weddings

Virtually every aspect of wedding planning can easily become a huge stress when you’re subjecting yourself to arbitrary obligations. This is why we always love a love story where couples march to the beat of their own drum, and clearly have a great time doing it. This is one of those stories.

Twenty-nine year old bride Davis Bourgeois Pepke recently racked up millions of views after sharing footage from her wedding, which just so happened to be filmed entirely on a home video camera from 2002 offered to them by a friend, rather than shot by a fancy videographer. Pepke tells Upworthy that she and her fiancé that they didn't budget for a videographer, and found the camcorder to be a "great alternative." Plus, they loved the idea of being able to edit it ourselves and have hours of footage to cherish forever."

On the day, they chose a designated person to capture the "big moments," and the rest would be "up for grabs for whoever." They also put disposables on each table with tape that said "USE FLASH" and got an additional 300 photos from their guests POV in addition to professional photos. Pretty genius.

In the video, which Pepke captioned "POV, you don't hire a videographer and instead pass around your home video camera," the video. Best decision,” we see what looks like a rip-roaring good time between her family and friends on the big day, not at all filmed in the very aesthetic, Instagram-worthy way that you’d normally expect from a professional.

Watch:

Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with opting for dreamy, aspirational vibes, if that’s what you truly want, but clearly there’s a wonderful charm to be had in the DIY approach. Not to mention it’s a fraction of the price…no wonder other birds were fully on board with this idea.

“This is such a creative wedding idea. I’m not hiring a videographer so I want to do this now as a 2025 bride!” one viewer wrote.

“Girl when I found out how much they were charging for an over-edited 10 minute vid I RAN to Amazon for a camcorder and a tripod,” added another.

Pepke shared that she and her partner "laughed and cried all over," looking back at the footage, especially all the hilarious moments on the dance floor.

“The way it was captured feels like an episode of The Office...zooming in on different people's expressions. Having it filmed this way was my favorite decision from our wedding,” she said. She’s not wrong, I was lowkey waiting for Michael Scott to crash the party at any moment.

"It felt like we got to see the behind-the-scenes at the wedding and it equally focused on our guests as much as us...I also noticed it made people feel more comfortable, not having a professional videographer, and they were 'themselves' and felt more willing to talk to the camera,” she added, saying that she hoped other couples would give it a try.

Still, a few others who had attempted this approach shared their own not-so-great experience. As one person shared, “I did this at my wedding and ended up having an hour of drunk conversation from the view of a cocktail table and no major moments captured. 😂 thankfully we had both professional and home video.”

To this point, an actual photographer and videographer chimed in, advising anyone who’d like to follow in Pepke’s footsteps to “make sure your friend group will match the energy of [your] video and that they’re going to be attentive to those moments.” Sage wisdom, indeed.

While having the fairytale, picture-perfect wedding is some people’s dream, there’s something to be said in also capturing what’s authentically and real on the big day as well. These silly, awkward, imperfect moments will take up so much of your life, universe willing, and deserve to be celebrated too.

Oh, and if you plan to go this route, Pepke advises to get a mic to capture audio, as well as a designated person to oversee the process and help guests and whatnot. She was even kind enough to share a link to the actual camera she used, which can be found here.