Determined Bride Wades Through Floodwater to Get Married, Despite Warnings to Postpone
A flooded church usually settles the question of whether a wedding is happening there that day.
Not for Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Chico. The couple went ahead with their Sept. 1 wedding at St. John the Baptist Parish in Hagonoy, Bulacan, Philippines, with murky floodwater reaching roughly to guests’ waists inside the church.
The parish had advised them to postpone because water flowing from upstream was still rising. Wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso told AFP the church had already been partly underwater for nearly a month.
Galang still made her way down the aisle in her white gown, Chico waited at the altar, and fewer than 15 people gathered for the abbreviated ceremony.
Down The Aisle
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The couple did make a few concessions to the water. Galang had the train of her gown shortened so it would be easier to move through the flooded church, according to AFP reporting carried by CNA.
She and Chico arrived at the church courtyard aboard a motorized rickshaw with an elevated chassis, which kept their wedding clothes dry until it was time to step into the water.
The flooding also knocked out the church sound system. St. John the Baptist Parish said it used a portable speaker instead.
Photographs from the ceremony showed just how little the flood spared. One of the ring bearers made his way through water that reached his waist.
Not Just Water
Some of the reaction to the wedding focused less on romance and more on what everyone was standing in.
That concern was not imaginary. Days before the ceremony, the Philippine Department of Health warned people to avoid wading, swimming or playing in floodwaters because they may be contaminated with urine from infected animals and can expose people to leptospirosis.
The health department was already responding to a rise in cases following widespread flooding. As of Aug. 22, it had recorded 4,285 leptospirosis cases nationwide and opened dedicated treatment lanes at 33 government hospitals.
Still Married
None of that changed the couple’s decision that morning.
Alfonso said parish workers did what they could once Galang and Chico chose to proceed.
“They love each other,” he told AFP. “Nothing could stop their union.”
The groom had an even simpler explanation for entering the church in full wedding clothes: “We did not mind that our gown and coat got soaked.”
