It started with an old roll of film discovered in an antique shop.
Once developed, it turned out to be long-lost wedding photos, posted on TikTok by a creator in Mexico City. His excited narration — in Spanish — drew hundreds of thousands of views.
The images showed a mysterious couple on their wedding day. The timing was uncanny: the photos resurfaced during the very week of the couple’s diamond anniversary, 60 years after their ceremony.
That couple turned out to be Evangelina Farías de Cruz and her late husband, Miguel Angel Cruz Aguilar. And thanks to the viral video, their family in Colorado got to see the photos for the first time.
“Oh my gosh, it’s my grandparents,” said Scarleth Gottke, Evangelina’s granddaughter in Colorado Springs, remembering the night she learned about the video.
“I was getting ready for bed and I was just tossing and turning and I checked my phone and I had messages from my brother saying, ‘Sissy, you have to come over here. You have to come out and see this,’” she said.
@edavidm Hace 3 años empecé un proyecto donde descubríamos las fotos escondidas dentro de unos rollos antiguos que encontré en el mercado de antigüedades la Lagunilla, hoy le doy vida a esta tercera temporada 🎞️♥️ nos vemos cada domingo y miércoles para descubrir lo que ocultan estos rollos. #filmphotography #negativos #rollosantiguos #fotografia #analogue #lalagunilla ♬ sonido original - David Muñiz
Her mother, Evangelina Belén Castañeda, was already playing the video. At first, Scarleth thought it was just old film reels. Then the first wedding photo appeared.
“I was just like, ‘Wait a second. I recognized that picture or that moment… oh my gosh, it’s my grandparents. It’s their wedding,’” she said. “It was just really magical, is the best way I could explain it. It was like finding a needle in the haystack.”
A shock 60 years in the making
From her home in Mexico City, the bride herself, Evangelina Farías de Cruz, was stunned.
Her daughter translated: “This took place on May 15, 1965, 60 years ago. So I mean, these things don’t happen for real. Not even once. Zero. This is incredible.”
For the family, the rediscovered images were more than nostalgia. Evangelina’s husband — Scarleth’s grandfather — died in 2008. Seeing him young and in love again was an emotional moment for the whole family.
“It made me feel like I was seeing a whole other side of my grandpa,” Scarleth said. “Getting to experience probably one of the most special days of their lives.”
She also recalled her last conversation with him. At eight years old, she told him she dreamed of being on TV one day. “And he said, ‘I will be your number one fan,’” she remembered. He died the very next day. “Getting to tell his story is just a beautiful way of commemorating him.”
A mystery still unsolved
The family says they don’t know how the negatives ended up in that antique shop or how the TikTok creator got them. Some of the photos the creator shared were ones they’d never seen, even with their own albums.
The family has tried contacting him without luck. But rather than feeling anger, Scarleth says they’re grateful.
“It kind of gave more emotion of like, ‘Wow, this is amazing. This is wonderful. This is beautiful, that somebody out there in the world could do this and kind of connect them all these years later,’” she said. “And he chose exactly our family twice, so exactly 60 years after. And that coincidence in itself made it even more impactful.”
Lessons in love
Six decades after her wedding day, Evangelina Farías de Cruz offered a piece of advice for her granddaughter and future generations when it comes to building a life together:
“To fulfill their dreams, to be respectful, basically above everything else. Respect… and to remember to go out on adventures together… be friends, the best friends.”
