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Love: David Jack III & Arturo Lara

Arturo, who grew up in Mexico City, moved to Philadelphia in 1996 to earn his MBA at Temple. That October, he watched his new neighborhood prepping for OutFest and decided to see what the festival was all about.

David Jack III (R) and Arturo Lara.
David Jack III (R) and Arturo Lara.Read morePhotographer: Pixl Motion, Philadelphia

Hello there

Arturo, who grew up in Mexico City, moved to Philadelphia in 1996 to earn his MBA at Temple. That October, he watched his new neighborhood prepping for OutFest and decided to see what the festival was all about.

OutFest was festive and fun, but serious when the crowd grew still for a moment of silence to honor and remember the victims of AIDS. During that quiet, his brown eyes met blue ones. The stranger smiled, and Arturo smiled back. Noting the man's blue jeans and cowboy boots, Arturo thought, "There's an all-American boy looking at me!"

The solemn moment ended, and the cowboy boots walked to Arturo. "You have a great smile," the man whispered in his ear before disappearing into the crowd.

"I was walking with my friends, but thinking how I hoped I would see him again," Arturo remembered. On the sidewalk in front of the Venture Inn, he did.

Dave, a nursing instructor from Glendora who then lived in Mantua, introduced himself. They chatted long enough to know they'd like to talk more, and Dave asked Arturo for his number.

Dave called, and called, and called. This was pre-cellphone, and Arturo had no answering machine. "I was persistent and hopeful," Dave said. At last, Arturo was home to answer, and the two made a Halloween date in Manayunk. They tried on costumes, guessed the weight of a pumpkin at Le Bus, and then settled in for coffee and conversation.

"We both were interested from that first smile, but the date solidified everything for me," Dave remembered. "Arturo kept talking about his family. We both have strong family values, and we clicked. It was very nice."

A month later, to celebrate Arturo's 30th birthday, Dave booked a room at the Rittenhouse Hotel and presented him with 30 fish-shape soaps, 29 white balloons, and one red one.

"That kind of sweetness and generosity of love, compassion, and warmth is what made me fall in love with him," Arturo said.

Things between them were going well, which was good, because they were about to go faster than either expected.

That spring, the couple was roller-blading on Kelly Drive when Dave fell into a tree. "I'm fine," he insisted, trying to shrug it off. But at the Spaghetti Warehouse, Dave wasn't eating. "That's when I knew something was really wrong with him, and that I had to drive him to the emergency room," Arturo said.

Dave's shoulder was broken in three places. Until it healed, he would need a daily ride to the Methodist Hospital School of Nursing, where he was then an instructor. He couldn't cook, or do other tasks made impossible by an immobilized arm. The nurse needed some nursing.

Dave asked Arturo whether he would move in temporarily to help out. Arturo never left.

Feels like forever

Arturo became a Conrail logistics analyst in 1996. In 2001, he and Dave together bought the Washington Square West home where they still live, now with Perlita, a Chihuahua/terrier mix.

They had grown tired of commuting from the suburbs, and Arturo had missed city living. But there was so much more to it.

"We were not able to marry then, and so when we said, 'Let's buy a house together,' that was our commitment," Arturo said.

Before the couple met, Dave had bought the Mantua house they previously shared. "Now we were finding something together, and I was establishing a new life with Arturo."

Dave, who is now 52, became an assistant professor of pediatric nursing at Jefferson College of Nursing in 2008, the same year Arturo, now 39, went to work for Iroko Pharmaceuticals, where he is senior director of planning.

How does forever sound?

In the couple's neighborhood, Halloween is a big deal. Decorations include things like fog machines. There's tons of candy for kids, and a big party for everyone. In 2014, Dave asked the neighbors whether they would mind helping him add an extra-special twist to the shindig that year. He commissioned one of them - jewelry designer Doug Bucci - to make a ring.

The usual Halloween fun was well underway when Dave asked Arturo to take a seat in front of everybody. "We've been together for 18 years now, and I want to make this day extra-special for you," he told him.

The neighbors broke into song: The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows." Every time they sang the title lyric, Dave handed Arturo a colorful helium-filled balloon. On the last balloon, he had written, "Popping the ?"

"Go ahead and pop it," Dave prompted.

Using a faux lightsaber with a safety pin at the end, Arturo did. "I heard this metallic sound of something dropping. I looked around, and there was this beautiful ring."

Arturo hugged his boyfriend, who put the ring on his finger. Everyone cheered and Magdaliz and Her Latin Ensemble Crisol began to play jubilantly.

"Everyone kept saying congratulations, and I said thank you, but I couldn't really figure out why," Arturo said.

The next day, the couple visited Dave's parents. Dave told them the big news: They were engaged and planning a wedding!

"Wait, what?" Arturo said. The man speaks three languages fluently, but he had not understood the "popping the question" idiom.

"The ring is beautiful, but I didn't hear any question," he told Dave.

Dave immediately dropped to his knee, asked, and got an enthusiastic yes.

It was so them

Following Philadelphia tradition, four Mummers musicians came to the night-before party to serenade the couple.

The next day at the Kimmel Center, 90 guests walked beneath strings of traditional Mexican paper-cut decorations.

The ceremony, led by the couple's friend Doug - the same Doug who made Arturo's ring - unfolded in both English and Spanish. There was one moment of Arturo's third language, when a Philadelphia Opera Company singer Dave had hired sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" in French.

The food nodded to both American and Mexican cuisines, with fish tacos and a fresh mozzarella and prosciutto station, salad and tortilla soup. The night ended Mexican-style with a mariachi band.

Awestruck

The couple wed on the 19th anniversary of the day they met. Just like back then, OutFest was underway. A few hours before the ceremony, they, their wedding party, and their photographer walked around the festival, past the spot where they literally had met. "We were all dressed up in our tuxedos - everybody looked so beautiful - and people kept cheering and yelling their congratulations," Arturo said. "There was this adrenaline rush from a feeling of support and love from all these strangers on the street. And then when we walked into our ceremony, I could feel the love of friends and family. I will cherish that moment all my life."

The couple wrote their own vows, and exchanging them was among the most wonderful, powerful moments Dave has ever experienced. Dave held it together as Arturo promised to always respect him and love him. Then Arturo said, "To truly love another person is to see the face of God. I have seen the face of God."

By then, both were crying.

Discretionary spending

Best bargain: Rather than sign a book, wedding guests had their photos taken with chalkboards upon which they wrote wedding wishes. The boards were then erased for the next guest. On sale at A.C. Moore, the chalkboards cost $5 each.

The splurge: There was one wedding cake in the budget, but Dave squeezed in a second one, a groom's cake that paid homage to his love of hamburgers.

The getaway

A week in Cancun to "sit on the beach, eat, drink, and otherwise do nothing," Arturo said.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Officiant: Friend of the couple Doug Bucci, Philadelphia.

Venue: Hamilton Garden, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia.

Catering: Garces Events, Philadelphia.

Photography: Pixl Motion, Philadelphia.

Flowers: Spring Garden Flowers, Philadelphia.

Music: DJ Mike Scott, DiNardo Bros. Entertainment, Sewell, N.J. and Mariachi Pedro Villaseñor, Norristown.

Planner: Darcy Hill, Kimmel Center.

Do you have the date? Email us - at least six weeks before your ceremony - why we should feature your love story: weddings@phillynews.com. Unfortunately, we can't respond individually to all submissions. If your story is chosen, you will be contacted.