What to do When Your Wedding Video is Lost

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Author’s Note: I will not be sharing the name of our videographer publicly. I think that is unfair to him and his business. He is talented, which is why we hired him in the first place, and everyone deserves a little grace on their bad days.

I am heartbroken. I have cried more than I would probably like to admit over the past couple weeks. Our wedding videographer lost our footage.

Let’s start at the beginning of the wedding planning process. When we worked out a budget, the things most important thing to us were photography and videography. And, those are the things we spent the bulk of our budget on.

I love having photographs to look back on. I fill countless photo albums. I love having those memories. So, I knew I wanted a great photographer. And, as I was wedding planning I read article after article from brides saying the number one thing they wished they had spent money on, and time and time again, it was videography. You simply can’t remember everything without some help from video. So, I scoured the internet to find a videographer I loved.

We recently got our wedding photos back, which are incredible. And, it made me even more excited to get our video. I specifically remember during our wedding thinking, “I am so glad we have a videographer, there is no way I can remember all of this!” I thought this over, and over again.

I want to remember everything. I want to remember my husband whispering how beautiful I am during our ceremony. I want to remember how my husband came up with the scheme to pop champagne bottles as we walked back down the aisle for the first time as husband and wife. I want to remember all of the speeches that made me laugh and cry. I want to remember our first dance. And, every moment in-between.

And, then, we got the email.

Our footage was lost. Our wedding video gone.

Our videographer was very apologetic, felt awful, gave us a full refund, so I have nothing negative to say on that front. He was very professional, in what I am sure was a difficult email for him to write. But, I was, and still am heartbroken. I didn’t want a refund. I don’t want that money. We had decided that we wanted those memories more than having that money in the bank. I want my memories.

I had plans of bringing out the video every anniversary, for the rest of our lives, and reliving every moment. All of that now is lost.

So, what can you do if this happens to you? What do you do if your wedding video is lost?

Consult a Tech Service

In our case, this wasn’t of help. But, if you still have the SD card, accidentally deleted footage or footage that was recorded over can sometimes partially or completely be restored. Do not lose hope! Try this avenue before accepting that your data and video is lost.

Be Understanding

This one can be hard for people. By nature, I am a perfectionist, Type-A, Enneagram 1, to the core. So, it can be hard for me to forgive people when they don’t live up to my own standards. In our case, the footage wasn’t lost by freak accident, technological malfunction, or act of God. It was lost because it was misplaced. I felt completely and deeply betrayed. How could someone be so careless with my memories? But, things do happen. People have bad days. I wouldn’t want someone judging me forever based on my worst day. And, it really isn’t fair to do that to others.

Write Everything Down

I never, ever, want to forget that moment, walking down the aisle. It was something out of a movie. My new husband’s face, the sound he made when he first saw me, the light summer breeze blowing off the water, the beach grass swaying in the wind, the boats ambling past in the background, the soft music playing, how I started off walking way too fast down the aisle because I just wanted to get to him so badly. So, I wrote it all down. Since I won’t have the video to rely on, I will do everything I can to preserve and cement it in my memory.

Find Things To Be Grateful For

While I was crying on the couch about our lost video, my sweet, wonderful husband came over to hold me. He whispered in my ear that he loved me and joked about how lucky we were that we still got to be married, even without video evidence. I laughed through my tears, and realized he was right. I am still sad about losing our wedding video. But, I am so grateful I get to be that man’s wife. And, in the end, that is what really matters.

Ask Your Guests

As we start writing our thank you notes, we will be including in them a plea asking for any wedding video that they might have taken that night and ask they send it to us. We have already received some video from the day, our first dance and, Tom’s dance with his mom. It may not be what we wanted, but something is better than nothing.

Forgive

Nothing is going to bring back that lost footage. So, you can be angry and upset about it, which is natural. Or you can forgive and move on. In the long run, your heart will be happier and lighter.

Did you lose your wedding video? How did you deal with that loss?