03/09/2003

Jill Gontarz and Shawn Barry

Marriott Hotel, Newport

12.31.02

Jill Gontarz and Shawn Barry planned their wedding for New Year's Eve mainly because, well, it's different!

Gontarz, 29, and Barry, 28, met right around Christmas three years ago. Both had attended the University of Connecticut at the same time, but didn't know each other. They did, however, have mutual friends, and one of those friends had sent each of them an invitation to a Christmas party.

As Gontarz was leaving that party, friends asked if she was okay to drive. "Shawn chimed in: 'I'm a cop -- I should do the sobriety test on you,' " recalls Gontarz. "So I was doing the finger to the nose thing, and we just stared into each other's eyes, and then he kissed me."

Gontarz didn't leave the party after all: "I decided there just might be something worth staying for."

She's a CPA in Farmington, Conn.; he's a police officer in Windsor, and they live in Glastonbury. Both were born and raised in Connecticut, but when it came time to plan the wedding, Gontarz knew it had to be in Newport. "We love Newport!"

In her room at the Marriott, Jill dons her wedding dress, assisted by her four bridesmaids: the groom's younger sister, Colleen; Kelly, her friend from college; and co-workers Jennifer and Lisa. Soon, the ceremony will unfold in the hotel atrium, to which Gontarz will descend in a glass elevator facing the guests and her waiting groom. Jill says she is most nervous about walking down the short flight of stairs from the elevator to the ceremony."I practiced earlier today in my heels and sweatpants, and I did just fine, but I haven't tried it in this big dress."

Her mother, Pat, comes in. "Oh, you look like a princess!" she exclaims, as her eyes fill with tears. She has brought a pearl necklace that Jill's grandfather had given to Jill for her high school graduation -- "one of those add-a-pearl necklaces -- he started it when she was a baby."

"The pearls are my 'something old,' " says Gontarz. "New is my dress. Borrowed, rosary beads that belonged to my grandmother -- they were blessed by the Pope. Blue, these sapphire earrings from Shawn."

Everyone oohs and aahs as Gontarz makes her descent. The officiant begins, commenting on the reception seating chart placed on an easel nearby. "You all must have noticed that the tables are named for astrological signs. Jill and Shawn are both Scorpio -- the sign of passion."

They exchange vows, telling each other: "You are the most beautiful person in the world to me. I promise to be your sunshine on a cloudy day, your warmth in the cold, your refreshment in the heat."

At midnight they'll have champagne and noisemakers and hats and confetti, but for now, they are both thinking of that Christmas party where it all began.

"That pick-up line I used on Jill," says Barry, "it was the first time I ever tried it. And I'll never need it again -- it worked the first time!"