A Philippine couple on Tuesday exchanged wedding vows at a Catholic church submerged in hip-deep floodwaters in Hagonoy town, north of Manila.
The couple, Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Chico, proceeded with the wedding despite heavy rains that had flooded the Saint John the Baptist Church for nearly a month.
Galang, dressed in a white off-shoulder gown and carrying a bouquet of white flowers, waded through the murky floodwater to join Chico for the ceremony.
“We were in complete uniform. We did not mind that our gown and coat got soaked,” Chico told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The parish priest pronounced the couple, both in their 30s, husband and wife during an abbreviated late-morning ceremony, according to wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso.
Alfonso said the parish had advised the couple to postpone the wedding because of rising floodwaters from upstream, but they decided to proceed.
“Since they wanted to see it through, we the servants of the parish did the best we could to make this a special day for them,” he said.
He said fewer than 15 people attended the ceremony.
The bride and groom arrived at the church in a rickshaw with an elevated chassis to keep their wedding clothes from getting soaked.
Alfonso said the bride had her wedding gown altered to shorten its train so she could safely move through the floodwaters.
A video posted on the parish’s Facebook page showed the bride being embraced by her parents in front of empty pews decorated with plastic flowers.
A photograph also showed a boy carrying the wedding rings down the aisle with floodwater reaching his waist.
According to the latest official tally, unusually heavy monsoon rains in the northern third of the mainly Catholic archipelago in August caused landslides and flash floods that killed 34 people.
“They love each other. Nothing could stop their union,” Alfonso said.
Chico, who works as a rigger in the Middle East, said the wedding was initially scheduled for December.
He said an ankle injury sustained while playing recreational basketball forced him to return home earlier than planned, giving him an opportunity to hold the wedding before returning to work.
