Camille Naredo

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<p>MANILA — A Philippine couple tied the knot on Tuesday at a Catholic church swamped in hip-deep waters, as heavy rains have pummelled large parts of the country for a month.</p><p>Clutching a bouquet of white blooms and clad in an off-shoulder white gown, Leian Lieza Galang gingerly waded into the murky brown floodwaters inside the Saint John the Baptist church in Hagonoy town, north of Manila, to wed Gilbert Chico.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/regions/2026/8/31/hagonoy-town-in-bulacan-remains-flooded-1931">READ: Hagonoy town in Bulacan remains flooded</a></div><p>The parish priest declared the couple, both in their 30s, husband and wife at an abbreviated late-morning ceremony, said wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso, who witnessed his first flooded wedding experience at the parish.</p><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DcvXTWdH1vM/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A14122012.099999905%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="743" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>&quot;The parish had advised them to postpone the wedding due to the rising floodwaters from upstream. It was their decision to proceed,&quot; Alfonso told AFP, adding the church had been partially underwater for nearly a month.</p><p>&quot;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.&quot;</p><p>Heavier-than-usual seasonal monsoon rains pounded the northern third of the mainly Catholic archipelago in August, with resulting landslides and flash floods killing 34 people, according to the latest official tally.</p><p>&quot;They love each other. Nothing could stop their union,&quot; Alfonso said.</p><p>The couple did not respond to questions from AFP.</p><p>A video clip of the wedding posted on the parish&#x27;s Facebook page showed the bride being hugged by her parents in front of empty pews adorned with plastic flower bouquets.</p><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F943762998071755%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0" width="267" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>One photo showed a boy holding the wedding rings walking down the aisle -- with floodwater up to his waist.</p><p>The bride arrived in the church aboard a rickshaw with an elevated chassis, keeping her wedding gown pristine before she got off at the church courtyard, Alfonso said.</p><p>To allow her to safely navigate the floodwaters, &quot;the bride... had to have her wedding gown altered to shorten the train&quot;, he added.</p><p>He said fewer than 15 people were in attendance.</p>

<p>A Philippine couple tied the knot on Tuesday at a Catholic church swamped in hip-deep waters, as heavy rains have pummelled large parts of the country for a month.</p>

A Philippine couple tied the knot on Tuesday at a Catholic church swamped in hip-deep waters, as heavy rains have pummelled large parts of the country for a month.

Couple gets married in hip-deep floodwaters in Hagonoy church

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Couple gets married in hip-deep floodwaters in Hagonoy church

Agence France-Presse

Published September 01, 2026 07:39 PM PHT

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Updated September 01, 2026 07:46 PM PHT

Read More:

wedding

Saint John the Baptist church

Hagonoy

floods

Bulacan

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