For the price of a professional photographer, newlyweds are gifted with lifelong memories of their wedding to reminisce the wholesome moments of their special day. However, it doesn't always go to plan, as explained by a devastated shutterbug who suffered the "worst thing" imaginable on the job.
Taking to popular video-streaming service TikTok, Justin Gummow admitted that he faced a horrifying dilemma when the photos that he had snapped were completely corrupted. In the video, which has surpassed 12.8 million views, Justin admitted that he broke into tears when he realised, but admitted that the ordeal was "even worse for the bride and groom".
"So, the worst thing that can happen to a photographer when shooting a wedding happened to me," he explains.
"I was transferring the photos and the card got corrupted and I lost all the photos.
"My card didn't just get copied over, it got cut and copied over, so the card was erased and that also sucks. So, I had all these pictures that looked just like this.
Sharing an image of a corrupted image file on his computer, Justin sadly explained: "Pretty much every single one of them looked like this."
He continued: "As you might expect, I panicked and I bought a bunch of programs to try and have the card restored.
"I got the card restored, but all the pictures still looked like that."
"So resigned, I sat there and I cried for a minute and I said, 'this is the worst, this sucks, I have to call the bride and I have to let her know that all those memories from her day that she paid a professional photographer to take are gone and that sucked'.
Justin took the brave decision to call the bride to severely apologise about the ordeal.
He explained: "I called her and I did tell her and I said, 'hey, I'm trying my damnedest and I've spent hundreds of dollars already trying to fix these photos and get them back, I can give you a refund, I will take reshoot photos for you and your husband.
However, in a shocking turn of events, Justin was able to find a saving grace at the eleventh hour.
Justin said: "I was looking at the back of my camera because of the card and I could see the pictures - the pictures didn't look back on there, there's some that are kind of messed up but the vast majority I can still see them.
"So, I used the wifi on my camera to transfer the JPEG previews from my camera to my phone and so slowly I've been transferring all the photos that I can to my phone and I've saved a whole lot of them."
Admitting that he "learned a whole lot of lessons" about the ordeal, TikTokers flocked to the comment section to discuss Justin's scary learning experience.
One person said: "I'm so relieved for you. I can't even imagine how stressful this was for you."
"It was a huge relief. I'm still shaky about it," Justin replied.
A different person claimed: "I lost all of my wedding photos due to this exact situation."
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