Righe and Pois
Cecilia Natural Wedding Planner
Hi Cecilia, welcome to Easy Travel Hosting! Righe e Pois, your site where you offer your Natural Wedding Planner services. Could you tell us about when you decided to open this business and the path that led you towards this choice?
I started working as wedding planner almost 10 years ago. Organization is one of my main qualities and why not apply it to a sector that has always fascinated me?
In the meantime, a new awareness regarding the environment has arrived and I have focused on sustainable weddings and raising awareness among couples. In fact, those who rely on me have a "very normal" marriage, except that the suppliers are almost all attentive to our planet.
Credit Linda Nari Photography
In cosa si distingue un matrimonio naturale rispetto ad un matrimonio standard, e cosa significa esattamente "Matrimonio Sostenibile”?
Precisely due to the lack of awareness, it is often thought that invitations printed on recycled paper or the reuse of the decorations for the ceremony and the set-up are enough to adopt green measures. These are just a few very small steps to a sustainable marriage.
Instead, you need to pay close attention to the origins of the raw materials of the catering or restaurant you have chosen, and to the disposal of waste and leftovers. Another thing to pay attention to are the movements of the guests and the origin of the floral arrangements: km and km of distance are not always the best solutions!
When a married couple asks me to organize an eco-sustainable wedding, we first analyze where it will take place and where the guests come from. Moving 100 people from multiple regions is the least environmentally sustainable we can do. For everything else you can find local suppliers with local or km0 supply.
When organizing a sustainable wedding I put 3 things first:
respect for seasonality: Food and flowers must be in season. For example, out-of-season flowers have a very high impact on our environment: what doesn't arrive locally is in fact grown in other countries and uses resources and energy to reach us, polluting. The global market has expanded borders but at the same time has made everything available and always reducing expectations and amazement.
Locations that respect the environment and ethical ways of working. A more natural way of working exists. I often work remotely, and I ask my spouses to concentrate their efforts and energy on only going and viewing places that really interest us. There are still few locations that have had the opportunity to adapt and be 100% ecological. There are many reasons and I won't go into them. But there are many structures that select biodegradable and nature-friendly products, which have equipped themselves with more sustainable working methods.
Giving objects a second life: use things that the bride and groom have at home for the wedding day arrangements or reuse the materials that suppliers have in stock. I think it's useful to reuse things that someone else no longer needs. You can look for plates and glasses at the market and create sets of plates that can become gifts for the witnesses once the wedding is over.
Credit @PurePhoto_132
Che cosa rende un matrimonio "green" e perché è importante avere un'attenzione particolare all'ambiente anche in un giorno speciale come questo?
On the wedding day the couple has the opportunity to transfer their values to the guests, making them more aware and therefore why not apply the principles of sustainability on this day too?
I'm not an extremist, I don't attribute everything to a green perspective which unfortunately is not yet 100% applicable today, but I try to direct spouses towards responsible and ethical choices, without waste and to benefit the economy of our country.
During weddings, a lot of resources are wasted, especially food and decorations which will then end up in the bin. A sustainable wedding is made by suppliers who have chosen to reduce waste as much as possible and who are committed to reusing.
Credit Linda Nari Photography
Give us three quick tips for a newlywed couple who want to organize an eco-sustainable wedding, where can they start?
1. Start from the location and arrange an inspection with the wedding planner. By putting together your desires and the expert eye of the wedding planner, you can organize a wedding that reflects you. Evaluate the lighting, the spaces, what is included, what you can use. A location is eco not only for the measures used such as photovoltaic panels, separate waste collection, but also if it manages to apply reuse and self-production.
2. Sustainability is also the choice of catering companies that use km0 raw materials and that use manufacturing processes that reduce waste. Always ask what will happen to leftover food and offer to deliver it to a canteen or to those who need it most!
3. Apply the concept of sustainability to all accessories: flowers, coordinated graphics, wedding favors, clothes, everything can be made sustainable! For example, tell guests not to buy new clothes, encourage them to use what they have in the wardrobe! And the graphic coordinate? Reduce paper supports (for these use seedable or recycled paper), collect ribbons and reuse them to close wedding favors and invitations (you can give them to whoever will take care of them, if you don't do it yourself), ask a calligrapher to write on surfaces present in the location.
To make the phase of choosing sustainable suppliers easier on my blog I created the "Green Vendors" section: a selection of wedding suppliers who look at sustainability, reuse and measures to make your wedding greener, eco-friendly and low impact.
What are your interests and hobbies in your private life and how much have these influenced your choice of profession?
I am a passionate reader of tea and herbal teas, flowers and plants, I love travelling, immersing myself in nature and thus finding serenity, discovering new places and seeing their potential. I like creating connections between people, between suppliers and couples.
My values are transparency, naturalness (in all its exceptions), concreteness.
This is why the process of exchanging information with my spouses is extremely organised. I find it useful to share everything on a platform where you can find PDF guides for each step to take, contracts, a space where you can ask for information, check appointments made, keep track of the budget.
This somewhat technological method allows you to keep track of everything and be able to focus on the critical issues. But it also allows us to limit travel and emails as much as possible to also limit this form of impact on our planet. It is the method that has allowed me to be able to take care of foreign couples: it is a must to work online and keep track of the appointments I carry out on their behalf.
Credit @PurePhoto_132
What challenges did you encounter when designing your business and how did you overcome them?
I have structured my business gradually and over the years thanks to training courses not only in the wedding sector but also across the board. The main difficulty was to organize the workflow in the most congenial way possible for busy couples who often find themselves on the other side of the ocean.
Finding reliable suppliers with whom to collaborate was not difficult, I met people who were open to discussion even when the sustainable perspective was not yet even remotely in their thoughts.
As you know, Easy Travel Hosting uses renewable and eco-sustainable energy to power its servers. Furthermore, a tree is planted for each new hosting, actively helping reforestation and the absorption of CO2. What do you think of this project and in general, do you think it is important to seek a more sustainable lifestyle?
I am happy to have found you and to have entrusted the hosting space of my site to you: even the "technological" part of our work must be compensated for in some way despite the fact that it is thought not to pollute!
I really appreciate the tree initiative and I fully embrace it: I also plant a tree for every wedding organized to offset the CO2 emitted during the planning work. Searching for a sustainable lifestyle is a priority today.
There is a lot that each of us can do by changing small daily habits: I think that the most important step towards a sustainable lifestyle is to limit the production of waste itself as much as possible.
Easy Travel Hosting thanks Cecilia very much for taking part in our interview for the column dedicated to Small Business for Women.
If you want more information, you can follow her on her website by clicking here.
And on social media too!
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