THE COUPLE
Love Wins
A silhouette of love. Photograph by Lisa Jane Photography.
Welcome to the wedding website for Mark & Luis! We're excited you're here to see highlights from our extraordinary event that took place on 15 July 2018 in London, United Kingdom. Leading up to the wedding, a previous version of this site existed to inform our guests about the event. Now that the historic day has concluded, we've redesigned and relaunched the site to archive the magic so our guests can relive the day and other friends, family, and visitors can see the enchanted moments from the spectacular occasion! 😍
In addition to learning more about the grooms, you can meet our Entourage, review the wedding’s creative Theme, learn more about our magnificent Venue, get a tour of things to do if you're ever in London, and meet the Support who helped us on the day. All of this, of course, is in addition to the multiple galleries of photographs you can enjoy from Wedding itself, and our memorable before and after Events we arranged. And if you want to get a taste of the music that concluded the celebration, be sure to go and check out our special Podcast!
Feel free to read through each dedicated page to share in our wonderful experience...
Meet the Grooms…err, Husbands!
“Since you can’t live forever, create things that do.”
Mark Snyder grew up in Florida — the Sunshine State — which is ironic now that he thrives in the unpredictable British weather. He's been in the UK since 2011 when he relocated to London for his job. Before Brexit, he loved everything about the UK: the history, the music, the culture. But most importantly, the fact that the move brought him and Luis together. Things do, in fact, happen for a reason!
“Dessert is never a question of need.”
Luis Carvalho was born and raised in Portugal and moved to London in his late teens to study art and pursue a career in theatre. He has travelled the world both for fun and work but London has always felt like home. In keeping with his Gemini star sign, Luis has many strings to his bow but the constant and strong amongst these are his ties to family, friends, and his passion for theatre. If you're interested in learning more about his work, check out his impressive LFC Theatre company.
A Cheeky Introduction Interview
Many months before our wedding, we recorded a video that we thought would be a fun way to introduce ourselves to our guests. We prepared three questions to ask each other, without letting the other know what the questions were in advance. Here are the unscripted responses of that interaction, all captured in one take. We decided to keep the video up because we think it’s a great introduction to our website and our personalities. 💁🏻♂️
A Love Story
People often ask how we met and how our love came to be. Here’s our story, told from Mark’s perspective:
“For several years, I hadn't really had much luck with the dating scene. This was particularly frustrating living life in London. Despite being one of the largest and most vibrant cities in the world, it can feel like a lonely one — especially when you don’t have someone to share it with. Right before I moved away from the United States in 2011, I had just exited a 9 year relationship, and during the years that followed I dated a few guys but nothing came of those relationships. In some cases, they were downright negative experiences.
Fast forward to 2015. I had come to terms with single life, and wasn’t really looking for a serious relationship. And that’s when Luis entered my life. We met on a dating app — he actually was the one who sought me out…I’m pretty sure it was the beard 🧔🏻 — and honestly after our first date I knew he was different. I was immediately intrigued and wanted to find out more about him. Thankfully he was equally intrigued, and a summer courtship continued to flourish.
By the time autumn arrived, we were completely fascinated by one another. Both of us realised that we had gone from confident single men to a beautiful, solid, mature relationship. Both experienced with long-term relationships, we knew we wanted to leverage what we had learned from our pasts and to always be honest, upfront, and communicative. The list of Luis’ attractive attributes is endless: he’s artistic and creative, articulate and intelligent, kind and thoughtful, a Theatre Designer by trade, has broad and varied music taste, is well-travelled, has a wonderfully diverse group of loyal friends, a solid and connected family, values health and fitness, a fantastic cook, an impeccable and educated sense of style, deeply romantic, conflict averse, speaks four languages, and of course ‘ticks all of the boxes’ in what physically makes a man sexy to me.
The best part of it all? Our relationship has continued to grow and be incredible ever since. He is, hands down, the most extraordinary man I’ve ever known. I feel so very fortunate and lucky that I have met the man of my dreams, especially when I didn't think it could really happen. We have shared so many exciting memories during our time together, and we have so many things to look forward to. He lifts up my days and has truly made me believe in love. And, perhaps most important, defined what love should be.”
We hope you enjoy getting to know us through these pages and experiencing our wedding day and the events surrounding it. We love reliving the magic! ✨
Photograph by Jim Leatherman, October 2017.