Justin’s Surprise Wedding Video

For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m absolutely terrible at surprises.

Surprises get me overwhelmed! If I’m planning a surprise for someone, I feel guilty for lying to them or I’m so excited to surprise them I usually just give in! And if I’m surprised, I usually spend the first few minutes shaking!

Needless to say, my awfulness at surprises is something Justin has come to accept. We open gifts early for every holiday, and our wedding was no exception.

We opened our wedding gifts to each other one evening after being out with friends about a month before our big day! His wedding gift from me, a surprise trip to Disneyland, was no surprise. Turns out, I had told him about it in my sleep a few weeks early. Typical.

For our wedding, I wanted to tell Justin that I am still unpredictable. That as well as we know each other, there will still be surprises—even from someone as horrible at them as me.

I decided to secretly make Justin a movie to watch in the limo as he drove to meet me at the Church. I wanted the style to be funny and sentimental so I turned to the style of the Your Three Words videos featured on Good Morning America.

I reached out to mine and Justin’s family and friends and asked each of them to choose a phrase about Justin, words of encouragement on his wedding day, or advice about relationships/marriage in general.

I told everyone to record a video of themselves using an iPhone or iPad (since I was editing on a MAC, I thought this would be easiest) in landscape orientation and without sound. The words or phrases they chose had to be shown not spoken. (Word of warning to anyone attempting this, there will be people who completely ignore the parameters. Just roll with it.)

The results we got back were absolutely stunning.

The video was a perfect combination of inside jokes, genuine love, and perfect advice. It still brings tears to my eyes when I watch it. Our friends who knew us when we were just Cast Members on Main Street, current friends, my parents, even Justin’s cousin who was unable to attend our wedding because he was about to deployed sent in a photo and text to go over it.

The video is something that’s so special to us and I’m hoping to found it as amazing as we do!

Thanks for looking!