Couple gets married while Taal volcano erupts in background, pics go viral

The Taal volcano that lies south of the Philippines capital draws tourists for its picturesque settings, but when it erupted on Sunday it ended up giving a couple some pretty unique wedding photos. The volcano suddenly erupted earlier this week but it didn’t stop the couple of going ahead with the planned event. As a result the couple now have photos that are going viral on social media.

Chino Vaflor and Kat Bautista Palomar were at a resort just 10km away from the volcano, that is located about 60 km south of Manila on the island of Luzon. Gearing up for the ceremony, they noticed the colour of the sky change and the volcano spewing smoke. Though they figured there was some volcanic activity, they hadn’t received any warning to evacuate.

So the couple and guests calmly went ahead with the ceremony, tying the knot with the backdrop of ash plumes from the volcano.

Wedding photographer Randolf Evan told the BBC they had “no prior notice at all” that something was about to happen, but maintained that they were definitely “safe as the venue was on higher ground and not directly around the volcano’s vicinity”.

“We could feel the ash raining on our clothes,” Evan said. “But it didn’t feel alarming until night time came when it became a bit heavier and mud-like.” After the party and ceremony, everyone left unharmed.

Photos of the wedding went viral and a social media handle of the resort posted a picture of the couple getting married with ash clouds in the background and wrote, “The wedding continues!”

The couple weren’t even the only ones to get such remarkable wedding pictures. Another couple, Jezreel and Riza, who exchanged vows on the same day also shared similar pictures.

The volcanology institute raised the danger level around Taal three notches on Sunday to level 4, indicating “a hazardous eruption may happen within hours or days,” said Renato Solidum, who heads the volcanology institute. Level 5, the highest, means a hazardous eruption is underway and could affect a larger area. Large evacuation was ordered in the small island where the volcano lies and nearby in Tagaytay city, road along a ridge overlooking the lake and the volcano, a key tourism area.

One of the world’s smallest volcanoes, Taal, is among two dozen active volcanoes in the Philippines, which lies along the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a seismically active region that is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.