Couple reunites with their 1966 wedding recording after accidentally selling it

A married couple have been reunited with their 1966 wedding day recording after they accidentally sold it in an estate sale whilst moving homes.

Dr. Phil Schmidt and Donna Packer were college students when they said 'I do' in Los Altos Hills, California on August 21, 1966.

The couple had their special day recorded on vinyl, so that they could listen back to their vows, the prayers, and cheers from their loved ones.

In March 2022, the Schmidts decided to leave their home in Austin, Texas, after more than 46 years and relocated to a retirement community in Denver to be closer to their daughter and her family. 

'We had an estate sale that cleared out everything from our home that wouldn't fit in our new apartment,' Donna explained to KXAN.

'We had a large record collection and somehow our wedding vinyl made its way into a jazz cover. 

'Makes me wonder what other treasure we left behind?!' she added.

A few months ago, a woman named Katie Ornelas discovered the couple's wedding record, misplaced in the sleeve of The Modern Jazz Quartet at Music Inn, a live album recorded in 1956, during a thrift store haul. 

'We put it on, and we were just instantly, just connected with that record and wanted to make sure it found its way back to its family, because it was in a different sleeve [than the vinyl cover],' Katie told KXAN.  

'So we anticipated that it's probably missing its owners,' she said, explaining that she shared the story with the media, hoping to track down the owners.

Luckily, the story found its way to the best friend of Donna and Phil's daughter, who read the article online, and the pair confirmed that they were the mystery couple.

'We celebrated our 58th anniversary last August. What a gift for us to have this recording back in time for our 59th next year!' Donna said.

The happy reunion comes just weeks after an elderly couple were reunited with precious film footage of their wedding after almost six decades.

Aileen and Bill Turnbull got married in 1967 and were left with just their memories after the cine film of their big day in Aberdeen went missing.

However, they were reunited with the footage last month, 57 years after they wed, when 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 recognized anyone from the footage.

Aileen said it was 'surreal' to watch the film again as she and her husband had only seen it once before it was lost. 

'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',' she said.

The couple married in Mastrick Church in Aberdeen in August 1967 and unusually for the time, their first moments as man and wife were filmed on a cine camera loaned from a colleague of Bill'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 and 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.

Keen to trace the couple in the footage, Terry put out an appeal on social media but it was six months before his post was spotted by Aileen.

The Turnbulls were thrilled when Terry sent them the clip as it showed members of their family who have since passed away.