B.I.O.: A Shot at True Love

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AFTER MEETING Theona Salmon at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Gary Ponder suggested they meet up one evening to shoot pool at Buffalo Billiards. Nicely played, right? Well, almost. "I didn't realize she played in a pool league weekly and has won many trophies," he says. Oops. "I didn't let him win," Theona confesses. While he may have lost the game, he won the girl. Seven years after that night, Gary popped the question — nervously, he admits — at the Old Town Alexandria waterfront: "No matter how grand a proposal you plan, I just wanted to get it done." When Theona finished opening the third of a series of gift boxes — titled "laugh," "live" and "love," each containing love notes and daisies — to discover a ring, it was clear Gary needn't have worried. They'll exchange vows in a semiformal ceremony on Aug. 17 in Temple Hills. A steel band will play at their reception, and the best man is Gary's 8-year-old son.

Gary is a consultant. Theona is a meeting planner. They live in Upper Marlboro.