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Eco-friendly and sustainable weddings: new trends

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cerimonia-sostenibile-photocredit-Nena&Tomy

Interview with Silvia Sottocasa, wedding planner and designer of sustainable wedding experiences in the Tuscan Archipelago, owner of ‘Elba Wedding Style‘ and vice president of the Italian Wedding Planner Association, with special responsibility for sustainability in Italy and abroad.

Eco-friendly and sustainable weddings: new trends

“Elegance and environmental responsibility can coexist harmoniously, and the concept of luxury can be redefined in a wedding that incorporates eco-friendly solutions without compromising on quality and style.” (Silvia Sottocasa)

Sustainability in weddings is no longer an option, but a necessity. 
The wedding industry is being transformed and in Italy we are beginning to apply more environmentally friendly practices, to pursue sustainable innovation. This means reducing environmental impact, but also training and educating couples, suppliers and industry professionals on the importance of making conscious choices.

FC: How would you define eco-friendly, ecological weddings?  What elements define them in your view?

SS: The first thing I would say is that the terms “eco-friendlyand “ecological” represent an incomplete approach to the subject of sustainabilityI mean, being ecological is only part of the concept of sustainability, I would say one third. 
The concept of sustainability in fact refers to three principles: social sustainability, economic sustainability, ecological sustainability. They are complementary and all of them are necessary: without one there can be no other. An eco-friendly wedding needs to understand sustainability as a whole. It doesn’t mean an event where there is no plastic or litter.
If we talk about sustainability, we have to start with social sustainability, i.e. our territory

FC: So how do you define this kind of territorial sustainability? 

SS: I would define it as an experience, a sustainable wedding is a real experience that appeals to the senses and the emotions. We study our territories, we know them, we know how to talk about them, and we know how to promote them. To promote a specific area, you have to know it well, and this means entrusting the organization to people who live in that territory, in order to support it economically
I am an expert on my territory, which may seem small, but which comprises seven islands within a National Park , with so many wonderful things, so many problems and puzzles to deal with, so many different emotions and a special charm for each island. Living on the islands, sustainability is a matter of survival.

Interesting fact:  The Tuscan Archipelago National Park encompasses a stretch of sea extending over 600 km² between Livorno and the Argentario promontory and includes seven islands: Capraia, Elba, Giannutri, Giglio, Gorgona, Montecristo, Pianosa, as well as the Formiche di Grosseto and other smaller reefs.

matrimonio sostenibile. Piedi nudi sulla sabbia. sustainable marriage. Bare feet on the sand.Photo credit: Nella & Tomy
photo credits: Nena & Tomy
matrimoni sostenibili. Scambio degli anelli in riva al mare con bouquet di fiori di campo e spighe. Photo credit Nena & Tomy Fotografi
photo credits: Nena & Tomy

FC: Obviously for us celebrants, the rule of hiring only professionals who live in that area cannot apply, but, on the other hand, in designing the ceremony we shape the couple’s choices, the concept of experience is therefore very important to us, too. Do you think there is a growing demand for sustainability? Are couples becoming more sensitive to these issues? Have the number of couples requesting a sustainable wedding increased?

SS: Exponentially! However, we should be aware that there is a lot of greenwashing going on, where environmentalism is just a facade, and people use the word “sustainability” simply because it is trendy. In 2022 we published the first sustainable wedding certification. At that time the certification was a national guideline according to the UNI/PdR 61:2022, but it is now a legal standard.
The concept of experience is very important because it encompasses all the emotions associated with a wedding event. You celebrants understand very well this emotional aspect, which is a relevant part of the celebration and meaningful for all the people attending.

A note on: On 13 November 2024, the AIWP officialises two important standards: UNI 11954:2024 ‘Wedding and destination wedding planning – Service requirements’; UNI 11955:2024 ‘Unregulated professional activities – Wedding and destination wedding planner – Requirements of knowledge, skills, autonomy and responsibility’. The standards replace the previous UNI/PdR 61:2019 and fully comply with Law 4:2013 on unregulated professions.

FC: Yes, that is true. The concept of experience is definitely a key concept for us celebrants, and it is also becoming more and more topical. There are increasing requests – especially from foreigners – for wedcations: weekend or three-day weddings, where guests gather in one place and create, all together, an event around the wedding. Of course, staying for several days means that various activities are planned throughout the period. What are the critical issues for suppliers as well

SS: I often suggest and encourage an extended stay, actively discouraging the formula: “Arrive, get married, eat, drink and go home.” 
Of course, it is crucial that the suppliers the couple contacts adhere to the same type of approach. Starting for example with catering: the experience is created through food, so eating traditional, local food is already part of the sensory experience. In this sense, this is also part of the economic and ecological sustainability of the wedding because local traditions use raw materials that are easy to find in that area, fruits that grow there, fish that are caught in local waters, animals that are bred there. All these contribute to the local economy, but also bring people closer to the local culture, introduce them to the dishes of the past, perhaps slightly revisited in a modern interpretation.

FC: Is there also a seasonal logic? If the wedding is in summer or winter, are the products offered always in season?

SS: That’s the beauty of sustainability: you can’t have everything all the time. It is obvious that if my communication is accurate and informative, I will not have couples asking me for cherries in November! My communication will have to be consistent, the sustainability narrative must be clear from the outset. My website is a bit more technical, because it explains certain elements, indicates territorial differentiations, etc., but the daily communication on social media is aimed at showing people how wonderful local traditions can be.

matrimonio-sostenibile-fiori-spontanei. marriage-sustainable-flowers-spontaneous. Photo Credits: Nella & Tomy
photo credits: Nena & Tomy

FC: By now, ideas such as zero kilometre, and slow food, have entered people’s vocabulary and are increasingly requested. Do you agree?

SS: Definitely! Slowly people are realising that a truly exclusive wedding is now a sustainable wedding, not a wedding with a two-thousand-Euro centerpiece! Instead, having an experience with food, wine, in a particular area gives you much more than an expensive table decoration. A wedding in a mine, a wedding underwater, a wedding on a desert island, or in the hall of Napoleon Bonaparte’s imperial villa will give you unforgettable feelings and emotions.

FC: And yet, weddings where couples are eager to show off how much has been spent are still very much in vogue, not only among Italians. Some Destination Weddings still have that show-off factor, don’t you think?

SS: Yes absolutely, but among my clients, foreigners are more likely to be the ones looking for sustainable weddings. Unfortunately, there are still very few professionals and suppliers who work in a sustainable manner and there are still many couples who choose things that are really dangerous or bad for the environment such as, for example, coloured smoke bombs! Walls of garish gunpowder blocking out a magical landscape in the background such as a lake or the sea. I once asked a supplier who wanted to sell me coloured smoke bombs what the components were, whether it was all biodegradable, what would happen to the guests’ clothes or eyes if a gust of wind from the sea blew the gunpowder back to land … the supplier’s answer was silence. Of course, I told him that we would never welcome smoke bombs to our islands!

FC: It is obvious that regulations such as certification for wedding planners, celebrants and suppliers helps. However, these certifications are not enough so, for you, having the State present in the National Park structure must be very helpful.

SS: Yes, the National Park is a real ally! For example, on the island of Pianosa, – a paradise known as the Mediterranean Caribbean – the State controls everything and protects the environment. Recently a couple received a hefty fine for letting off smoke bombs and firecrackers and throwing rice. Previously, the same couple had contacted me but didn’t hire me, because they considered me over the top, a little fanatical, let’s say.

FC: Unfortunately, it is easy to portray sustainability as excessive, there is a bit of fanaticism regarding these issuesWhen planning a wedding with a couple, how do you give advice and guidance without being difficult, without appearing to be fanatical?

SS: I think that prohibiting something without giving an alternative is not constructive. So I present the problems and what cannot or should not be done, and at the same time I give a wide choice of alternative ideas and solutions
Let me give a tiny example: tossing rice at the end of a wedding ceremony is a tradition in Italy that people want to uphold. On beaches that are included in National Parks, rice throwing is forbidden, which many couples are unaware of. As wedding planners, we need to know where it is allowed and, where it is not, provide alternative solutions.

FC: As celebrants, we always advise couples to adapt their ceremony to the place: for instance, if they’ve chosen an olive grove, tossing olive leaves instead of rice is a great solution.

SS: Exactly, it is also important to be inventive and creative in proposing alternative solutions: I can recommend, for example, replacing rice with petals which are a natural product and 100% biodegradable…

matrimonio sostenibile, lancio di petali dopo la cerimonia. Sustainable wedding, throwing petals after the ceremony. Photo credit: Nella & Tomy
photo credits: Nena & Tomy

FC: Can you explain in detail why rice is banned?

SS: First of all because the commercially available non-staining rice – commonly chosen for weddings – is chemically treated with acids to remove the starch and it releases these substances into the environment as the degradation process is set in motion. Moreover, there are always animals in these places: birds, turtles, fish that would risk being poisoned by this rice. Not only that: even choosing to use food rice, which apparently does not produce pollution, would still be very harmful, if not lethal, because it would alter the balance of nature and biodiversity. 
As we know, wherever there is biodiversity, there is a subtle balance between plants and animals and what they feed on.

FC: Are sustainable weddings more expensive?

SS: Yes, a sustainable wedding costs more or less 30% more than a non-sustainable wedding. The raw materials must be excellent, otherwise you don’t tell the story of the territory. We value the work of local artisans and do not choose anything industrial. We use glass and ceramics for finger food, while disposable containers, even recyclable ones, are much cheaper. We don’t use any disposable materials; even the paper for the celebration is plantable paper, organic paper that breaks down in the earth and is transformed into flowers or aromatic plants. The cost of a plantable paper is now nearly the same as that of normal paper. Moreover, plantable paper is more beautiful than recycled paper, which is also polluting. 

FC: So that extra 30% is attributable to excellence, uniqueness?

SS: Yes, certainly. On the other hand, there may be ideas and suggestions that allow you to recoup some of the costs. For example, within a wedding event you can include the reuse of certain elements or materials.

FC: Reusing is also really important. As celebrants, we appreciate working with florists who reuse and repurpose for the reception all the materials used for the ceremony set-up. In the UK, more and more couples are renting their outfits or buying them second-hand. Some creative couples re-purpose clothes themselves, using, for example, their mother’s wedding dress. We had a bride once whose dress was entirely made of recycled materials, etc.

SS: The concept of experience can also apply to the choice of re-using: I had a bride who combined the three significant women in her life into her wedding dress, asking a local seamstress to add bits of her mother’s and grandmother’s dresses to her aunt’s dress. The result was a unique piece and an emotional experience of immense value. 

FC: So uniqueness is the ultimate value.

SS: Exactly! Brides don’t want to end up with the same mass-produced, industrially made dress, so we suggest re-using and re-purposing vintage dresses. This combines sustainability and wonderful results from a creative and aesthetic point of view.

FC: Does technology play a role?

SS: Technology helps a lot, it avoids travel and reduces distances. It makes it possible to find items or solutions that are perhaps difficult to obtain. It is an aid in planning; you can provide the bride, groom and guests with a lot of information without having to use paper. In fact, technology can be used to share an infinite amount of information about how to get to the venue, what to wear, how to dispose of cigarette butts, etc., saving the couple a lot of stress.

Tartaruga di mare - Sea Turtle. Photo credit: Clarissa Botsford.
photo credits: Clarissa Botsford

FC: We celebrants, on the other hand, write into our ceremonies the reasons why the couple chose those elements. We narrate these choices.

SS: Being part of the experience allows you to understand it. It stays in your heart and when you go home, you realise you’ve been a part of an unforgettable event in a crazy place. Celebrants narrate this journey, from the initial choices to the actual ceremony.
One of my brides this year is a marine biologist. On the wedding day, it was stormy but sunny. It was wonderful! The bride and groom had adopted two turtles with GPS trackers. The celebrant described the couple’s journey and the fact that they will forever share the path of the two turtles.

In conclusion: When you choose a venue or outdoor spot for a private event such as a wedding, you necessarily transform it. Your event can ruin the place, or it can become an opportunity to promote tourism and culture in the area; an opportunity to live a sustainable experience, to understand it and repropose it. The wedding should adapt to the place, not the other way around.

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