This nuptial nightmare was anything but picture perfect.
A photographer broke down in tears after learning that images he’d captured of a couple on their wedding day had been erased from his camera’s memory card.
Justin Gummow, 35, was hired to snap the union in California, taking hundreds of images of the bride, groom and guests at the romantic celebration.
But the snapper was left “panicked” after transferring the photos to his computer and realizing the memory card had become “corrupted,” deleting all the images.
“My card didn’t just get copied over, it got cut and copied over — so the card was erased,” Gummow explained in a subsequent TikTok video which garnered more than 16 million views.
Describing the nightmare scenario as “the worst thing that could happen to a photographer,” Gummow revealed that he had to fork over his own funds in an effort to restore the corrupted card — only for the erased photos to return heavily pixelated.
“Resigned, I sat there and I cried for a minute, and I said, ‘This is the worst. This sucks,’” the lensman declared. “I had to call the bride and let her know that all those memories from her day that she paid a professional photographer to take, were gone. That sucked.”
To his surprise, the bride and groom were “completely understanding and forgiving” about the unfortunate situation.
“They were the kindest, most gracious couple,” Gummow stated in a follow-up video, adding that he took full accountability for the erased photos.
“My equipment was faulty, but s – – t happens sometimes. That’s not an excuse, and that’s not OK, and I am 100% responsible for it,” he stated.
He offered the bride and groom a full refund and asked to take additional photos for them free of charge.
However, Gummow later learned that some of the photos had miraculously been saved onto the camera itself, rather than the memory card. Although hundreds of others had been lost, it was some consolation to the newlyweds.
Meanwhile, thousands of viewers who watched Gummow’s TikTok videos had a similar reaction to the bride and groom, believing that the snapper was genuinely horrified and regretful about the technical screw-up.
“Hearing all of this makes me want to hire you,” one admirer wrote in the comments section beneath Gummow’s initial clip. “You truly care and have tried everything to fix it and make it right. Some people would just lie.”
“Owning your mistakes is the difference between a terrible person and someone who’s doing their best,” a second declared.
“I wish I had a photographer like you. Accountability means a lot,” read a fourth commenter.