Needless to say, it’s been a bittersweet, emotionally topsy-turvy few days for the 44-year-old entrepreneur and his family. He had just tied the knot with 34-year-old art teacher Fay Tan on Sunday (Feb 2) and his stepdaughter Gretel (Fay’s daughter from a previous relationship) celebrated her fifth birthday on Tuesday (Feb 4), which was also the same day his Jack Russell terrier Prince turned 21 and the day he crossed the rainbow bridge.

According to Daniel, Prince had been recovering well after the removal of a tumour in his mouth, but things started going downhill after his other dog, Cino, died on January 10.

“The night Cino died, Prince was walking around the house looking for his buddy,” Dan recalls. “His condition just started to deteriorate from there.” Insert crying emoji here.

Fortunately, Daniel is able to find some solace in the fact that he’s been preparing for Prince's passing for about seven years now.

“When he was 14, he developed some intestinal issues and I was ready to let him go, but then he turned 15, 16, 17 and so on, and I was like, 'Eh? When is this guy going to go?” Dan chuckles. “Then finally… I guess it was like he was waiting for me to get married. When he knew his ‘duty’ was done, he left.”

According to Daniel, Prince seemed to deliberately hang on until after the wedding before showing signs of his declining health, which allowed Daniel to enjoy his big day without worrying about anything else.

What a good boy.

The mood noticeably lightened when we switched gears to talk about Dan’s wedding, which was held at Panamericana on Sentosa last Sunday (02/02/2020, if you didn't realise). In case anyone’s wondering: No, Daniel did not deliberately choose to be part of the surge of couples who wanted to say “I do” on that very auspicious-looking palindrome of a date.

“It’s kinda weird because we went to see a numerologist and he told us that this was the only date we could have our wedding,” said Daniel, who has been married twice (first to a secondary schoolmate, and then to actress-host Jaime Teo). “And believe it or not, that was also Panamericana’s only available date! We were like, 'Whaaat? All the stars were aligning for us.”

As if things weren’t falling beautifully into place enough for #danandfay0202, Dan tells a story that makes him sound like a certain character from X-Men: While they were setting up the outdoor carnival (yup, more on that later), disaster struck as a sudden downpour threatened to ruin the entire event.

“So I went outside, looked up at the sky and said, ‘Please.’ And you won’t believe it — it stopped raining instantly! Then the sun came out and dried up the whole area, and there were the most beautiful clouds. The weather was phenomenal, we were so blown away.”

So yes, back to the carnival. In addition to the solemnisation and dinner, there was even a full-on funfair complete with a bouncy castle, balloon makers, face-painters, tarot card readers, and games, where the guests could win prizes. 

“We gave away so many things: stuffed toys, drones, Nerf guns, water guns, remote control cars… Allan Wu’s son won a 1.84m-tall teddy bear! (Laughs) This whole event was just for our friends and family and we wanted to make everybody happy and have fun.“

If all that sounds like it would have cost Daniel an arm and a leg, well, it did. “All in all, including the carnival, I think everything was about S$80,000? The food alone was S$40,000!” says Dan. 

Fun and games aside, there were super touching moments too. Like when Fay included a certain football team’s famous motto in her vows.

“We were both on the verge of crying but we managed to ‘suck it back in’... until she ended her vows with ‘You’ll never walk alone’ because she knows I’m a Liverpool fan. Waaah, the tears!”

The flower girls, Gretel and Renee (Daniel’s nine-year-old daughter with Jaime), were also included in the exchange of vows. “I gave a bracelet to Gretel and promised that I would love her like my very own, and Fay did the same for Renee,” he says, adding that Renee has been taking everything — you know, her dad getting a new wife and all — really well. “There have been no [temper] flare-ups or anything, only love and acceptance.”

When we asked if he and Fay have any plans to give their little girls a younger sibling, he laughingly admits that he’s unsure if they could handle it, and lamented about having to trade his beloved Mercedes for a “big MPV that uncles drive” so that he can ferry everyone (including their two helpers and his mum) around.

“It would be a big adjustment but if it comes, it comes, and if it does, I hope it comes soon because I’m not getting any younger! (Laughs)”

In the meantime, he’ll be busy going on a bunch of trips over the next few months, including romantic getaways to Bali and Australia with Fay that he claims are not honeymoons.

“I’d like to think that our whole life together is our honeymoon, and I guess that’s the way I wanna live,” he muses. “To keep wooing her on a daily basis.”

Photos: The Collective Memories, Daniel Ong’s Instagram, Dagnc Private Limited’s Instagram, Simone Heng’s Instagram, Felicia Chin’s Instagram