Not everyone invites their old teacher to their wedding – unless she predicted the marriage almost 30 years ago.
When Kimberley Potts and Trent Moody finally tied the knot after a romance that spanned the ages they knew their English teacher from Tauhara College in Taupo had to be first on the guest list, because she said they would marry when they became a couple at the age of 14. And it seems an old-time photographer in Huka Village must have known too, when he got Kimberley and Trent to pose as a married couple for a mock wedding photo in 1983.
Kimberley and Trent “went around” together at school, and when teacher Jan Habib saw them holding hands she said, “You’re just like an old married couple. I can see you two getting married.”
Kimberley and Trent (top, middle and second from right) pretending to be married at high school.
But their first love only lasted two months. They went on to have long-term relationships and lost contact. Both were single at 40 when mutual friend Shar Cotter suggested they reconnect on Facebook.
Within a few months the pair were skyping, and just a few weeks later they were engaged. Kimberley says she never forgot Trent’s “beautiful blue eyes” and Trent remembers her as the smartest girl in class.
They married nearly two years ago at Eskdale War Memorial Church outside Napier, with Jan (who is still teaching at Tauhara College) as a special guest, and Shar as one of the bridesmaids. And it was no accident that they decided to marry on Guy Fawkes Day. “That was the anniversary of when we first kissed,” Kimberley smiles. “I held a sparkler instead of a bouquet.”
Kimberley and Trent with Jan – the teacher who predicted their nuptials.
Kimberley has settled in the Sunshine Coast in Australia with Trent. He works in accounts and she has ghost-written business books. They’ve just celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Farrah (now nine weeks old).
Kimberley knows how lucky she is to have found love again with Trent and to have a baby at 43 without requiring IVF – but she says if they had stayed together at school she wouldn’t feel as happy as she does today. “Now I can really appreciate it,” she says.
