This married couple was recently stunned to be reunited with photographs that had been stolen from their wedding reception 35 years ago.

Back in 1985, Mick and Tracey Hepworth had been celebrating their recently-officiated wedding with family members during a party when a pair of thieves swiped a handbag that contained a roll of film from the ceremony.

The handbag, which belonged to Tracey's cousin Karen Williams, was thrown on the ground as family members chased the thieves who fled the scene.

The couple gave up all hope of ever seeing the sentimental photographs again. Unbeknownst to them, however, a woman named Angie McHale had found the empty handbag with the roll of film that very same night—and she had the snapshots developed.

Since she had no way of tracking down the people in the photographs, she stored them away.

But last month, while Angie was preparing to move again, for the fourth time since developing the film, she came across the photos once more.

She decided to post them to Facebook and ask if anybody knew who they might belong to—and within hours she was put in touch with the rightful owners.

Karen Williams, 55, said her handbag went missing while she was dancing in an English pub at her cousin's wedding reception in Leeds, on July 6, 1985.

"We saw the two men running out and my auntie ran after them shouting," said Karen. "The lads ran off and we just lost sight of them."

"The camera and film were in my handbag," she added. "As far as we were concerned, the pictures were gone, never to be seen again."

Angie picks up the story: "I was walking down the street when I spotted the hand bag. The bag was empty, but there was a roll of film. There was no internet then, so I just didn't know how I would find who was in the pictures… (but) I would have never thrown the photographs away."

After Angie posted the photos on Facebook, it seemed like everyone in Leeds had shared it—and there were 400-500 comments on the post.

Then Karen got a message from an acquaintance saying, "I think I have spotted you on some old photographs."

Karen couldn't believe it—the photographs on Facebook were indeed the missing ones from 1985.

Angie offered to deliver them to the house, and the whole family was waiting for her with flowers.

"It was a thoughtful gesture for what was a complete stranger," she said.

"It just shows Facebook can be used for good," concluded Tracey, who was also very surprised at how many commenters on the post wanted to know if she and the groom were still together.

The timing could not have been better for the photos' return, because Mick and Tracey will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary this July.

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