The Bumpy Road to Married Bliss

By Chris Dicken and Donny Wong

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Nov 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9780008100179

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Copyright

HarperTrueLove

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpertrue.com

www.harpercollins.co.uk

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

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

Chapter 1: To Begin at the Beginning

Chapter 2: Something Changed

Chapter 3: Hiking Back to Happiness

Chapter 4: From California to Clerkenwell

Chapter 5: A New Tradition

Chapter 6: No Child Left Behind

Chapter 7: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Chapter 8: Keeping it in the Family

Chapter 9: A Movable Feast

Chapter 10: Days and Confused

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 23: What to Wear?

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 28: Work, Work, Work

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 33: Freak Out!

Chapter 34: A Timely Reminder

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

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Preface

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

To Begin at the Beginning

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.

Looking back now, I realise how lonely I was during my teenage and young adult years. I had lots of friends and acquaintances, but I was too scared to ever open up and tell anyone my secret. I was convinced that being a good Christian meant that I was destined for a life of celibacy and bachelorhood, since the alternative would be to sin – and therefore I would never find true love. But I also believed that God was watching over me and wanted me to be happy – so would He really want me to live a life of loneliness?

That all began to change in my mid-twenties when I finally took the decision to come out and start seeing being gay as part of who I was, rather than as a terrible affliction I needed to hide away. I began to accept myself, and made lots of friends through gay Christian support groups. I even started learning the language of romance for the first time. When I was in my late twenties, I met this wonderful guy and fell head over heels in love. Because he was my first boyfriend, I was convinced that this was the person for me,