At almost every wedding, the bride and groom receive gifts from attendees of their wedding and most are from their registry.

It would be no different at NFL player Logan Ryan’s wedding, except there was a small twist. The Tennessee Titan cornerback recently tied the knot with his new wife Ashley and instead of asking for material goods, the couple requested wedding-goers donate to a St Lucian animal rescue center.

Their generosity stems from meeting a stray dog while getting married on the island. The pair were walking through the town of Soufriere to have wedding photos taken when they came across the pup. Ryan posted about the encounter on his Instagram account.

“While taking some wedding photos in the St. Lucian town of Soufriere we ran into this stray dog and many others like her,” he captioned under a pic of the couple with the dog. “This one in particular followed us through the streets for 20 plus minutes. When we flew back to the states we were determined to help any way possible. We donated and we encouraged all friends and family that instead giving us wedding gifts to make donations to @helpaws, a St.Lucian based dog rescue.”

How sweet! Ironically, the couple was unable to bring their own dogs to their foreign ceremony but ended up having their big day have a lot to do with one of their life missions.

“We knew a destination wedding was best for us, but I did struggle with the fact that our dogs couldn't be involved,” Ashley told The Dodo. Logan then added, “Dog rescue is with us wherever we go. It's just something we're passionate about and want to make a difference in any way we can.”

See pictures of the Ryans wedding below.