Duane “Dog” Chapman and Francie Frane may be engaged, but don’t expect them to be walking down the aisle anytime soon. Revealing their engagement to The Sun in a story published Monday morning, the couple revealed that they haven’t yet pinpointed a date for their wedding and that they will instead wait to say “I do” until coronavirus lockdowns lift.
Currently the couple is quarantining together at Chapman’s Colorado home. Gov. Jared Polis issued a statewide stay-at-home order beginning in April. While Polis lifted the order on April 27, a new statewide order called Safer at Home took effect, which allowed some businesses to reopen, according to CPR News. Meanwhile, several counties in the state have extended their own stay-at-home orders.
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The decision to postpone their nuptials, while not an easy one to make, is due in part to an important reason. Chapman is hoping for the occasion to be a major event that will not only see a gathering of their families – including all 12 of Chapman’s children, Frane’s two sons, and their grandchildren – but also of fans for what he called “one hell of a party.”
“I’ve had so many fans ask ‘When you marry Francie, are you going to let your fans come? So we’re word negotiating right now because I want to open it up,” Chapman revealed. “I would love to have the biggest wedding there’s ever been. I’m sorry but that’s just me. I hope I can talk Francie into it and open it to my fans, the ‘Dog Pound,’ to everybody. It would be one hell of a party and it’s just what people need right now.”
Although the couple has faced their share of criticism over their relationship, both Chapman and Frane believe that they are moving at the perfect pace. They met shortly after they both loss their spouses and sparked a friendship that soon blossomed into something more.
“I think too that there’s always going to be people who say we did this wrong or we did that wrong or we’ve moved on too quickly or too fast. But the truth is that both of us have spent three years walking alongside our spouses sick and we know that God brought us together and that’s why we don’t believe that it’s too soon. And because we both have done our share of screaming and crying and asking why,” Frane said. “Then for us to come together the way that we did and build this friendship because of what we’ve been through, that turned into a love story. We don’t believe that it’s too soon.”
