A couple in the Philippines went ahead with their wedding inside a Catholic church despite it being submerged in waist-deep floodwater, after refusing advice from parish officials to postpone. Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Chico were married by a priest at Saint John the Baptist Church in Hagonoy on Tuesday, with the bride wading down the aisle in her gown as parishioners did their best to make the ceremony feel normal despite the extraordinary circumstances.

The church had been partially flooded for almost a month following weeks of heavy monsoon rain, which killed 34 people across the northern Philippines in August through landslides and flash floods. The bride arrived by an elevated rickshaw to keep her dress dry and had its train shortened for the occasion, while a young boy waded through the water carrying the couple's rings. Fewer than 15 guests attended the stripped-back, late-morning ceremony.