When they married during the summer of love in 1967, it was among the happiest days of their lives.
But Aileen and Bill Turnbull were left with just their memories after the cine film of their big day in Aberdeen went missing.
Now they have been reunited with the footage 57 years later after it was found by chance by a nephew of the man who had loaned them the camera equipment.
The couple, both 77, emigrated to Australia in 1981 and happened across a social media appeal from Terry Cheyne, who had not recognised anyone from the footage.
Yesterday Mrs Turnbull said it was ‘surreal’ to watch the film again as she and her husband had only seen it once before it was lost.
Aileen and Bill Turnbull were reunited with memories of their wedding day in 1967
Aileen and Bill Turnbull on their wedding day 57 years ago
She said: ‘It was absolutely amazing, I couldn’t believe it.
‘I was looking through Facebook, and up came this wedding photograph. My husband was sitting here, I turned to him and I said “there’s our wedding photograph”.’
Mr and Mrs Turnbull married in Mastrick Church in Aberdeen in August 1967.
Unusually for the time, their first moments as man and wife were filmed on a cine camera loaned from a colleague of Mr Turnbull’s.
They then borrowed a projector to watch the three-minute clip of themselves leaving the church.
But the footage went missing and unbeknown to the couple they had inadvertently returned it along with the projector.
They moved to Brisbane where they raised their family and are now grandparents.
The couple had never expected to see their wedding film again but it was found by Terry Cheyne in April when he was sorting through his collection of old cine reels at his home in Aberdeen to transfer them onto DVD.
His reels – many from his time in the Royal Navy – had been stored by his uncle, who unbeknown to him had also loaned the projector to the Turnbulls.
Mr Cheyne said: ‘One day he decided he was moving house so I recovered my films. I kept them in my loft for a long time.
‘And then I decided I would transfer them onto DVD, because I didn’t have a projector.
Footage of the wedding was discovered in an attic in Aberdeen
‘The first film that was on the DVD was a mysterious unknown film to me. It was clearly a wedding, in Mastrick Church. I watched it many times, I didn’t know anybody.’
Keen to trace the couple in the footage, Mr Cheyne put out an appeal on social media but it was six months before his post was spotted by Mrs Turnbull.
The Turnbulls were thrilled when Mr Cheyne sent them the clip as it showed members of their family who have since passed away.
Mrs Turnbull told BBC Scotland News: ‘I messaged Terry and it just grew from there. His uncle was the guy we’d borrowed the projector from to see the film after the wedding, he worked with my husband.
‘We gave back the projector, and unbeknown to us that film was still in the projector. We’ve only found that out now.
‘We looked at it once, after that we couldn’t find it and didn’t know what happened to it. It must have got mixed up with something and it’s only surfaced now.
‘It just seems strange for me to see my mother and my father, not just in a photograph but there actually moving and walking.
‘And my husband, he saw his grandmother and his grandfather, who was 100 when he died.
‘I watched it again today, I could still recognise everybody.
‘To look back and see these people was just absolutely amazing – I still can’t believe it really.
‘I was just saying to my neighbours, we’ve got our wedding album, and the majority of people in that have passed away. So seeing the film was just surreal. A few of them are still with us.’
Mr Cheyne added: ‘When Aileen told me she had only even seen it once in 57 years it was really a joyful moment.
‘I’ve just been glad to help Aileen and Bill. They are delighted 57 years later. A very happy ending.’
