The famous couple started out as childhood penpals. My heart!
Updated on January 14, 2026 10:11AM
Key Takeaways
- Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford’s love story began as childhood pen pals, reconnecting years later to build a life together.
- The couple’s whirlwind romance included getting engaged after five months and a heartfelt wedding officiated by Marcus’s father.
- Despite busy careers, they’ve created a grounded family life in the English countryside with their two children.
Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford’s love story is one for the books. The couple first became acquainted as childhood pen pals and later reconnected—and fell for each other—as adults. The English actress and Mumford & Sons frontman, who married in 2012, have since gone on to build a life together in the English countryside, where they now reside with their two children. From their epic meet-cute to their viral moment at the royal wedding, here's everything you need to know about Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford's relationship.
- Carey became Marcus's pen pal at the tender age of 12, sending letters to him through their church—and vice versa.
- The couple was so smitten with each other after reconnecting that they got engaged after just five months of dating.
- Their wedding was officiated by Marcus's dad John, who is a vicar.
- They share two school-aged children—Evelyn Grace and Wilfred.
First Meeting
The celebrated actress and Mumford & Sons frontman first got to know each other as children growing up in the U.K. As the story goes, they met at a Christian holiday camp when Mulligan was 12 years old. “Carey and Marcus began sending each other letters through their churches when they were kids,” a source told The Sun in 2011. Talk about a meet-cute!
February 7, 2011: Sparks Fly
Years later, the pen pals would reunite in Nashville, Tennessee, at a secret Mumford & Sons show that Carey attended with pal Jake Gyllenhaal. According to a source for The Daily Mail, “Marcus invited Carey to watch him play a secret show in the basement of his friend Mike Harris’s home in Nashville. She sat in the front row, and while he was singing, Marcus looked down at Carey, and she blushed. It was clear they had chemistry.”
The twosome even had a late-night jam session. "At the end of the night, there were just the musicians, Jake, Carey, and the Mumford boys,” a source told Us Weekly. "We had some pizza and just played music. Jake picked up a guitar, and Carey joined in on “Amazing Grace.” Marcus and Carey seemed really friendly."
February 2011: One-on-One Time
Not satisfied to end things there, the duo attended a secret Arcade Fire show in New York City several days later. "They were whispering to each other and enjoying the show," a source told Us Weekly at the time. "They definitely seemed like a couple." According to the publication, they continued their evening at a private, members-only club.
March 2011: Cohabitation
It didn’t take the Great Gatsby star long to determine that she’d met her match. Just one month after the pair began spending time together, they took things to the next level. E! reported in March 2011 that Carey moved from her New York digs to live in the U.K., where Mumford resided.
July 2011: A Quick Proposal
A mere five months after getting reacquainted, the pair was ready to spend an eternity together. According to the tabloids, Marcus popped the question in July 2011 while vacationing with his paramour in Somerset, England—the same location where later tie the knot.
2012: Working Side-by-Side
In 2012, the twosome became co-workers on the set of the critically-acclaimed flick Inside Llewyn Davis. Carey starred as Jean Berkey, while Marcus served as the vocal presence of his character Mike Timlin and the associate producer of the accompanying soundtrack. “He's not seen on camera, he's only heard on record, but Marcus was the perfect casting for that,” the film’s music producer told Esquire. “He was a perfect fit, for one reason, because he was getting married to one of the stars of the film at the time!"
April 21, 2012: A Wedding in the English Countryside
In April 2012, more than 100 of the couple’s closest friends and family members—Jake Gyllenhaal, Sienna Miller, and Colin Firth among them—gathered together in a quaint barn in Somerset, England, to watch the couple exchange their vows. Marcus’s father, John Mumford, who is a vicar, officiated the intimate ceremony. The bride wore a backless ivory gown by Prada, the same designer who created her first Oscars look.
May 7, 2012: Stepping Out in Style
Just weeks after saying their “I dos,” the twosome made their first public appearance as newlyweds at the 2012 Met Gala, for which Carey acted as co-chair. Adhering to the evening’s theme of "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations,” the Oscar nominee glowed in a custom metallic halter-neck paillette Prada creation. Her other half, meanwhile, looked dapper in a classic black-and-white tux. The duo reportedly made their exit holding hands (cue the “awws”), and Mulligan later auctioned off the gown for charity.
Feb 10, 2013: Supportive Spouse
Marcus and his fellow bandmates bagged an Album of the Year win for Babel at the 2013 Grammys, which the Promising Young Woman star attended to support her husband. The dynamic duo shared a prolonged embrace following the announcement, after which Mulligan wiping happy tears from her eyes as her husband accepted his award.
May 2013: Staying Connected
With Marcus's band on tour for much of 2013 and Carey attending to her own career, the couple faced their fair share of physical separation. To stay connected, they returned to their pen pal roots. "Love letters are becoming a lost art form, which is very sad,” Mulligan told The Telegraph in May of that same year. “'To have a love letter from someone, to hold it in your hand and know you can keep it for your whole life, that's an amazing thing."
July 2013: Settling Down
The couple purchased a gorgeous 16th-century farmhouse in Devon, England, in the summer of 2013. As Carey's pal Sienna Miller would later tell Vogue, their life there would prove nothing short of idyllic. "They have chickens and a dog, and roasts and friends, jams by campfires. Marcus can headline Glastonbury, and Carey can be nominated for however many Oscars, and then they come back to their farm, and they’re in big woolly jumpers and funny hats, raising piglets. It’s an amazing balance they’ve managed to strike."
September 2013: Sharing the Limelight
Carey and Marcus were both billed as performers at the Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis concert held in 2013. Carey performed Hedy West’s “500 Miles” before joining Gillian Welch and Rhiannon Giddens in song. Marcus, film star Oscar Issac, and the Punch Brothers also performed their own medley.
June, 7 2015: A Bun in the Oven
The duo's next chapter—parenthood—began in 2015. Carey wore an oxblood Balenciaga gown at the Tony Awards that year to keep her growing baby bump hidden. Us Weekly confirmed via multiple sources that the executive producer was pregnant shortly thereafter.
September 15, 2015: Becoming Parents
Four years after walking down the aisle, the pair’s household expanded with the arrival of a daughter named Evelyn Grace. “Carey has given birth to a healthy and happy baby,” a source told People at the time. “She is just enjoying this time with her family and close friends.”
June 2017: The Rumor Mill Churns
By June 2017, rumors of a second child for the couple began to circulate in the press after Carey stepped out for dinner in a dark blue overcoat and a drapey black top that appeared to be concealing another baby bump.
August 2017: A Family Grows
And baby makes four! Evelyn became a big sister in August 2017, when the couple welcomed a new addition, their son Wilfred. “Your whole life—it’s undeniable—it changes everything,” the Golden Globes nominee mused to Baby magazine about being a mother.
May 19, 2018: Going Viral at the Royal Wedding
As personal friends of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Carey and Marcus were among the A-listers who attended the royal wedding on May 19, 2018. The couple even had a viral moment when a yawn escaped Marcus's lips on camera. “We were convinced there were so many absurdly famous people that we were not gonna be on camera at all,” Mulligan told Jimmy Kimmel later that year. “And then, of course, it finishes, and we were allowed to turn our phones back on, and we have 15,000 messages saying, ‘Marcus, you yawned on TV!’”
April 2020: Hunkering Down Together
Like the rest of the world, the power couple was forced into quarantine in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on across the globe. For Mulligan, however, their family home in the English countryside was as nice a spot as any to shelter in place. “I’m at home in Devon in the country. It’s a good place to be,” she later told Margot Robbie for Vogue Australia.
April 10, 2021: Comedic Duo
The private couple treated fans to a rare double appearance in April 2021, when Marcus crashed his wife’s hosting gig for Saturday Night Live. When Carey cracked jokes onstage about the trials and tribulations of life in quarantine (“I’ve spent the last year quarantining in the English countryside with my husband and my two small children—which is the beginning of most horror movies”), Marcus popped up from the audience with his guitar at-the-ready, inquiring if the show had yet booked a musical guest. “If they end up needing anyone, I’m very happy to do it!” he joked.
April 25, 2021: A Glamorous Night Out
There are date nights, and then there are awards shows. Carey and Marcus had a glamorous night out, appearing on the red carpet together for the 2021 Oscars ceremony. Mulligan was up for the coveted Best Actress award for her role in Promising Young Woman. While she didn’t take home the gold, the pair did appear to have taken home a souvenir in the form of a statuette-adorned lampshade that the “I Will Wait” crooner shared a photo of on Instagram.
