A Tauranga couple decided to forgo wedding gifts, instead asking their guests for a donation for the Tauranga Moana Night Shelter.
The couple were gifted just over $2000 for the shelter and said they already had plenty of household appliances and cutlery sets.
"We want to go forward in life as a couple who help others and what better way than to start our marriage like that," the man, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
"There's heaps of people doing it pretty hard in Tauranga. They've gone through a hard time and there's a lot of reasons why they live on the streets . . . we need to help the most downtrodden in our society, right in front of us," he said.
The couple gave their guests notice, asking them to bring cash donations to the wedding instead of the usual wedding gifts. At the wedding there was a cash box and a blackboard with the shelter's bank account number for online transactions.