Love defies the floods as Filipino couple marries in an inundated church

Floodwaters reached the waists of attendees, but they did not stop Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Gibo Chico from getting married in the Philippines. The couple held their ceremony Tuesday at Ang Tinig of San Juan Bautista Catholic Parish in Hagonoy, Bulacán, north of Manila.

Images showed Galang walking carefully down the church aisle in a white dress soaked and later stained by brown floodwater. She carried a bouquet of white flowers and smiled despite the conditions.

Parish leaders advised the couple, who are around 30, to postpone the ceremony. They chose to continue because Chico, who works as a technician in the Middle East, had returned earlier than expected after injuring his ankle. “We were dressed alike. We didn’t care that the gown and coat would get wet,” he told AFP.

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We were dressed alike. We didn’t care that the gown and coat would get wet.

The congregation helped keep the event together. “Because they wanted it to happen, we parishioners did everything we could to make it a special day for them. They love each other. Nothing could stop their union,” wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso told AFP.

The church said on Facebook that the bride had her dress adjusted and shortened so it would not hinder her in the “water aisle.” Portable speakers replaced the church sound system after the electricity failed. The couple and their 15 guests reportedly arrived by pedicab with a raised chassis.

Seasonal monsoon rains in August struck the northern third of the archipelago, causing landslides and flash floods that killed 34 people, according to the latest official tally.

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Because they wanted it to happen, we parishioners did everything we could to make it a special day for them. They love each other. Nothing could stop their union.