For many brides, video is an after thought. Not all. But sometimes videographers are the last ones to be hired. After the wedding, though, our importance is suddenly through the roof. You can't get back your wedding day - and trust me, it will fly by - you can't get back the people who are no longer with us - but with video, you preserve the memory, their memory - the laughter and tears.
Last week I posted about one of our dear brides that was fighting for her life and needed as many people praying for her as there could be! In that blog post, I posted Molly and her husband, Rich's love story that we filmed one bright and sunny day over 5 years ago. It was their legacy; something that they could show their kids one day. They had a great story. Their love was so easily seen in that video.
On Saturday, Molly passed away, one day after her 5 year wedding anniversary. She courageously fought Stage 4 Melanoma with everything she had. She leaves behind her loving husband and three beautiful baby girls. On that very day, I noticed that we had a video that was being watched a lot. I did a little tracking on our analytics and found that people were sharing Molly and Rich's love story video. It made my heart happy. We actually had over 20,000 people click on that blog post in one day. Crazy. But who wouldn't want to watch that special love they shared. It radiated from them. The best part of it all? I got a sweet message last night from Molly's best friend who was so glad that she could see that video anytime she wanted and be able to hear Molly's voice and laughter. Video is powerful.
When Rich called us on Monday to ask if we would film the funeral, we were honored. The Remmert/Rossell clan is an amazing family. No, funerals are not generally happy times, like weddings. But filming a funeral still preserves a moment in time, a memory. I heard today that on their wedding anniversary (Friday), that the entire family watched the wedding video that we produced. They wanted to relive those wonderful happy moments from the wedding. I bet Molly's girls love seeing their mommy and daddy dancing at their wedding reception! Video is timeless.
As I type this blog post, I can hear John editing the funeral from today. It was beautiful and touching and I'm so glad that we were there to capture it. Molly's dad was able to deliver such an eloquent eulogy. I cried all of the way through it. Family and friends saluted Rich and his monumental task of raising those three little girls. But you know what, Our Lady of the Sorrows didn't have a seat open. The church was packed, all with people that loved Molly. Not only will the wonderful words said today be preserved forever, but the best part of it will be that Rayne, Brooks and Bess will be able to watch and know how many people loved their mommy. Video is priceless, don't you agree?
