OUR CITY WEDDING

Words by Brian Finnegan

Patrick Donovan, from Wexford, met Stephen Jacques, from Sheffield, when they were both on a weekend holiday in Blackpool in 2003. It was one of those strangers-across-acrowded-room moments in a gay haunt called The Flying Handbag.

“We were with our own groups, and we kept smiling over at each other,” says Steve. “I hadn’t the courage to speak to him, and he didn’t come speak to me, and then noticed he was leaving. was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a missed opportunity’.”

Just as Pat was about to exit, Steve caught a hold of his arm and said: “You’re not going are you?” Pat said he’d be back at The Flying Handbag the following night. He made good on the promise, and the two got chatting.

“I know what people say about the Irish accent, that there’s something very seductive about it, but it totally had me from the moment he opened his mouth,” says Steve.

“It was his face,” Pat says when asked what attracted him to Steve. “He had a very handsome face, and that smile…”