The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss
In August 2012, Donny and Chris found themselves outside Islington Town Hall preparing to start the next chapter of their lives together. But from meeting on an Isle of Wight cliff top, to getting engaged in Thailand, and finally tying the knot in London, it was one hell of a journey that had taken them there…The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss follows the many funny and touching twists and turns of Donny and Chris’s journey towards their wedding day; from being born on different continents, to organising a multi-faith, trans-Atlantic, inter-racial wedding with disapproving families in tow – proving that the course of true love really doesn’t run smooth.Tender, honest and told from both Donny and Chris’s points of view in alternating chapters, this is a modern day love story you won’t be able to put down.
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HarperTrueLove
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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
First published by HarperTrueLove 2014
FIRST EDITION
© Chris Dicken and Donny Wong 2014
Cover photo © Shutterstock
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2014
Chris Dicken and Donny Wong assert the moral
right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008105143
Ebook Edition © November 2014 ISBN: 9780008100179
Version: 2014-10-31
Contents
Chapter 1: To Begin at the Beginning
Chapter 3: Hiking Back to Happiness
Chapter 4: From California to Clerkenwell
Chapter 6: No Child Left Behind
Chapter 7: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Chapter 8: Keeping it in the Family
Chapter 11: Moving in from the Outside
Chapter 12: The Elephant in the Room
Chapter 13: Yay! We’re Not Related!
Chapter 14: Everyone Loves a Bargain
Chapter 15: A Happier New Year?
Chapter 16: In-Laws and Outlaws
Chapter 17: To Hyphenate or Not to Hyphenate?
Chapter 18: Trying to Get Decent Reception
Chapter 19: Life Can Be a Drag
Chapter 20: Faith and Frustration
Chapter 21: Cycling Out of the Closet
Chapter 22: Bored of the Rings?
Chapter 24: Good News from Across the Pond
Chapter 25: Guest Concerns and Guest Stars
Chapter 26: Start the Countdown
Chapter 27: The Joy of Practicalities
Chapter 29: Searching for a Connection
Chapter 30: Potential Disaster
Chapter 31: A Solution from Vietnam
Chapter 32: It’s the Week of the Wedding!
Chapter 35: Let’s Get this Party Started
Chapter 36: An Unforgettable Day
Chapter 37: Lost and Found (Two Months Later)
Chapter 38: What a Difference a Year Makes
Something amazing has just happened! Donny proposed! We’re getting married! No dates or plans yet, but we just wanted to share the news. Chris x
– From a text message sent to Chris’s parents, Sunday, 13 November 2011
Chris – 29 November 2011
As we start to tell people our news, we can’t help but notice that all our male friends tend towards giving us hearty hugs and offers of congratulations, but our female friends tend to squeal and immediately demand details about how we got engaged. So in order to satisfy the requirement for details, here they are:
I never thought in a million years that Donny would ever propose. I’ve always been the sentimental one in our relationship, who was keen on the idea of marriage. But whenever I mentioned the idea to Donny in the past he would just pull a face and accuse me of wanting to be a bridezilla. We’ve been together for almost four years now, and have been living together in London for the last one of those years, and I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this was how it was going to be. We were a committed part of each other’s lives, but there wouldn’t be any kind of public ceremony or legal commitment. And I had become OK with that.
But there we were on holiday in Thailand, when something amazing happened. We were outside our little hut, on a balcony with a view through the jungle and out to the sea, above which the moon had just started to rise. We had just finished off the last of a bottle of scotch we had with us (I hasten to point out this was now the fourth night there) and I was just thinking about turning in when BAM! – Donny gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. As you can imagine, my answer was a massive yes!
You see, growing up I was convinced it was my destiny to never marry anyone.
I never went out with anyone as a kid or a teenager. In fact, I didn’t even kiss anyone until I was well into my twenties. I could never properly face up to the fact that I was gay, so I simply ignored the romantic part of me and focussed on spending time with friends and trying to avoid the bullies in my school who would pick on any kid that was a bit ‘different’ – which would often mean I became their target for the day.
The added complication with all this was that I grew up as part of a tight Christian community, which meant I firmly believed that fancying men would lead to a one-way trip to hell. I hated the fact that I was gay, hated myself that I wasn’t strong enough to change how I felt, and I was terrified that people would find out the truth and cast me out of the church and the community. This was my secret problem, my sin, and I earnestly hoped and prayed nearly every day of my life that it would be taken away from me. But, of course, because it was an intrinsic part of me (albeit a part that I hadn’t yet come to embrace), I was never able to pray the gay away.
