Many people, including a groom got trapped in an elevator of the Lavande Hotel in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province for almost an hour on September 14, 2019. Photo: Screenshot from video by Kankan News

He didn't leave her standing at the altar, but he was late. A groom from Northeast China was trapped in a hotel elevator for almost an hour on his wedding day, worrying his bride and messing up the agenda of his wedding ceremony.

The groom surnamed Zhang on Saturday was on his way to pick up his bride at the 11th floor of the Lavande Hotel in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province and bring her to the wedding ceremony as is Chinese matrimonial custom, according to Kankan News on Sina Weibo on Wednesday.

A surveillance camera video shows the hotel elevator packed with 11 people which was stuck between the first and second floors.

"There was no warning of overloading after I got on the lift," said Zhang.

Zhang said he pressed the emergency call and bell buttons in the elevator but no one immediately replied. The group spent 50 minutes in close quarters before finally being rescued by firefighters. 

Zhang was offered 2,000 yuan ($282) in compensation by the hotel but says it's not enough considering the delay and concern the elevator failure caused his family and wedding guests. 

"I can't image how worried the bride was during those 50 minutes," one netizen commented. "She must have thought that her husband-to-be left her on her big day just like in the movies."

Kankan News