Bride rides styrofoam raft to reach groom's home amid floods in Vietnam's Dak Lak

The unusual wedding procession, featuring the bride sitting on a raft while the groom waited with an umbrella on higher ground, took place in Phu Xuan A Hamlet of Xuan Phuoc Commune.

After images of the wedding were shared online, many people were deeply moved and offered their best wishes to the newlyweds.

Floodwaters disrupt wedding celebrations

Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper's reporters visited the bride's home later that day, after the floodwaters had receded.

The wedding gate remained in place in front of the house, while the groom's family's wedding gifts and offerings were still inside.

Nguyen Thi Kim Hoang, 56, the bride's mother, said her daughter, Ho Thi Tuyet Linh, 24, was the family's second child and only daughter.

Linh and her groom, Nguyen Khac Manh, are both from Hung Yen Province. They fell in love and decided to marry after working in Phu Tho Province for a period of time.

Thursday was the day the family had arranged for Linh to leave for her husband's home, with a wedding reception prepared in advance to welcome relatives and friends.

However, heavy rain caused floodwaters to rise rapidly, throwing the family's plans into disarray.

Hoang said the water began rising to the doorstep at around 5:00 am, forcing family members to rush to move their belongings to higher ground and arrange chairs to create an elevated area for the wedding ceremony.

The groom's family had to wade through the floodwaters to reach the bride's house.

"The water rushed in so quickly that the groom's family had to wade through it to attend the ceremony, while my daughter had to stand on chairs placed on higher ground," Hoang recalled.

"I was deeply moved and felt sorry for my daughter because the flooding prevented her wedding day from being as complete and joyful as we had hoped."

The wedding reception had been set up at the nearby Phu Xuan A Hamlet Cultural House, but the venue was left covered in mud, with tables, chairs and fabric curtains still in place.

The severe flooding also prevented friends and guests from attending the celebration, leaving only a few aunts, uncles and other relatives present.

After the ceremony, which lasted less than 10 minutes, the family had to find a way to get the bride through the flooded area.

At nearly 7:00 am, Hoang's husband and several relatives placed a Styrofoam box on a wooden plank to make a makeshift raft, which they used to ferry Linh through the floodwaters toward the groom's home, Hoang said.

Memory that lasts a lifetime

Hoang said she felt both happy and heartbroken as she watched her daughter, dressed in her wedding gown, leave for her husband's home.

Having suffered an accident that left her unable to walk, she could not accompany her daughter to see her off.

"I just hope my daughter will have a happy life with her husband. That is all a mother like me could wish for," she said emotionally.

Linh said she was surprised that a video showing her wedding procession through the floodwaters had gone viral on social media.

"Although the natural disaster brought some challenges to our wedding day, I believe this will be a memory that stays with me for the rest of my life," she said.

The video prompted many people to express sympathy for the hardships endured by both families.

Others recalled a popular belief that rain or water on a wedding day brings good luck, expressing hope that the newlyweds would enjoy a happy and fulfilling marriage.