Welcome to Happily Ever Hermano!

My name is Mark and in a few short months my fiance Mara and I will be saying “I Do” by the most magical place on earth.

Mara and I started dating in Gainesville on January 10, 2010, got engaged in New York City on May 23, 2015, and will be getting married in our hometown of Orlando on April 9, 2016.

Below is the story of how we met and fell in love.

I met Mara in 2009, after we were both fortunate to be chosen as student ambassadors for the University of Florida. When I saw her from across the room during our welcome party, I knew I had to make a move. I put my game face on, walked over to her, asked her to dance, and.. was promptly denied! Despite this setback, we remained friends throughout the year. I’d say hi to her when we bumped into each other on the plaza, and she would say hi back. Life was good.

Music is what brought Mara and I together. During a fall retreat, I heard her singing a Michael Jackson medley and she heard me jam out on the piano to “I Want It That Way”. After a dare, we signed up for a talent show just for fun as the Sweet & Sour M&Ms. During our first practice session in the music room, we ended up talking for hours about anything and everything. On the day of the show, our duet performance of “Down”, “Forever”, and “Boom Boom Pow” ended up taking first place! Okay fine, we got second place. But I did win the grand prize after the show- a first date with Mara.

Mara and I are diehard Gators- we bleed Orange and Blue! After all, we were both campus tour guides at UF. Gainesville is where Mara and I fell in love. I asked her to be my girlfriend on University Avenue across from The Swamp. We spent our first Valentine’s Day at a picnic outside the Baughman Center. Mara introduced me to my first musical (she also starred in one!), and I brought her to my science classes (I was easily distracted for some reason). I graduated in 2011, studying Biology and Finance on a pre-dental track, and Mara graduated one year later with a Finance degree.

Mara and I have many things in common. We are pretty balanced between spontaneously exploring and hanging indoors, we spend our free time being weird and making each other laugh, we tend to eat large amounts of food. (Fun fact: On our first date, Mara ordered a salad- the first and last time I have ever seen her order a salad.) Also our names are one letter away from each other. But one of the biggest values in our lives is love for family. Our parents both came to the US from the Philippines, and we take plenty of pride in our Filipino heritage. The first time I asked Mara out, she actually said no because I hadn’t met her whole family yet. I met her entire clan during a family event at Epcot and fell in love with everyone almost immediately. The first time I told Mara I loved her was at Magic Kingdom on June 14, 2010.

During our first heart-to-heart conversation, Mara and I realized we both shared dreams of living in New York City. After graduating from college, I moved to Manhattan to attend dental school at Columbia University. We were long distance for one year before Mara also moved to the Big Apple to work on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre Company. New York became our home away from home and we learned to adjust to big city life and brave the snowy winters. I spent four years at the College of Dental Medicine, and Mara spent four years hearing all about oral health! She became an honorary member of the Class of 2015- graduating was equally emotional for the both of us.

I asked Mara’s parents for their blessing after Thanksgiving 2014. I wanted to do something special for her proposal and being that her favorite movie was (and is) Enchanted, I could think of no better location than the Bethesda Fountain. Mara’s parents and brothers were planning to fly up to New York attend my graduation in May, and we thought it would be fun to get our friends and family involved. We started secretly spreading the word and brainstorming ideas over the next few months until a very “Mara” idea came to mind. Not surprisingly, she used to choreograph flash mobs back in college. And so I picked out my favorite Mara moves and threw them into a secret tutorial video.

On May 23, 2015 Mara took her family on a tour around Central Park, stopping at Bethesda with the goal of making a fun music video by one of her favorite locations. Of course, Mara was game. They decided to do a practice run while walking around the fountain. But suddenly the music changes. Next thing Mara knows, her family is serenading her and leading her to the front of the fountain, where “Down” comes on (the first song we sang together for talent show). Our other friends and family pop out of their hiding spots, we dance our hearts out with Mara’s dance moves, I get down on one knee and...well the rest is history! Mara’s engagement ring is a legacy piece from her grandmother.

Currently, Mara and I are still proud residents of New York City. Mara works as a campaign specialist at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and I am a pediatric dental resident at Montefiore Medical Center. We are excited to return home to Orlando to celebrate with our wonderful friends and family, as well as embark on the next chapters of our lives. Thank you for being a part of our journey! We can’t wait to see you soon.

Thank you lynncoscia.com for the beautiful engagement shoot photos!