HUNTINGTON BEACH – A pair of newlyweds are pleading for the return of their wedding pictures stored on two memory cards inside a photographer’s cameras that were stolen last week in Huntington Beach.

“Every night we are praying for someone to have a change of heart and give us the memory cards back,” Laura Underwood, 34, of Yuba City, said Wednesday.

Laura and Michael Underwood, who is 40 and is also from Yuba City, were married Oct. 15 at the Anaheim Majestic Garden Hotel. The wedding was small but beautiful with about 40 guests attending, including friends and family members, Laura Underwood said.

She hired Valeria Haro, a family friend and professional photographer from Visalia, to document the nuptials.

Underwood said Haro took “hundreds of photos,” including shots of her walking down the aisle, candid poses of her and her husband amid the hotel’s lush gardens, and pictures of the wedding party.

After the wedding reception, Haro stopped to eat at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse in the 1600 block of Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach.

The following day, Underwood and her husband were wearing Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse T-shirts and waiting to enter the Mad Tea Party attraction at Disneyland when she received a text message from Haro.

“I have the worst news ever,” the message said, Underwood recalled.

The text said that all of Haro’s camera gear, including two memory cards containing the wedding photos, had been stolen from her rented Chevrolet Cruze parked in the lot at BJ’s.

“My heart just sank and I started crying immediately,” Underwood said. “It made it hard to enjoy the rest of our time there at Disneyland.”

Haro was equally distraught.

“It’s like every bride and photographers’ nightmare,” said Haro, who kept two cameras and lenses in a bag on the floorboard in the back seat of the car.

The items valued at about $3,000 were not insured, she said, though a laptop that Haro kept in the trunk of the car wasn’t stolen.

Haro said she has offered to reimburse the Underwoods for the photo session.

The burglary happened between 10 and 11:30 p.m. Oct. 15, said Huntington Beach police Lt. John Domingo. Thieves smashed opened a window to Haro’s car.

Two other vehicles in the same area were also burglarized around the same time as the camera equipment theft, Domingo said. Police have no suspects in the burglaries.

The theft of the cameras and equipment have been devastating for the Underwoods and Haro.

“That’s her livelihood and our pictures,” Underwood said, adding the only other photos of the wedding she has are a few shots taken by her brother and sister.

Several photographers have offered to help recreate the wedding and shoot a new set of pictures. However, Underwood hasn’t decided to take them up on the offer.

“It’s too soon and too raw,” she said. “It would be hard to recreate the emotions you are having on that special day.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline