Letters Of Love: A Film For His Late Wife

I get a lot of inquiries to film funerals. I always politely decline and pass the lead on to one of my videographer buddies who frequently films them. I completely understand why a loved one would want a funeral filmed. It’s one of the rare times in life where you get to see a large part of your family and there is such a unity about sharing that moment together.

But when a potential client (Ricky) reached out to me a few months ago about filming his wife’s accession reception. And, that it would be more of a celebration, not more of, an actual celebration I was intrigued. As Ricky told me about his story and how he recently lost his wife and one of her last wishes was for their family to get together and not mourn but celebrate life I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.

Initially, Ricky just wanted me to film a recap of the reception. But after hearing about the wonderful life he and his wife had together, and his plan for the accession reception/celebration, I wanted to be a bigger part of this and give him much more. So I suggested a mini-documentary, and now he was intrigued… There was only one problem, I was booked on the day of his wife’s accession celebration. So, one my lead shooter’s (Eric) would capture the reception and I would film the documentary portions of the film and eventually edit the project.

Below is the completely film. Ricky, Eric, and I put our heart into this. After Ricky watched the film he said “Thomas, I just finished watching. So many emotions right now. Joy. Happiness. Awe. Surprise. Tears. Laughter. Gratitude. Satisfaction. Relief. And Peace. It’s wondeful! Thank you. It’s a piece of art. It’s priceless for me”

I am beyond thrilled that I could not only help him tell his wife’s story, but, create another lasting memory he can have creating something special for her and in her memory. I shed tears while filming the interviews and while editing. While there is no way this project could mean as much to me as it did for Ricky, I put everything I had into it and I am so happy that Ricky allowed me to share this with you.