Photo: Stephanie Sorenson
The interior designer and judge on Discovery+‘sDesign Star: Next Gen, 39, said “I do” to her “partner in everything,” Alvin Lozano, after three-and-a-half years together on Feb. 2.
“[Our kids] brought the rings up, which was a production in itself,” Makk tells PEOPLE exclusively. “We’re a blended family,” she says, adding that all of their children “came together to make the day so special for us.” The pairwelcomed their first child together, son Lennox Avelino, in March 2020; Makk has one son from a previous relationship, while Lozano has three children from his previous marriage.
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“It really was about family, and celebrating our families, and just everyone getting a chance to dress up and be beautiful together,” she tells PEOPLE of their nuptials.
“I really wanted a really beautiful candlelit, decadent dinner for our friends and family, because a lot of our family has never even put on a tuxedo. And so it was fun for them to get dressed up and take pictures,” she says.
“We just did fun things. We had a 360 photo booth, and a DJ,” she continues, adding that the pair’s first dance was to Maze’s “Before I Let Go.”
As for her favorite moment, Makk says that it was their first look, “because I got to see that magic in his eye. And I got to tell him how much I loved him,” she explains. “And then at dinner we got to sit with each other […] and laughed, and really took the moment in. It was perfect.”
Their big day may have been perfect, but their journey hasn’t always been — which is something Makk is candid about embracing, and part of why the pair had their couple’s counselors officiate their wedding.
“We started going to couples coaching early in our relationship,” Makk reveals, adding that they began sessions within the first few months of dating each other as they were both “bringing a lot of baggage to the table” from their previous relationships and wanted to embark on a healthy partnership together.
“I won’t dress this up in some beautiful frosting. We do the work. We get in the trenches together,” she shares. “And I think the beauty of our relationship is not fixing something once it’s broken, but we consider therapy kind of a manual to learning who each other are, and our triggers, and our traumas, and why we do things,” she says, adding that her now-husband’s willingness to participate is a driving force of her love for him.
“I’ve never subscribed to that sort of romantic gaga, girly wedding stuff. For me, what has been amazing is my partner’s willingness to be curious about himself, and his life, and why he does things,” she says, adding that she operates in the same way.
“So yeah, it ain’t so rommy commy, but it is the truth. We do a lot of hard work and get in there and really heal each other’s wounds. We’ve broken each other open, and we’re putting each other back together in a healthy, responsible way.”
To that end, the pair exchanged their own heartfelt vows, and sweetly both told the same story about how they first met at a restaurant in Los Angeles. How “from the minute we saw each other, we knew there was something there,” says Makk.
“We were the only two people in the restaurant,” she says of their chance encounter at Versailles Cuban Restaurant in Los Angeles, which she calls “kismet.”
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“I walked in and I saw him and I was like, “Oh no, there’s a cute boy. I really want to eat my food. I don’t want to get down in front of this cute boy at this restaurant,” she says with a laugh. Soon enough, the pair struck up a conversation, and learned that they were both headed to Nashville in the coming days. (Lozano was based there, while Makk was heading out on a work trip.) Lozano asked to take her out to his favorite restaurant when they got there, “and I haven’t been able to get rid of him since,” she jokes.
The pair dated long distance for a year before Lozanopopped the questionat Makk’s home in L.A. last February.
The ring itself — a stunning two carat, cushion cut, pear-shaped diamond — is exactly what Makk had always hoped for. “I had always had a dream ring that I wanted on my secret Pinterest board,” she says, adding, “He did a very good job.”
Besides the ring, the icing on the cake for Makk was, well, the literal cake.
“I’d been starving for six months to get into that damn dress. I was like, ‘Bring on the sweets,'” she laughs. The couple shared each of their favorite desserts — banana pudding cups for him and strawberry cake for her — plus cake pops for the kids, chocolate cake and more.
After the ceremony, the pair jetted off to Jamaica, where Makk happily notes that she “got to eat all the carbs again.”
“We just laid out on the beach for a few days,” she says of their honeymoon. “Caught some sun, caught up with each other. Caught our breath from the wedding, and just enjoyed ourselves really.”
Now that the pair is married, the interior designer is most looking forward to “just growing old together” and “seeing what we could create together as a unit.”
“He is truly my best friend,” she gushes. “And I can say that without a doubt. It’s exciting to be married to someone that you really love. I’m 39 years old. I held out for a long time in terms of getting married, and I feel so grateful that I chose this partner. We’re just so happy. We’re on cloud nine.”
source: people.com
