-laws.

The couple is in Calistoga this week for a short honeymoon. After they return, they plan to restart their home improvement projects, look into adopting a cat and go scuba diving in Mexico for an extended honeymoon in February.

And then? Most likely what Kevin wrote in his proposal:

"Sharing adventures ... stories ... challenges ... dreams ... tears ... glories great and small."