What happens to the video after the service

Short answer: the video does not end with the service. Your family keeps the finished file, and it becomes part of how you remember. Many families play their memorial video after the funeral, on anniversaries, birthdays and holidays. Some later use the same photographs for a book or a longer family story.

Here is what usually happens next, and a few simple ways to look after the video for the years ahead.

The finished file belongs to your family

When our editors make your tribute, the finished video is yours to keep. It is a standard video file. It plays on a phone, a computer or a TV, with nothing special to install.

You collect it from your family portal. That is the same private link you used to send photos, choose music and watch each draft, so there is nothing new to learn.

Looking after it once the week is over

The days after a service are full. A few small steps now keep the video safe for a long time.

• Download it soon. Save it to your own computer or phone while the details are still fresh.
• Keep it in more than one place. A computer, a phone and a shared family folder. If one is lost, the others remain.
• Give each household a copy. Send it to siblings, grown children and close cousins. Then it never rests with one person alone.
• Give the file a clear name. Use their name and the year. Someone looking for it years from now will find it straight away.

Coming back to it on the days that matter

At the service, the video is watched by a full room, all at once. Afterwards, it is often watched quietly, by one or two people at a time.

Some moments when families return to it:

• The first anniversary, when the family gathers again.
• Their birthday, or a holiday they loved.
• A wedding or a new baby, when someone wishes they were there.
• A hard evening, when one person simply wants to see their face.

It can also be a gift for young grandchildren, years from now. They may barely remember the service. The video shows them who this person was.

Share it freely within the family. Please note that licensing any music you supply is your responsibility; if you choose a track from our royalty-free library add-on, the permit is included.

When new photographs turn up

This happens often. At the gathering, a cousin brings an envelope of prints nobody had seen. An old friend sends a photo from a trip forty years ago.

Do not let them disappear into a drawer. Ask each person to send them to one family member as digital files. Keep them together in one folder, with a note about who sent what.

Those photos do not have to wait for a reason. They can go into a book, or into a new edit of the video.

Video editing is something we do for families after the service too. If you want a fresh edit with photos or phone clips that surfaced later, tell us what you have in mind. Your proposal spells out everything before you book.

Turning the same photographs into a book

A video plays at the pace of the music. A book lets one person turn the pages as slowly as they need to. Many families want both.

At Tribute Montage, our hardcover photo books are an add-on to a tribute video. Our designers lay out the book from the photographs you already sent us, so the hard part is already done. If you are unsure which suits your family, our guide to choosing between a photo book and a tribute video walks through it.

Letting it grow into a longer story

Sometimes a memorial video opens a door. Relatives start sharing stories, home videos and photos from every branch of the family. A few minutes on screen no longer feels like enough.

That is where a family legacy video can help. It is longer and slower, and it is made from the photos, home video files and stories your family already has. Your memorial video can become one chapter of it.

There is no rush. Some families start in the months after a loss. Others wait a year or more, until the time feels right. You can also see how our memorial and tribute videos are made, if you are still planning the first one.

Located in Westchester, NY, we serve families nationwide through our fully remote platform.