December wedding for radio deejay Jean Danker

SINGAPORE — Class 95FM DJ Jean Danker is finally tying the knot with Glenn Ong after seven years of dating and five years of being engaged.

Ong, 45, who is a deejay with ONE FM 91.3 had broken the news during his show on Tuesday morning (July 19).

Speaking to TODAY over the phone on Tuesday, Danker, 37, confirmed the news. The pair had started planning for a December wedding a few weeks ago, although the date “is still in the air at the moment” while they search for a venue, she said. The couple are looking at places in Sentosa and are hoping to have an outdoor solemnisation ceremony followed by dinner in a ballroom.

It will be a relatively small affair as well, with under 30 tables, she said.

Asked what took them so long to finally take the plunge, Danker broke out in a guffaw. “I think it had to feel right for me and Glenn. It had to be at a correct time. It was just a feeling, to be really honest.”

Acknowledging that they “had been sitting on it for a very long time”, she added that a big part of that was the fact that her mother passed away soon after Ong proposed. “So that was very hard for me, to think of something on the opposite spectrum of sadness. It was hard to plan something happy because you’re always grieving … the pain never really goes away.”

Even now, some three and a half years since her mother passed away, Danker still feels it would be difficult planning a happy day. “Of all people obviously you want your parents to be there,” she explained.

She also wanted to focus on her work, and at the time, she felt that since they were committed to each other, they did not need to be married.

And then one day, a thought occurred to her almost out of the blue. “I thought to myself: ‘Would it matter a hundred years from now if I could look back at my life, would it matter if I didn’t marry Glenn?’ And then I thought, ‘You know what, it would matter, because I love him and it would be sad if I wasn’t (married to him).”

So when the subject came up, she told him they should go for it, she revealed. His reaction? “He said ‘We totally should. Finally you want to get married’,” she said with a laugh.

This being his third marriage - he was married to Kate Reyes and Jamie Yeo - Danker also wanted him to be “absolutely sure”. “I want this one to stick, you know what I mean,” she said, chuckling.

Their long history has proven one thing to her: “Through the ups and downs, he is consistently there because he has given his word to me that he will always be there. He has never wavered. He is my rock … I know that no matter what he will be there beside me.”

She added: “That’s definitely something you want as a companion for the rest of your life, you want somebody who will be rock solid.”

As for whether she feels pressure in any way from Ong’s previous marriages, Danker said she feels none. “We’re all humans, we’re learning and we make mistakes. We all have to do our best at every moment that we can.”