A Filipino couple decided to hold their wedding amid flooding, wading through waist-high water to get married inside a Catholic church submerged in floodwaters, accompanied by close family who also braved the water to serve as witnesses.
The Filipino bride and groom proved true love amid natural disaster by wading through waist-high floodwaters to wed at St. John the Baptist Church in Hagonoy, north of Manila, on 1 September, with 15 close relatives attending as witnesses.
The Facebook page of St. John the Baptist Church posted photos of bride Lian Lisa Galang in a white off-shoulder wedding dress holding a white bouquet, carefully wading through murky brown water into the church to marry groom Gilbert Chigo.
The wedding took place in the late morning with a priest conducting a shortened ceremony due to the flooding. Wedding photographer Mikko Ray Alfonso, who was present, said this was the first time he had witnessed a wedding inside a flooded church.
Alfonso said the church advised the couple to postpone the ceremony because of rising water flowing from upstream, but they chose to proceed. Since they wanted the ceremony to happen, church helpers did everything possible to make the day special for them.
Photos from the ceremony showed the bride wading through floodwaters inside the church among a small number of guests, with her parents embracing her at the front of the pews, which were decorated with plastic flower arrangements.
Another striking photo showed a young boy carrying the wedding rings walking down the church aisle, with floodwaters reaching up to his waist.
Before the ceremony, the bride arrived at the church by a motorized tricycle that had been elevated to keep her wedding dress clean and dry. It was revealed that her dress had to be altered by shortening the hem to allow her to walk safely through the water.
Regarding the heavy rains in the Philippines during August, about one-third of the northern region experienced heavier-than-usual monsoon rains, causing flash floods and landslides. Official data reports 34 deaths so far.
:Sourcechannelnewsasia
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