Zhao Cong, manager of the wedding-planning company that arranged the wedding, said the company sponsored the wedding to promote animal protection. He said the wedding cost his company more than 20,000 yuan ($3,200).

"Changmao and Chunzi are stars of the park, and I like them. Today is Valentine's Day, and nowadays many young people do not have confidence in love and marriage, but love can happen between two animals of different species, so what is impossible?" Zhao said.

More than 200 tourists visited the zoo for Changmao and Chunzi's wedding.

Ning Ji, a postgraduate student, attended the wedding with his girlfriend. He said they arrived at the original wedding site at 9 am, and waited until 2 pm.

"Maybe too many people showed up, and the crowd scared Chunzi," Ning said.

After the wedding, Changmao and Chunzi will still live in the Deer's Garden.

Changmao and Chunzi have lived together since December 2009, and in December 2010 they were first caught having sex.

After staff learned of this, they tried to separate them in December 2011. Staff tried to mate Changmao with another from his own species, but the plan backfired and Changmao injured the other sheep as well as his offspring in an angry outburst.

When they saw how Chunzi gently licked Changmao to calm him, the zoo staff decided not to separate them anymore and began to plan a wedding for them.