FOR any new bride selecting just the right photographs to immortalise the biggest day of your life is almost as important as choosing the right dress or flowers.

But Jill Bali will have to rely on only her memories, because every single image of her wedding to husband Surinder has been lost – along with the digital camera used to take them.

The couple, who tied the knot on July 2, have been together for 10 years, but decided to officially celebrate their union in front of their parents, four children and a host of other family and friends.

Since Mr Bali proposed in March, the pair, from Kidlington, spent months picking the right venue and preparing for the wedding.

Mr Bali had booked a professional photographer to snap their precious day at Bicester Hotel and Spa, formally Chesterton Golf Club, but after a last minute change of plan amateur photographer Roger Hopkins – the bride’s cousin – stepped in.

Unfortunately, as Mr Hopkins got out of a taxi at a relative’s house after the event, he left the camera in the car.

Mrs Bali, 50, said the only record she now has of the day are a few blurry images taken by friends and none of her with her family.

She said: “I am just gutted. Somebody has clearly got the camera.

“I feel like saying to them, please just keep the camera if you want it so much. Just please let us have the pictures.

“It is the biggest day of my life and now I have got nothing to remember it by.

“I have not got any photographs of me and my family. My daughter was bridesmaid and my son gave me away. There were lots of me and my mother. All have gone.

“It meant even more to me and my mum because my father had recently passed away. She is very, very upset. We all are.”

There are about 200 wedding pictures ranging from the bride putting on her make-up, welcoming her bridesmaids right through to the happy couple.

Mr Hopkins said he used an Alpha Cars taxi and travelled to Hertford Close, Bicester, about 12.20am to 12.30am, on July 3.

The cab firm said it checked all of its cars and was doing all they could to help trace the camera.

Mr Hopkins, 55, of Burford, said the camera was a Fujifilm Finepix S1500 and was distinctive because it has been chewed by his dog.

He said: “I was carrying a lot of stuff and I just did not pick it up and because it was dark I did not see it.

“I am absolutely devastated. I am not interested in the camera, but the photographs are worth 10 times whatever the camera was worth.

“Someone would have looked at the pictures and would have been daft not to realise they were a complete set of wedding pictures.

“They can keep the camera but just give us the pictures.

“I cannot tell you how bad I feel. It’s my fault and no-one else’s.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk l Anyone who can help or has any information should call Mr Hopkins on 07878 954118.