He's a Twin; She's a Twin; Together, Quite a Pair

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Adam Rensch proposed to Kerri Gabelhause using a note in a bottle, surreptitiously planted on a beach to look as if it had washed ashore. The setting was the Dominican Republic in May 2007.

Adam, who was in the DR for a semester of study, had been planning the proposal for months. He had bought and sized the ring stateside, intending for his father and mother to deliver the solitaire — and the girl — on a visit.

Adam and Kerri, each a twin, grew up in the Willow Wood subdivision in northwest Omaha. “He didn't really like me in the beginning, and that was annoying,” Kerri teases. “I was more interested in playing video games than playing outside,” Adam says in defense of his adolescent aloofness.

She went to Omaha Burke High School; he went to Creighton Prep. They asked each other to Homecoming as freshmen, and they've been together ever since. “Neither one of us ever dated anyone else,” Kerri says.

They were sophomores at Creighton University when Adam decided to spend the spring semester in the Dominican Republic.

It was a particularly tough separation for Kerri. Her father was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgeries while Adam was away.

“Skype helped,” Kerri says. Still, the groom's parents, Mike and Renae Rensch, recall how Kerri “cried and cried and cried.” What else could the Rensches do but take Kerri to the DR that spring?

Kerri's parents, Phyllis and Bob Gabelhause, knew what was in store. Adam had already asked Kerri's dad for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Once in the Dominican Republic, Mike Rensch was charged with drinking the beer and washing out the bottle so that Adam's proposal — written on crumpled, tea-stained paper — could be slipped inside.

Mike and Renae got up before sunrise to plant the bottle on a stretch of beach where Adam and Kerri would search for seashells at dawn that morning. Mike had instructions to mark the spot with a stick, which he did — and then some.

“When we got to the spot on the beach, I saw about eight sticks standing straight up in the sand,” Adam says, chuckling at the memory of his eyes darting from stick to stick in a desperate attempt to spy the bottle.

He missed it on first pass and grew nervous. Ditto for Adam's co-conspirators, watching from a distance. “Do you know how hard it is to hide behind a palm tree?” Mike Rensch quips.

Finally, Adam feigned stubbing a toe on a bottle. As he bent to inspect it, Kerri called for him to stop. “She's a germophobe,” Adam explains. “She didn't want us to touch any trash on the beach.”

Adam pulled out the calligraphy note. “Je Casarias ¿ Conmigo.”

She asked, “What does it say?”

Adam got down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”

Still half-asleep at the early hour, she asked, “Seriously?”

“Si,” said he.

“Of course,” smiled she.

With two years to prepare, the newlyweds were “the least-stressed people at our wedding,” Kerri says. They randomly picked Aug. 1, 2009, only to realize that they would share their wedding anniversary with Adam's parents. Aug. 1 also marked the anniversary of the arrival in the United States of Kerri and her twin sister Christine for adoption by the Gabelhauses.

After securing St. John's Catholic Church on the Creighton campus (with a message left on the parish phone at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 1, 2007), the couple locked-in the DC Centre — in the neighborhood where they grew up — for their reception.

Kerri and Adam didn't work from a wedding budget. Instead, they shopped for the best possible prices on essentials and economized on services.

Invitations were chosen from stock at Cornhusker Beverage & Bridal. Andrea Ramsey, a friend of the groom's mom, took charge of the floral arrangements; another family friend designed the wedding program.

Kerri and Adam ordered a three-tiered wedding cake (only the top layer was real) with plain white frosting and let their floral designer work her magic with silk greenery and blossoms.

“All of that saved us a ton of money,” Kerri says.

Even dress shopping was a breeze, thanks to her parents, who spotted her elegant sheath in a window display at Nouvelle Eve in the Old Market.

A string quartet — something Kerri dreamed of having — played for their wedding ceremony. A disc jockey worked the reception, starting things off with a Latin dance for the groom and his mom.

Later, the groomsmen serenaded the bride with a boisterous rendition of “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin.' ”

Kerri and Adam spent most of their wedding night waiting to get into their suite at a west Omaha hotel. A fire on the second floor forced guests to evacuate at about midnight.

The newlyweds retreated to the lobby of a neighboring hotel for the next three hours. “I read the Wall Street Journal and Kerri watched ‘Turner & Hooch.' ”

The next day, the newlyweds gathered at the Rensch home for a family brunch. Then they were off to London and Paris — a surprise trip arranged by the groom's parents.