Couple takes the plunge...literally

Wantage — It’s much more apt a metaphor than walking down an aisle. Josh Bartek, 32, and Yana Bartek (nee Romaliyska), 24, said “I do” after jumping out of an airplane two miles above ground, free falling at 120 miles per hour, then spiraling under a parachute to a landing field. “It was a little scary at first. I’m free spirited, but I’m not into extreme sports,” said Yana, after landing her first skydive on her wedding day April 20 at the Sussex County Airport. “I just fell for him so badly.” “She’s coming back,” Josh declared, all smiles. Two of Josh’s siblings, Helen and Mike Bartek, also skydived in celebration of the union of their youngest brother. Josh, a skydiving enthusiast, works at a sandwich shop. Yana is an architecture student at NJIT in Newark. The pair from Kenvil, in Morris County, met four months ago at Josh’s sister’s Christmas Eve party and, as Yana put it, “just knew.” At the eleventh hour, they decided to invite friends and family to what they’d initially envisioned as a private skydiving wedding. Two days’ notice appeared to be plenty of time for the bride’s parents, Svetlana and Vasil Osadtsia, to get together a spread of comestibles that covered six picnic tables. Fortuitously, Sussex Skydive employee Eric Dunn, 22, got his minister certification online two years ago — a process that takes about 10 minutes — because “I knew it would come up one day,” he said. The Barteks’ was the first wedding Dunn had ever attended, much less officiated.