Fiance Shot to Death, but Filipino Bride Goes Ahead With Her Wedding Ceremony

Evangeline Guico said her marriage vows Sunday, then sprinkled holy water over her fiance as he lay in a casket.

Guico, 21, who is two months pregnant, was to have wed 21-year-old Marlon Manalac on Sept. 26 after a three-year courtship. But on Tuesday, Manalac was found shot to death by an unknown assailant in a Manila suburb.

Manalac’s father, police Maj. Alfonso Manalac, decided to go ahead with the unusual ceremony, which took place at the family residence. A minister of the Aglipayan Church, a Philippine denomination that broke with Roman Catholicism, agreed to officiate. Manalac’s brother stood in for him at the ceremony.