A wedding dress is one of those rare pieces of clothing that people go to extraordinary lengths to keep pristine. It is carried, steamed, and protected from sticky fingers, while glasses of red wine are kept at a very safe distance. And justifiably so, when you consider the role it plays on the Big Day -- not to mention the hefty price tag some of them come with.
However, for Bride-to-be Leian Lieza Galang, her carefully chosen dress didn't stand a chance. And that was before she even said "I do"!
When she arrived to marry Gilbert Chico at St. John the Baptist Parish in Hagonoy, Bulacan, in the Philippines on September 1, the church was flooded. Not a few inconvenient puddles to navigate, but brown water that would eventually reach almost up to the bride's waist.
The parish had advised the couple to postpone as floodwaters continued to rise, but Leian and Gilbert decided to go ahead. She shortened the train of her white gown, gathered up her skirt and made her way through the water toward the altar.
The photographs that have been shared on social media are extraordinary. There is Leian, bouquet in hand and white fabric floating around her, while the couple's guests and photographers stand submerged nearby. Even the little ring bearer had water almost to his waist as he carried out his rather important duty.
Fewer than 15 people managed to attend, knowing that their clothes had no chance against the flood water. And actually, what a testimony of love this was to the couple.
Yet, as the video of the ceremony showed, the clothes meant nothing. And as the groom shared after the wedding:
“We did not mind that our gown and coat got soaked."
And really, why would they?
Seeing each other through stormy waters
For all the planning that goes into a wedding, it's incredible how few things are actually required to make one happen. The guest list had dwindled to fewer than 15, the beautiful dress was submerged and the aisle had effectively ceased to exist, yet none of that prevented the couple from doing exactly what they'd come to church to do.
And maybe that's what is at the heart of these joyful -- and extraordinary -- images. There's no pretending the day is going according to plan, because the plan is quite visibly floating away around everyone's knees. Instead, there are guests cheerfully accepting that dry clothes are no longer an option, photographers somehow still doing their job and a tiny ring bearer wading through the water with the solemn responsibility of a man who knows the entire operation depends upon him.
And at the center of it all is a bride in a beautiful white dress, bouquet held safely above the water, making her way towards the man she so obviously loves. As their photographer, Mikko Rey Alfonso, later summed up nicely: “They love each other. Nothing could stop their union.”
For a Catholic wedding, the symbolism almost writes itself. The flowers, clothes and carefully chosen details make a celebration beautiful, but none of them makes the marriage. Strip them away -- or, in this case, submerge them -- and what remains is the extraordinary promise two people make before God to share whatever life brings next. Admittedly, most couples probably expect the “whatever life brings” part to begin at least a few days after the reception.
Yet perhaps we've been using the expression “perfect wedding” all wrong. Perfection doesn't have to mean every detail unfolding exactly as imagined. Sometimes the things that go spectacularly awry reveal what mattered all along, and this particular wedding left very little doubt about that.
They came to church to get married, surrounded by people who loved them enough to wade through floodwater to watch them do it. They left as husband and wife, with a wedding album nobody else is likely to possess and a story they'll probably still be telling when they're 80.
And as for that carefully chosen white dress? After surviving waist-deep floodwater, at least nobody needed to panic about spilling red wine on it at the reception.
