A group wedding ceremony for 11 couples is held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on May 12. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn] 

A group wedding ceremony for 11 couples was held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on May 12.

The wedding was held for couples who were unable to get married due to obligations in the fight against COVID-19 earlier this year. They are either medical workers, police officers, grass-roots officials or volunteers. 

Among them is Hou Jing, a nurse at Mingzhou Hospital of Zhejiang University. She was originally supposed to be married to fiancé Yang Bo on Jan 30. 

However, she signed up to join a medical team to support Hubei province in late January, when the epidemic was becoming increasingly serious. 

"I fully understood and supported her decision, so we decided to postpone the wedding," Yang said. 

He promised his fiancée that he would cook her favorite dish - braised pork in soy sauce - for her the moment she embarked on her journey to Hubei. 

Yang practiced making the dish for two months straight as Hou was offering medical support in Hubei. The wedding ceremony saw Yang fulfill his promise. 

Zhou Hong, a nurse from Ninghai Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, presented a strand of her hair to her groom, Yang Yandong, at the wedding.

The day before Zhou left for Hubei, in a bid to reduce risk of infection, she reluctantly cut off her. 

"I knew he liked my long hair, so I left him a strand of hair in memory of the fight against the epidemic and gave it to him today."

"When I was in Hubei, he constantly encouraged me. Now I’ve come back safe and sound to be his beautiful bride, " she said. 

Several newlyweds pose for a photo during a group wedding ceremony held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province on May 12. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]