A Modern Romance

Alan York and Frank Lozano met online, got engaged at sea, and got married in a ceremony that included ballroom dancers and a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. You might say this love story is anything but boring. Alan, 55, is an attorney and partner at Reed Smith LLP and a native of  Pasadena, Texas, with both BBA and JD degrees from the University of Houston. Frank Frank, 37, is a Realtor-Associate at Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty. The El Paso, Texas, native earned his BBA, BFA, and MBA degrees at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The couple now lives in Somerset Green in Houston’s Design District.

After their online meeting, the two met in person for the first time on August 1, 2015, when Alan visited Frank in San Antonio. The pair saw their love bloom in a natural, gradual progression. In fact, Alan says he can’t really think of a specific moment when he decided that Frank was the one. “Our relationship grew at a very nice pace, and one day I realized I was in love with my best friend,” Alan recalls. “What could be better?” As for Frank, he just knew that “I was my best with him. We laugh constantly. He is my best friend, and we have the best time together; there was never going to be a moment where I didn’t want to be with him.”

Alan proposed to Frank on a Baltic cruise on June 28, 2018. “I think he had almost given up on me,” Alan admits. “We were in Stockholm, Sweden, which is where my paternal ancestors originated. I told him Sweden was where I was from, but he was where I was going. Then I asked him to marry me.” But Frank laughs at the suggestion that he had given up on Alan. “I knew I wanted to marry Alan for several years at that point,” he explains, “and on many occasions I felt he was going to ask—or rather, I felt he could have asked. Since those times came and went, I started thinking that maybe we aren’t the marrying kind.”

But to Frank’s complete shock and surprise, Alan proposed that day on the cruise. Or at least he tried to. Frank was so excited that he actually answered Alan’s question before he even asked it—an experience that Frank says was quite comical to the pair as well as to onlookers. “Once the tears subsided and I regained my composure, I said, ‘Now, get on your knee and ask me properly!’” Once again, everyone around them had a good laugh. Luckily, Alan is a planner at heart, so he had a photographer on hand who was able to document the entire crazy experience.

The two were married on February 2, 2020, at the Omni Riverway in Houston. They picked the date because 02.02.2020 is a palindromic number. They didn’t realize at the time that it was also Super Bowl Sunday, but that didn’t deter them from their choice. One of their dearest friends and the mother to their godchildren, Judge Tanya Garrison, officiated their wedding. “I was lucky to have my other best friend, Steve Clifton, stand as my Best Man,” Alan says. And, Frank adds, “I was lucky to have my best friend, Melody Sandoval, stand as my Maid of Honor. Plus, we had our two godchildren, Grace and Grant, as our ring bearers. So we were surrounded by people we loved.”

Alan says his most treasured moment of the evening was their first dance to Linda Eder’s “Someone Like You.” “I surprised Frankie by having professional ballroom dancers join us on the dance floor during the song. It was just beautiful,” Alan says.

“I would say that my absolute favorite moment of our ceremony was during our declarations to each other,” Frank recalls. “If you know me, you know that I am an avid and rather crazy Disney fan.  During his declaration, Alan said, ‘I know that there has always been another in our relationship,’ and then placed Mickey Mouse ears on his head. It was the sweetest, silliest moment that just melted my heart.” The ceremony was fairly traditional in most other ways, with several personal touches, including their processional music, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” performed by Bob Luna.

The couple used a number of LGBTQ community vendors, including wedding coordinator Dewayne Ross from Wedding Bliss Events, wedding designers David Rexroat and Sean Raspberry from Rexberry Luxury Weddings and Events, and DJ Brad Janacek from Bradley David Entertainment. “They helped make our wedding day comfortable and wonderful, and David and Sean’s wedding design took our breath away. We think members of the LGBT+ community have a special appreciation for the importance of same-gender wedding ceremonies, and that came through with all of these vendors,” the couple explains.

The newlyweds will honeymoon on a Mediterranean cruise this summer, with a few days before in Barcelona and a few days after in Venice. They’ll be joined by another couple whose friendship holds special meaning for them. “We met the most amazing couple from London, Ian and Audrey, on the cruise when we got engaged. They came over for the wedding, and are also joining us for our honeymoon cruise!”

And if the two could shout out their love for one another from a mountaintop, what they would say is crystal-clear to them both: “It is amazing to marry your best friend,” Alan says. “There is no one I would rather spend time with than Frankie. When you find someone who can make you smile on your worst days, grab him and hold on to him!” As for Frank’s words to the world, he says, “Alan’s selflessness and willingness to help others is one of the greatest qualities he has and that I admire.”

This article appears in the March 2020 edition of OutSmart magazine.