Episode 1 Born Small - The Wedding

-Here he comes.

-Very smart.

-Oh, you look wonderful.

-Your tie just needs sorted.

-Not quite sure with my tie.

It's early morning at the Lusted family home,

as 28-year-old James prepares

for a very special day.

-INTERVIEWER:

-So tell me what you're going to do now.

I'm just about to go and get ready.

And I think it's just hit me.

CHURCH BELLS RING

I'm having a little bit of a moment here.

I didn't think I would get that emotional so soon.

I'm going to go and have a shower now and...

I've got to wait. Yeah, here we go.

Yeah.

CHURCH BELLS RING

It's a really big day, isn't it, James?

It's a massive day and it's just so...

How am I going to get through this speech? I don't know.

I just can't believe I'm getting married.

And it's something that,

I never really thought I would marry, you know?

And...

-VOICE BREAKS:

-..I love that Chloe's just accepting me for who I am.

And...yeah...

-That's fantastic.

-Yeah.

Blackpool, and the last night of panto season.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs has proved as popular as ever,

and the cast are in high spirits for the final show.

Among them is James Lusted from Rhos-on-Sea.

Oh, yeah.

James has dwarfism and performs as one of the seven dwarves

in a panto somewhere in the UK every winter.

APPLAUSE

Bless you, Chloe, Jay.

Tonight is pretty special for James, as it marks the end of

a particularly successful panto season

and the beginning of a very exciting year.

Well done, man. Great working with you.

-JAMES:

-'2016, it's the year.'

-And it's...

-Finally!

I think we've put on our social networking sites that, you know,

2015 was a good year, but the best year is yet to come.

And we're in it, which is very, very exciting.

Have a good 'un.

-You, too.

-Lovely working with you.

It's a beautiful guy you've got there.

Panto season is a busy time for actors with dwarfism.

But James has spent a lifetime hoping that people

will see beyond his condition.

Love you!

His mantra for life has always been to see him

and not just his height.

-All right, mate?

-Nice one.

-Thank you.

-If you need a tour guide chaining to you on your stag night,

-give us a ring.

-I will do.

-I'll find somebody for you.

And if you need a tour guide chaining to you on your hen night,

-well, Bob's your uncle.

-CHLOE LAUGHS

See you later. I don't even know him. See you later.

We say every day, and I don't think Chloe will mind me saying this,

but, "Can't we just get married now?" You know?

Remember when we came down here and you put your feet in?

It's over there.

Oh, down there, yeah?

A little pysgod.

Watch your head(!)

'Well, we're in Llyn Geirionydd,'

and what a beautiful place it is.

And you were sat there, I came over here...

'It's very special to us because

'it's where we got engaged.'

So, yeah, that's why it's special to me...

-Yeah.

-..and to us, yeah.

'We came to Betws-y-Coed for a date night, as we call it.

'We like to have one of those at least once a week.

'Jay was particularly quiet'

on the way up to the lake, and that's never like him.

Got to the jetty, I sat down,

we started chatting.

And before you know it, he was behind me,

tapped me on the shoulder, and said,

"What would you do if I asked you to marry me?"

And I sat up,

turned around, and there he was on one knee.

I said yes, by the way.

When we got up here, I was nervous.

You know, I was nervous.

I couldn't get the ring out of my pocket at first,

so I was a bit panicky.

So I was trying to change the subject, saying,

"Look at that fish over there in the lake."

And there was nothing to be seen.

Anyway, eventually got the ring out of my pocket

and then the deed took place.

Wouldn't mind jumping in there now.

-Go on, then, off you go.

-No.

Much to James' relief, his proposal went well.

And for most people, getting down on one knee

would be the least of their worries.

But for James, it's not that simple.

I've always wanted, when I started

growing up in my teenage years

and wanted to get engaged and think about all marriage

and weddings and stuff like that.

But I always knew that I wanted to get down on one knee,

no matter what the situation was.

'I have diastrophic dysplasia, which is a rare form of dwarfism.'

And my mobility is not as...

Well, I'm not as mobile as your average human being, if you like.

It is hard for me to get down onto the floor.

I wasn't going to let my condition hold me back.

There was one way I was going to get on one knee,

whether it was me pretending to fall and just getting onto one knee.

Anyway, Chloe did something that she never does,

and that's, she just sat down on the edge of the jetty.

And I was thinking, "Right, this is it -

"this is meant to be."

So when she said that I went behind her and tapped her on the shoulder,

I was actually leaning on her shoulder to get down onto one knee.

-CHLOE LAUGHS

-And that's when I asked her.

And then, of course, Chloe, I just

saw mascara coming down her cheek.

And, yeah, she said yes, and I put the ring on.

And it was just...

it was an incredible feeling, really, when she said yes.

And just like, "Wow, this is it."

-Yeah.

-"We're getting married. This is awesome."

Rhos-on-Sea, home of the Lusted family.

Dawn and Dave and their two sons, Philip and James.

..like one of the Beatles!

Dawn and Dave are average height,

while both Phil and James have dwarfism

and stand at a reduced height of

3'0" and 3'7" respectively.

Our aim for our boys has been

for their independence.

To be able to do everything that

anybody else would be able to do.

And then we'll test it.

Tell me when it's switched on and I'll press test.

And getting married, of course, is part of that, so we are pleased that

James and Chloe are getting married, yeah.

I think, and we knew straight away, that Chloe was the one for James.

Yeah, yeah.

Because we could tell with James that he thought a lot of Chloe

and, yeah, she was the one.

-Yeah.

-Definitely, definitely.

-It's not as warm as the other day.

-Yeah.

He was looking at a website one day -

Clogau Gold.

And I said, "What are you doing?"

I said, "You're not buying a ring, are you?"

And he just smirked.

And then the next thing, this ring appeared here,

and I said, "Oh, right, OK." Then, "Don't say anything to anybody."

I said, "OK."

So I did know about the ring.

But I wasn't sure when it was going to happen.

-BEEP

-Ready?

-Yeah.

MOTOR WHIRS

-DAVE:

-I always remember a phone call that Chloe made.

She said, when I answered it,

"Jay's just asked me to marry him!"

I said, "Oh, very good."

Came as a bit of a shock, but very good.

Glass of champagne now.

James and Chloe are both Christians

who have chosen not to live together before marriage.

And this will be their first home together.

I'm sure they have. Fingers crossed.

'Well, we are at our house.

'Our first house together.'

We're so, so excited.

It's a great place.

-Oh, yes.

-Looking good.

-That's better.

'We've chosen not to move in until after the wedding because

'we thought it would be a fresh, new start for both of us.

'And also because of the beliefs and

'the faith we've grown up with.

'Jay's grown-up in a Christian background.

'I kind of have as well.'

And we just think it's right to wait.

The heating's on.

-That's why it's so hot.

-The heating?

We're being charged for that.

So we have no sex before marriage,

so I can't wait for the wedding.

Cos we've had a long engagement.

All right, that's off now.

-Cool.

-Hopefully, it'll cool down.

HE GROANS

'The wedding is supposed to finish about 12.30, they say.'

But ten o'clock - "Come on, let's go."

So, no, yeah, we're really excited about that.

Wedding preparations are gathering momentum.

And Chloe is keen to try out the make-up

she'll be wearing on the big day.

-Hi.

-Hello, how are you.

All right. You found me OK?

Yeah, it was all right.

-Got a bit lost, but, eventually.

-Aw.

-In you come.

-Thank you.

-Come through.

-OK.

-Pop yourself down for me.

-Thank you.

So give me a rough idea of what you want.

-Natural skin tone, natural lip...

-Yeah.

..bold eyes.

Have you always wanted to get married?

Yeah, I've grown up in the kind of community where...

..my friends have gotten married around the same age as me,

so their early 20s.

Did you have your dream wedding planned as a child?

Never thought about it.

I was a tomboy when I was little.

So, like, boys weren't really my priority.

But I...I'd say when I was

15/16, I started thinking about it.

And any boyfriend I had when I was that age,

I always thought, "Will I marry him?"

And I kind of planned in my head a tiny bit.

So was it love at first sight?

No.

To be honest...

because of who Jay is and his condition,

I never really thought about him in that kind of way.

But after we'd met up a couple of times,

and we kept things on the downlow throughout the summer,

one day, me and my sister and my mum went shopping in Llandrillo.

And we bumped into Jay

on the off-chance.

You know when you see someone and you get that

feeling in your stomach?

It kind of was then that I thought,

"Oh, wow, OK, I kind of like him."

Aw.

Yeah. And I never go shy. Never.

But I mean, I wasn't...

I was lost for words,

-I guess you could say.

-Aw.

Do you think he'll cry when he sees you?

He actually said to me today,

"To be honest, I don't think I'll cry at the church."

I was like, "Do you want to put money on that?"

So as to get the best view of his bride on their big day,

James asked a friend to help him out.

'Our really good friend Steve from our church

'offered to make us some steps...'

Perfect.

'..so I could be the same height as Chloe at the wedding ceremony.'

-Like this?

-No, no.

-Why wouldn't we?

I think...cos you'll walk down the aisle and stand there.

-Do you think?

-So stand there.

-Yeah.

-Like that?

-Yeah.

Oh, OK.

I'm actually taller than you.

I was about to say that!

'Because Chloe is obviously two-foot taller than me...'

you know, "You may kiss the bride", she didn't want to bend down,

I didn't want to, you know?

So we can have a proper kiss now.

-"You may kiss the bride."

-SHE LAUGHS

Dave and Dawn were keen to start their own family

following their marriage 33 years ago.

But they had no idea that they were

both carrying the dwarfism gene,

giving them a one-in-four chance of having children with the condition.

First child Phil's dwarfism came as a complete shock to Dawn and Dave.

But when James came along, they were prepared.

When Phil was born, we didn't know that he had

anything wrong with him until he was born.

-And it was a big shock, really, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

Yeah. When I first saw him, you know,

I even said then to the paediatrician when I first saw him,

I was quite prepared to sell the house

that we'd got if something was going to...

Needed money to put him right, you know?

But that just wasn't the case.

And then, when I was pregnant with James...

..I went for a scan and I could tell.

I knew there was something wrong.

And I said to her, I said,

"Have you been looking for a problem?"

So she said, "Why, am I supposed to be looking for a problem?"

I said, "Well, I have got one son that's got dwarfism."

"Oh!" I could see the relief on her face, so she went away and she

came back with a radiologist,

and he checked, and they were measuring and everything, and they

said, "Yeah, we think that you're having another child with dwarfism."

I broke my heart. I did.

And every time I talk about it, it upsets me.

Once I got that out of my system - I was really upset at the time -

once I got it out my system I was fine then.

Cos I knew what was coming.

James and older brother Phil both live with their parents

at the moment, and are used to helping each other around the house.

A walking board!

THEY LAUGH

More recently, Phil has been helping out with the wedding,

and being a graphic designer, he is taking care of the invitations

and the table plan.

I like this, it really blends in well.

-Yeah, it looks good like that.

-Yeah.

We've always been there for each other, to help each other out

in any way that we could, and still do, and always will.

Like, James can walk a lot further than I can.

James can't bend down as far as I can. So we work together as a team.

Yeah. Even reaching things, cos I am a little bit taller.

And if not, I can pick Phil up, cos he is so light!

-But he couldn't pick me up.

-No! I'd be back in hospital!

THEY LAUGH

Well, I'll check on the list.

When they were younger, both James and Phil spent much of their

early childhood in hospital, having various operations and treatments.

I had a cleft palate that needed to be fixed.

I had all these wires coming out my mouth for a couple of months.

It didn't look very nice, but it had to be done.

Operations on my back, my spine.

Among the conditions that needed to be corrected were Phil and James'

inward-turning feet, which would make walking almost impossible.

Phil and I have had club feet. When we were born, we put our feet

into casts to straighten them out. But my feet did not always stay...

They would stay, basically.

So as I was growing, they kept turning further in.

So my club feet were coming back and my knees weren't doing good,

so they were not aligned correctly, and therefore my feet were changing,

so I walk on the balls of my feet and not flat,

so hence I have wedges on my shoes.

In order to give James the best chance of being able to walk,

he needed his legs straightening,

which meant wearing metal frames bolted to the bones in his legs.

Dad Dave had the traumatic job of regularly turning the screws

so that the bones were gradually pushed into a better shape.

When one of the boys was in hospital,

the other one would be staying at my mum's because Dave was working.

It was hard because I was a long way from home and on my own,

and having to watch the boys' suffering,

-and Dave would come up every weekend, wouldn't you?

-Yeah.

But it was hard.

I had them on for 3½ months.

Originally they said they should be on for six months,

and I didn't realise how I was going to cope.

I was only seven, I think, or eight at the time.

If I hadn't have had those frames,

I would have walked today very bent over, much more than I am now,

and I probably wouldn't be able to walk, to be honest.

James and Chloe are keen to start a family after they are married,

and unlike James' parents, they will do so

in the full knowledge that they may well have a child with dwarfism.

As he has the condition himself,

James is also a carrier of the dwarfism gene.

And Chloe may also be a carrier without knowing it.

If she has the gene, it would give the couple a far higher

chance of having a baby with dwarfism.

I can't wait to have kids.

Yeah, we've both got that in common. Family's definitely the key,

I think, the thing that we can't wait to have.

We don't have any concerns if there was a slight chance of having

a baby with Jay's condition.

I am not even prepared to get tested to see if I have the gene

because I think, at the end of the day, if it happens, it happens.

It won't change my mind about having kids either way.

We'll love it just the same as any other baby that we have.

But if, obviously things will be a little bit different

if it does have diastrophic dysplasia,

cos we will have to do the early years in and out of hospital,

probably, like Phil and I was,

but that is cool, we're prepared to fight that and go through that.

It will challenge us together,

and that is something that Chloe and I have spoken about already, before

we even got engaged, cos I think that is an important thing to do.

It's Chloe's hen weekend, and she will be accompanied to a secret

location by her mother, two sisters and an assortment of friends.

I have no idea what is happening.

My sisters have planned the whole thing.

I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing. Excited.

But very nervous, too.

Here we go.

'I hate surprises. Ask Jay.'

I know it's an hour away, and I know it's overnight,

and I don't need my passport, as far as I know, so... Yeah, excited.

The girls have arrived in Manchester at an It's A Knockout event,

where they will compete against other hen parties.

Chloe and James met as friends four years ago,

but it took a while for romance to blossom.

And Chloe's sisters were two of the first people to meet the new

man in Chloe's life.

We met him through, um, youth, and when he came to church.

And then she brought him home, but then they were just friends.

-Oh, yeah, friends(!)

-But it wasn't, it was obviously more.

-It wasn't friends.

-And then...

She kind of, a couple of weeks later, said,

"Oh, yeah, we're seeing each other." It was a shock, but we love James.

Yeah. He's a great guy, yeah. We loved him, still do. Still do.

But, yeah, I think it's always going to be a little bit of a surprise,

with, like, the way he is,

but it wasn't really that much of a...thing.

But Chloe's mum Sarah had reservations about the relationship.

Um, my feelings, when Chloe said about Jay,

she mentioned him before she even said she was going out with him,

just to test the waters cos she knows what I'm like.

And then she told me she was going out with him and...

No, I wasn't happy.

Purely because, to me, it was like, "Chloe, you know,

"he is a dwarf, you're not suited," and everything else.

CHEERING

But then as I got to know him, it just sort of,

you look at Jay and you just see Jay, you don't see anything else.

Um, and it wasn't just with him being a dwarf,

I suppose I am like that with

any of my daughters, but that just made it a little bit more harder.

CHEERING

The guys are just going to have a go themselves.

A bit of encouragement. They are going to have run round the ring.

James is used to people's varying reactions to his condition.

But Chloe knew too, that people may well have mixed feelings

about her blossoming romance with James.

-No, you need to get the bits out.

-I know!

Going out and about can be an interesting experience for

the couple, as people do tend to look at them,

sometimes passing comments.

-But both James and Chloe take it in their stride.

-Great chopping, this!

-I know, yeah.

-Great chopping!

We were walking somewhere recently, I think it was Cardiff, Bute Park,

and you had overheard a couple of little girls shout something.

-Of course, yeah.

-I can't remember what they said.

They were trying to work out if he was a man or a boy.

And one of the little girls said, "Don't be silly, it's a man!"

And it was just funny how they were like two old ladies,

"No, it's not a man!" "Yes, it IS a man!"

You know? It was great.

-Bon appetit.

-Let's enjoy.

In terms of adults, then, you know, we've had some experiences,

and, um, which is funny.

But then some do get taken to heart too much by other people, not us.

But we're up for a laugh, but go too far, then I might say something.

But it's very, very rarely that we have had to say anything to anybody.

-And then honeymoon.

-Can't wait for that.

-I'm more excited for that!

THEY LAUGH

Then it will be back to real life.

Married life.

Yeah.

But before the realities of married life kick in,

James has his stag weekend to get through.

And there will be no concessions made for him there.

To his friends and family, James is just one of the lads.

Here we are.

I'm on my stag do in Bristol, organised by Russ.

We're just having a great time, it's been a fantastic weekend,

it's great to be with Phil and Dad, and Russ, my best man,

and some of my best friends here this weekend, it's fantastic.

-Lloniannau.

-Cheers.

They've been doing all sorts of stuff.

'This weekend we've just had so much fun, we've had so many laughs.'

Oh, you...

'They've had all sorts of stuff. They've had wax strips,

'they've waxed my legs and my arms.'

LAUGHTER

'We just had a great time, they even made me wear a Snow White outfit

'yesterday when we were out in the town,

'in the city, which was just great, you know, it was good fun.'

This is so politically incorrect right now!

'I've always been typecast as a dwarf,

'but yesterday I was Snow White!

'Russ, who I have known for eight years, he's my best man.

'My best friend as well.' Oh, you...

'The story is that Russ and I met at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics,

'where I was a young advocate for Wales.'

I've got his leg.

'And he was my roommate.'

Three, two, one, go!

Hang on! Oh, what are you doing?!

Forward, left a bit. James... Right a bit! He's the captain of the ship!

Aye! 'It's the 29th of May today,

'which marks actually the four-year anniversary of the day that I

'carried the Olympic Torch for London 2012.'

And Russ very kindly nominated me without me knowing.

It was an incredible day.

Not just for the reason of carrying the

Olympic Torch, but it was also the day that I met Chloe properly.

I'd seen her around and said hello,

but I wasn't officially introduced to her until that day,

and that's why we're here this weekend, you know?

I'm on a stag do because I'm getting married to her.

And she's my world. I'm so excited.

Next time on Born Small: The Wedding.

Squeaky bum time.

The big moment arrives. Although a little later than planned.

I just can't believe, I've just realised that I've left the rings

at home, on the bedside cabinet.

CHEERING