It happens almost every time.
Even with clear invites, kind reminders, and a reasonable deadline, someone will reach out late. Sometimes it’s a day late. Sometimes it’s right after delivery. Sometimes it’s weeks later with an apology attached.
Collect video messages from friends and family into one beautiful wall. Start free — pay only when you deliver.
If you’re unsure how to handle this, you’re not alone—and you haven’t done anything wrong.
Late submissions are a normal part of working with real people.
A quick reassurance
Late messages don’t mean:
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You rushed things
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You set the wrong deadline
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You handled it poorly
They usually mean someone cared, but life got in the way.
The first decision to make
When a late submission arrives, there’s only one real question:
Does including this improve the recipient’s experience—or disrupt it?
That’s it. Everything else is secondary.
If the wall hasn’t been delivered yet
If you’re still before delivery and the video arrives slightly late, including it is often easy and worthwhile.
You don’t need to explain or apologize to anyone else. Just add it and move forward.
A simple reply works best:
Thanks so much—I’ll add this in.
No extra context needed.
If the wall has already been delivered
This is where people tend to feel stuck.
Once a wall is delivered, changing it can:
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Confuse the recipient
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Dilute the moment
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Turn a meaningful experience into something ongoing and unfinished
In many cases, it’s okay to let the wall stand as it is.
That doesn’t mean the late message doesn’t matter. It just means the delivery moment matters more.
How to respond kindly to a late contributor
When someone apologizes for being late, they’re often feeling embarrassed. You can ease that immediately.
You can say:
No worries at all—thank you so much for thinking of them.
If the message can’t be added, you don’t need to justify the decision. A calm acknowledgment is enough.
Collect video messages from friends and family into one beautiful wall. Start free — pay only when you deliver.
What not to do
Avoid:
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Over-explaining
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Apologizing excessively
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Blaming the deadline
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Promising changes you’re unsure about
Clear, gentle boundaries are kinder than vague reassurance.
If you want to honor the message anyway
Sometimes you might choose to:
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Share the message privately with the recipient later
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Let the contributor send it directly
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Simply acknowledge the thought behind it
Not every meaningful message has to be part of the original delivery to still matter.
Letting go of “perfect”
It’s easy to imagine an ideal version of the wall where everyone participated. But that version rarely exists.
What does exist is:
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A real moment
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Real people
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Real messages that came together in time
That’s enough.
A mindset that helps
Try thinking of the wall as a snapshot, not a complete archive.
It captures who showed up in that moment—not everyone who ever cared.
That doesn’t diminish it. It defines it.
Final thought
Your responsibility is not to include every possible message.
Your responsibility is to protect the meaning of the moment.
If the wall was delivered with care and intention, you’ve succeeded.
Collect video messages from friends and family into one beautiful wall. Start free — pay only when you deliver.
