VIDEO: Philippine couple holds wedding in flooded church

A Philippine couple got married at a Catholic church in Hagonoy town, north of Manila, on Tuesday. The church was flooded with hip-deep waters due to heavy rains that have been pounding large parts of the country for a month. Leian Lieza Galang, clad in an off-shoulder white gown, waded into the murky brown floodwaters to wed Gilbert Chico.

The parish priest declared the couple, both in their 30s, husband and wife at an abbreviated late-morning ceremony, according to wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso. The parish had advised them to postpone the wedding due to the rising floodwaters, but it was their decision to proceed. The church had been partially underwater for nearly a month.

The groom told AFP that he and the bride were in complete uniform and did not mind that their attire got soaked. Alfonso said that despite the challenging circumstances, the parish did its best to make the day special for the couple. Heavier-than-usual seasonal monsoon rains in August resulted in landslides and flash floods that killed 34 people, according to the latest official tally.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Punch Nigeria, Gulf News, The Citizen — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.