So, what does recycling cans have to do with engagement rings and vintage jewelry? Well, for one couple in Spokane, Washington, it means everything in the world. Bride and groom to be Andrea Parish and Peter Geyser have begged people to give them aluminum cans to donate so that they can pay for their wedding. That means from the vintage jewelry they want to the engagement rings and wedding bands, they want to be able to help the environment and pay for their wedding. It’s a great and noble cause to help everyone involved, really. But, what does that mean for the vintage jewelry that they might want, or their engagement rings?

Well, talk to Alcoa Inc. Alcoa is a gigantic manufacturing company based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they specifically manufacture aluminum. The postage for shipping a lot of aluminum cans must be pretty high though, so instead Alcoa has decided to help pay for those engagement rings by making a $1,710 donation that matches up with the area’s recycling rates. Engagement rings suddenly don’t seem too pricy with a donation like that, and to think it’s all to help the environment while paying for their wedding. And it isn’t just to help them pay for their vintage jewelry. It’s because Alcoa is trying to reach their own goal, a recycling rate of 75 percent by the time they reach 2015. And how great is it to know that thanks to this large donation from Alcoa to help with all the vintage jewelry, Parish and her groom can safely say they’re now officially 65 percent to their actual goal for the wedding.

Both Geyser, who is 29, and Parish his fiancé who’s aged 25, are strongly involved with trying to take care of the environment. For their wedding, instead of spending money they didn’t have to create more waste with their wedding they wanted to have or to get vintage jewelry that, again, they had no money for, they wanted to figure out a way to finance it. For such “environ-geeks,” the idea of a recycling drive seemed like a much better way to invest their time so that they could help the environment and get their engagement rings and the vintage jewelry for the bridesmaids and the bride. After all, Geyser and Parish are a marketing consultant and digital print technician, so they knew that they could easily get the public encouragement to help recycle.

So, how did they get the word around so quickly about their quest to finance their engagement rings and the rest of their wedding? They got the word out. They started a website to help with their recycling goals and encouraged everyone they knew to spread the word, as well as publicizing the website. And, in another environmental bid, they decided to keep all their campaigning to the virtual world, it seems. On top of their website, they used Twitter accounts to keep people in the loop. Anyone who wanted to help donate towards their wedding was more than welcome to, and it’s worked out incredibly well so far. This campaign has been a stunning success so far, and even Geyser and Parish didn’t think it would work out so well.

Of course, Alcoa’s donation helped quite a lot. So, what can you do if you’d like to help the bride and groom afford their dream wedding with engagement rings and vintage jewelry? Easy. Save cans, recycle, and if you want, donate. If you don’t live in the Spokane area, simply save and recycle aluminum cans on your own. And Geyser and Parish stated that you don’t even have to donate if you don’t want to. If nothing else, they’ll feel encouraged knowing that others are recycling and using the money as a treat towards something they want. If you do really want to help, then you can donate the money you get from recycling those aluminum cans and help out Geyser and Parish.

Want to know the best part about this? In return for everyone helping with their engagement rings and the wedding, wedding guests will be getting an unusual party gift: aluminum cans to recycle for themselves.