They Were Told to Postpone the Wedding—Then the Bride Walked Into a Flooded Church

HAGONOY, BULACAN, Philippines — Floodwaters may have swallowed the streets of Hagonoy, Bulacan, but they did not stop one couple from saying “I do.”

Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Chico went ahead with their wedding on Tuesday, September 1, at St. John the Baptist Parish in Hagonoy despite floodwater reaching roughly hip level inside the church.

Images and videos of the unusual ceremony quickly spread online, showing the bride, groom and a small group of guests navigating murky floodwater on their way to the altar. The scene has since captured widespread attention in the Philippines and abroad.

The church had already been underwater for weeks

According to wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso, church officials had advised the couple to postpone the ceremony because floodwaters were rising from upstream areas.

The couple, however, chose to continue with their planned wedding.

Alfonso said the church had been partially flooded for nearly a month. With the situation making a conventional ceremony impossible, parish workers did what they could to make the couple’s wedding day special.

The parish itself later shared photos and video of the ceremony on social media, describing the extraordinary scene as something that looked “like a movie.”

The bride had her wedding gown altered

The flooding forced the bride to make an unusual last-minute adjustment to her wedding dress.

According to Alfonso, Galang had the train of her gown shortened so it would not become an obstacle as she walked through the floodwater.

She reportedly arrived at the church aboard an elevated rickshaw, allowing her to keep the gown relatively protected before entering the flooded church.

Inside, a boy carrying the wedding rings was photographed walking down the aisle with the water reaching his waist.

Fewer than 15 people were reportedly present for the ceremony, making the wedding considerably smaller than the couple may originally have planned.

Even the church’s sound system was affected

The flood was not the only obstacle.

Interaksyon reported that the church had lost electricity, forcing organizers to use a portable speaker during the ceremony instead of the usual sound system.

Despite the difficult conditions, parish workers still managed to decorate the church with flowers and help create a wedding atmosphere inside the flooded building.

The parish said the couple’s decision was based on personal reasons and emphasized that the ceremony was not intended to romanticize the flooding or the dangers associated with it.

Why Hagonoy was under so much water

The extraordinary wedding unfolded as persistent monsoon rains continued to affect parts of Luzon.

Hagonoy has particular exposure to flooding because of its location near Manila Bay and its role as a receiving area for water flowing from upstream portions of Bulacan.

Richard Jerome Crisostomo of the Hagonoy Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office described the municipality as a “catch basin” for water coming from upstream areas, with backflow also contributing to rising water levels.

The flooding was part of a broader period of severe weather affecting the Philippines. AFP reported that heavier-than-usual southwest monsoon rains had battered the northern third of the country during August, with landslides and flash floods causing 34 deaths according to the latest official tally cited in the report.

The wedding also sparked concern about floodwater safety

While many online commenters celebrated the couple’s determination, others raised concerns about the health risks involved in walking through contaminated floodwater.

Interaksyon noted that leptospirosis is one of the major health concerns associated with exposure to floodwater. The publication reported that the Department of Health had recorded 5,835 leptospirosis cases nationwide from January 1 through August 28, 2026, including 23 deaths.

That concern adds an important dimension to the viral wedding photographs: the images may look romantic and cinematic, but the flood itself represented a serious disaster affecting communities across the region.

“Nothing could stop their union”

For the couple, however, the decision came down to completing a commitment they had already made.

“They love each other. Nothing could stop their union,” photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso said, according to AFP.

The story has since become one of the most striking images to emerge from the Philippines’ latest flooding — a bride in white moving through muddy water, an improvised wedding setup and a handful of people determined to reach the altar despite extraordinary circumstances.

The wedding did not happen the way the couple likely imagined.

But they got married.

And that is precisely why their flooded church ceremony has resonated so strongly online.

WWC ONE MEDIA MJE