Privacy Policy

Purpose

This privacy notice for By Formal Invitation Ltd known as By Formal Invitation describes how and why we might collect, store, use and/or share your information when you use our services such as when you: visit our website at http://www.byformalinvitation.co.uk or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice or engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing or events. This privacy notice also tells you about your privacy rights pursuant to Data Protection Laws such as the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Controller for personal data

A "controller" is a person or organisation who alone or jointly determines the purposes for which and the way any personal data is or is likely to be processed. Unless we notify you otherwise By Formal Invitation is the controller of your personal data where you act directly with us and for the purpose of this website.

Scope

This privacy notice applies to the processing of personal data by us where you are a:

• Wedding Customer: this is where you interact with our platform to seek out Suppliers and Venue providers.

• Wedding Venue Provider: where you provide venue services to customers.

• Wedding Suppliers: For the provision of products and services by you to the customer via our platform.

• Our Service Providers: For the provision of services to us by our service providers so we can effectively run our business to you. Please see section on how we share personal data.

• Website visitors: Where you are a visitor on our website to browse or to get in touch with us.

Types of personal data

Personal data or personal information means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed. This is known as anonymised data. Anonymised data falls outside the scope of Data Protection Laws.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together:

• Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier and title.

• Contact Data includes billing address, email address and telephone numbers.

• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.

• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other transaction details for the provision of services.

• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website or platform.

• Profile Data includes your username and password, searches made by you, your ratings and comments, preferences, feedback and survey responses.

• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and services.

• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

• Social Media Login Data we may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details like your Facebook, Twitter or other social media account. Further information can be found in the section Further information: Social logins.

Depending on your relationship with us we may process the categories of data above and categories of personal data specific to you. Please see below in the Processing Table on how we may process your personal data depending on our relationship with you and our lawful basis for doing so.

Lawful bases: How we use your personal data

By Formal Invitation will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. We will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Performance of a contract: Where we need to perform the contract, we are about to enter into or have entered into with you. For example, when you sign up to our services.

• Legal obligation: Where we need to comply with a legal obligation. For example, for accounting or legal purposes.

• Legitimate interests: Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

• Consent: We do not generally rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data. Where we do rely on consent you have the right to withdraw consent at any time. Please contact us at to withdraw consent. Please also see Marketing communications.

• Vital interests: Where is it necessary to protect your vital interests in case of emergencies.

• Public obligation: Where we need to comply with a public obligation, for example in the matters of public health or public interests.

How we collect your personal data

Directly from you: You give us your personal data in your direct interactions with us. Such personal data includes Identity Data, Contact Data, Financial Data, Profile Data, Usage Data, Technical Data and Marketing and Communications Data (i) by filling in forms on our website (ii) by leaving ratings and comments; or (iii) by corresponding with us by email, post or by telephone.

Third-party sources: We receive Identity Data and Contact Data about you from third parties when:

• other parties send us your personal data to enable the provision of our services to you.

• you provide your personal data to a third party for the purpose of sharing it with us.

Wedding Customer: Processing Information

This is where you use our platform to source wedding venues and wedding suppliers.

Wedding Venue Provider: Processing Information

This is where you use our platform as a Wedding Venue Provider for the benefit of the Wedding Customer.

Wedding Supplier: Processing Information

This is where you use our platform as a Wedding Supplier

Our Service Provider: Processing Information

This is where you are a supplier of products and services to us so that we can effectively manage and run our business.

Website visitor: Processing Information

This is where you are a website visitor on our website regardless as to whether you will be taking up our services.

Cookies and similar technologies

By Formal Invitation may gather information and statistics collectively about visitors to our website. Analysis of this information demonstrates the most frequently used sections of the website and assists us in continually improving the online service. Please also refer to our cookies notice for more information on how we set cookies.

Providing personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law or under the terms of a contract and you do not provide that information when requested we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you for example to provide you with our services. In this case we may have to cancel our service, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

Marketing communications

We may send you marketing communication. You have the right to object to processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. You can unsubscribe from receiving marketing communications from us by using the unsubscribe methods contained in communications we send to you or by contacting us. See Contact us.

Where you opt out of receiving marketing communications this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of registering for or using our service, your service experience or other interactions with this website.

How we share your personal data

We do not and will not sell any of your personal data to any third party, including your name, contact information or payment information. We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below:

• Internally: Your personal data will be used by our employees and contractors who are working on providing the services to you on a need-to-know basis.

• Within our Group: Your personal data can be shared within our Group of companies so that we can carry out our services to you.

• Venues and Suppliers: Where you express interest, shortlist, request information, quotes, or services from venues, suppliers, or other wedding service providers listed in our directory, we may share your personal data (such as your name, contact details, wedding date, and service requirements) with those third parties so that they can respond directly or provide the requested service. These third parties are independent data controllers responsible for how they handle your data once received, and we encourage you to review their individual privacy policies before engaging their services.

• Payment Processors: To help facilitate payment to us. All payment data is stored by Stripe. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy.

• User Account Registration & Authentication Service Provider: To ensure that you have a seamless experience on our website.

• Business Transfers: We may share or transfer your information in connection with or during negotiations of any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

• Analytics Providers: When we use Google Analytics. We may share your information with Google Analytics to track and analyse the use of the services. The Google Analytics Advertising Features that we may use include: Google Display Network Impressions Reporting. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across the services, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You can opt out of Google Analytics Advertising Features through Ads Settings and Ad Settings for mobile apps. Other opt out means include http://optout.networkadvertising.org/ and http://www.networkadvertising.org/mobile-choice. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms page.

• Google for Google Maps Platform APIs: We may share your information with certain Google Maps Platform APIs (e.g. Google Maps API, Places API). We obtain and store on your device ('cache') your location. You may revoke your consent anytime by contacting us at the contact details provided at the end of this document.

• Professional advisers: This would include lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

• Law enforcement bodies, regulators and other authorities: This is to comply with our legal requirements or adhere to good practices.

Third Party Websites

We are not responsible for the safety of any information that you share with third parties that we may link to or who advertise on our services but are not affiliated with our services.

The services may link to third-party websites, online services, or mobile applications and/or contain advertisements from third parties that are not affiliated with us and which may link to other websites, services, or applications. Accordingly, we do not make any guarantee regarding any such third parties, and we will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by the use of such third-party websites, services, or applications. The inclusion of a link towards a third-party website, service, or application does not imply an endorsement by us. We cannot guarantee the safety and privacy of data you provide to any third parties. Any data collected by third parties is not covered by this privacy notice. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other websites, services, or applications that may be linked to or from the services. You should review the policies of such third parties and contact them directly to respond to your questions.

Further information: Social logins

Our services offer you the ability to register and log in using your third-party social media account details (like your Facebook or Twitter logins). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, email address, friends list, and profile picture, as well as other information you choose to make public on such a social media platform.

We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy notice or that are otherwise made clear to you on the relevant services. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy notice to understand how they collect, use, and share your personal information, and how you can set your privacy preferences on their sites and apps.

Keeping personal information accurate and current

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us. Please contact us if you wish to update your personal data.

Account Information

If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

• Log in to your account settings and update your user account.

• Contact us using the contact information provided.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements.

Retention period

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise such information or, if this is not possible for example because your personal information has been stored in backup archives, then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

International transfers for UK

We may transfer and process your personal data outside of the United Kingdom (UK) to countries where data protection laws are less stringent than those in the UK. When we transfer your personal data outside of the UK, we only do so to entities that offer our users the same level of data protection as that afforded by the UK Data Protection Act 2018 including the UK GDPR.

1. We will only transfer your personal information to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal information; or

2. We will use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal information the same protection it has in the UK. For example, the use of Article 46 UK GDPR safeguard mechanisms to transfer personal data endorsed by the UK Government.

For other countries we will use local law guidance to ensure personal data is transferred securely where there is a requirement in law to do so.

To find out more about the transfer mechanism used please contact us.

Keeping information secure

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our services is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.

Data Subject Rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under Data Protection Laws. Not all rights are absolute and depending on where you are located, not all rights are given to you. You can:

• Request access to your personal data: This is known as a "subject access request" and enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

• Request correction of your personal data: This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.

• Request erasure of your personal data: This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. We may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you at the time of your request.

• Object to processing of your personal data: This is where we are processing your personal data based on a legitimate interest or those of a third party and you may challenge this. However, we may be entitled to continue processing your information based on our legitimate interests or where this is relevant to any legal claims. See also Marketing communications.

• Request restriction of processing your personal information: This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the information's accuracy (b) where our use of the information is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it (c) where you need us to hold the information even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims or (d) you have objected to our use of your information but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

• Request transfer of your personal information ("data portability"): This is where in some circumstances we will provide to you or a third party you have chosen your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

• Right to withdraw consent: This is where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. Depending on the processing activity, we may not be able to provide certain services to you if you withdraw your consent. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

• Automated decision making: This is where decisions are made about you by automated means. We do carry out automated decision making.

Carrying out your data subject rights

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of the other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information or to exercise any of your other rights. This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

Children data

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent's use of the services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data, we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at members@byformalinvitation.co.uk.

Concerns and complaints

We would appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns in the first instance. Please see Contact us section. If you have unresolved issues, you have the right to complain at any time to a data protection supervisory authority for data protection issues such as the UK data protection regulator – the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you live or work outside the UK or you have a complaint concerning our personal data processing activities.

Changes to our privacy notice

This privacy notice may be changed from time to time in response to legal, technical or business developments. We will take appropriate measures to inform you when we update our privacy notice. We will obtain your consent to any material privacy notice changes if and where this is required by applicable Data Protection Laws.

Contact us

If you would like more information about the way we manage personal information that we hold about you, please contact us at:

Email address: members@byformalinvitation.co.uk

Do Not Track

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ('DNT') feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognising and implementing DNT signals has been finalised. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

Last updated

Last updated February 2025