The Chief Executive of Sightsavers, Caroline Harper, visited Vancouver to discuss in her TED talk, an affliction called trachoma, which is considered one of the leading causes of blindness around the world. She wore symbolic tweezers to represent how African girls who have suffered from the disease for many years, have to spend their entire lives pulling their eyelashes from under their eyelids because of lack of treatment from the disease to avoid scratching their corneas which leads to blindness.

Harper’s article on Sightsavers goes on to give a long history of the disease which has its earliest recorded medical record in ancient Egypt when an ancient mural was found showing eyes and tweezers. Today, people in the lowest economic rungs of society are the most susceptible to the disease with nearly 185 million people susceptible to trachoma. The most unfortunate part is that it is actually preventable.

Throughout your lifetime, you spend a long time in your bedroom, therefore all your décor should be carefully picked out, from your bed sheets to your plants. Data by NASA and the American College has found which houseplants are best sui­ted to join you in your room of rest.

It’s important to understand the ways in which you can improve your bespoke bedroom’s feng shui — and indeed the rest of your home — with some simple houseplants.

When speaking to The Telegraph, interior landscaper and gold-medal winner at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Ian Drummond, stated that the average houseplant can be very practical. He explains: “Many people now live in cities with no outside space. We all have this longing to have some green around us, and houseplants are the perfect solution.”

Houseplants can also work as a cheap air freshener for your home thanks to their pleasant aromas. Studies have shown that houseplants have been found to help with concentration, promote better sleep and reduce anxiety among people who live around them on a day-to-day basis too. The Plantsman, when reporting on a 2016 piece which was published in the RHS’s journal, underlined: “As placing indoor plants in rooms is one of the simplest changes that can be made to enhance the environment, it stands out as a practical and affordable support for health.”

Being a mother means being there for every up and down in your child’s life. It means putting your all into a relationship, from nurturing to befriending. You are there from the very first moment, and you want to be there through every moment afterwards. You have watched her grow from a baby into a full-grown woman before you could even blink, and now she has found the love of her life and is ready to get married.

Time goes by so quickly, which is why making the most out of every moment is important, for you and for her. You don’t have time to do things twice, you don’t have time to play it safe. When it comes to big milestones like her wedding, you want the experience to be as incredible and unique as she is, and as her mother, it is your job to help her realize her dreams.

Far too many weddings are based wholly on tradition, despite those traditions being steeped in cultural significance that no longer applies. Yes, many young brides want nothing more than the traditional white wedding they’ve seen again and again, but a wedding should be a unique experience, meaning you should never shy away from exciting or different traditions just because it wasn’t featured in the latest wedding magazine. You can do whatever you want and make your own traditions, which is why as her mother you should do all you can to help her have her dream wedding.

To help both of you get started with planning, consider these unique wedding traditions to use on her big day: