I should admit up front that I love love love jewelry, and that I’m about as sentimental as they come.  That’s why I’m so impressed by Tracey Jenkins and Green Spot Studio.

Tracey specializes in custom wedding jewelry – and one of the coolest things (in my opinion) that she does – is take old jewelry and reinvent it.

So, say you had an old broach from your grandmother, or a collection of few pieces of family jewelry, that you wanted to modernize and wear for your wedding, Tracey could redesign and recreate it for you.

For example, Tracey had a client who wanted to create her wedding bands from her mother’s (who had passed away) jewelry. So she created these wedding bands to jacket around the engagement ring. (The diamond set in the engraving came from her mothers’ favorite bracelet.) Imagine how meaningful that wedding band is to the woman who wears it.

And Tracey created wedding jewelry for another client using stones from a few different family rings. Tracey had already made the clients engagement ring without family stones.  So the wedding day jewelry was designed to match the engagement ring style – and to use all of the diamonds from the different family rings.

Here’s the engagement ring (totally beautiful):

And here’s the wedding day jewelry (a bezel set diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds, and matching earrings…stunning).

Honestly, I’d probably pay double to get something so meaningful. But the cost is actually drastically less than new jewelry because the stones and metal are reused. (And of, course, recycled jewelry has much less impact on the earth).

Check out some more of Tracey’s designs – and then start hunting through your mother and grandmother’s old jewelry.  You could take care of “something old” and “something new” at the same time.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t consider myself a super environmentalist.  I’m more the make small changes, unplug your cell phone charger, don’t buy bottled water, take your own bags to the grocery store kind of environmentalist. But I do think incorporating green into your life where ever you can is the best thing to do.

That’s why I think a perfect idea for a wedding favor is an environmentally friendly one. Like these adorable personalized seed packets from Beau-coup.

I love the fun look of the bags – which are biodegradable and contain wildflower seeds of baby’s breath, cornflower, California poppy, catchfly, spurred snapdragon and garland daisies. And there are tons of choices for the labels (and even options to use them as seating cards).

And flowers are such a sweet way for your friends and family to remember your wedding (and you could plant a few packets at your house or apartment too!)

Special E is an amazing company that offers an easy way for you to donate your wedding leftovers to a worthy cause.

What Special E does is “rescue” things left at the end of your wedding (like flowers, food, decorations and favors) and redirects them to worthy organizations like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, missions, food banks, nursing homes, hospitals and charitable organizations.

In the past 12 months alone, Special E has rescued more than 100,000 pounds of food, 32,000 cans and bottles of soda, beer, water, liquor, wine and champagne and over 2,500 floral arrangements and centerpieces.

Special E can even rescue your bridemaid’s dresses and get them to underprivileged girls who could not otherwise afford a nice dress  for a special occasion.

To donate your items, you just fill out a “Rescue Form” with the details of your wedding.  Special E will then provide an estimate (the fee is different for each wedding, but in generally only $400- $600 – and the  value of the goods rescued can be written off as a charitable tax deduction) and schedule your event.

Currently Special E operates in the following markets: Atlanta,Baltimore,Boston, Chicago, Dallas,Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, but even if your city isn’t mentioned, you should contact them as their service area is constantly expanding.

I think Special E offers an amazing service – something that every bride should consider for her wedding.  Reach them at their website or by phone: 888.448.1930

My grandmother was an amazing woman. I loved everything about her. And her 53 year marriage to my grandfather was full of love, respect and honesty – a perfect model of how a strong marriage should work.

When I got married, I wanted to use her wedding ring for my own, but it was too small and was so thin, I didn’t think it could be resized.

I wish I had known then about the Reuse Gold program by greenKarat.

Essentially, it is a service that allows you to reuse family or other gold to create a new ring.

greenKarat can make a ring of almost any design – in plain gold or with gemstones.  And if you wanted, you could even make a white gold ring out of family yellow gold because they refine the old jewelry into pure gold, and then add new alloy to create the desired gold color.

Not only can you get a “new” ring with tremendous heritage and tradition, but the Reuse Gold program neutralizes your impact on demand for destructive mining (an amazing environmental benefit) and it can also save you money because you get 100% gold market value credit for the gold you send in.

Sara and Matt (from the blog $2000 wedding) had their wedding rings made from gold donated from their family and friends.  Their rings originally cost $1375, but with the credit for the gold donated by their family and friends, their rings only cost $109.68. And were meaningful even before they went on their fingers.

All of the images on this post are rings created by greenKarat. Their’s is a thoughtful, and evironmentally friendly, service that is definitely worth looking into.