Privacy Policy

Who we are

Ridgway Ceremonies is operated by David Ridgway as a sole trader.

For data protection purposes, David Ridgway trading as Ridgway Ceremonies is the data controller responsible for the personal information collected and used in connection with this website and the celebrancy services I provide.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how your personal information is used, you can contact me at:

Email: david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

What information we collect.

To create a ceremony that is genuinely personal, I need to get to know you — but I will only collect information that is relevant to your enquiry or the service I am providing.

Depending on where we are in the process, this may include:

• your name and contact details, including your email address and telephone number;

• your preferred way for me to contact you;

• your wedding or ceremony date and venue, if known;

• information you provide through my website enquiry form;

• our emails, messages and other communications;

• information you provide in questionnaires and during our meetings;

• details about your relationship, your story, family and other people who are important to your ceremony;

• your ceremony preferences, including readings, music, vows, rituals and other elements you would like included;

• notes I make while planning and writing your ceremony;

• draft and final ceremony scripts;

• relevant contact details for venues, photographers, musicians, DJs and other people involved in coordinating your ceremony; and

• records relating to bookings, contracts and payments.

Personal information that may be more sensitive

Because ceremonies are personal, you may sometimes choose to tell me information about matters such as your health, ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or other private aspects of your life.

Some of this information is classed as special category data under UK data protection law and receives additional protection.

I will not ask for sensitive personal information simply for the sake of having it. Where it is relevant to creating or delivering your ceremony, I will only use it where I have an appropriate legal basis and additional condition for doing so. Where I rely on your explicit consent, I will make that clear and ask for it separately.

You are never expected to share personal details that are not relevant to the ceremony you want me to create.

How and why I use your information.

I use your personal information only where I have a clear reason to do so.

Enquiries and getting to know each other

When you contact Ridgway Ceremonies, I use the information you provide to respond to your enquiry, contact you in the way you have requested and arrange our initial conversations or meetings.

I process this information because it is necessary to take steps at your request before potentially entering into a contract with you.

Booking and creating your ceremony

If you choose me as your celebrant, I use your information to:

• manage your booking and secure your ceremony date;

• communicate with you throughout the planning process;

• understand your story, wishes and requirements;

• prepare for our meetings;

• write, discuss and revise your ceremony script;

• incorporate the ceremony elements you have chosen;

• coordinate the ceremony with your venue and relevant suppliers; and

• deliver your ceremony on the day.

I process this information because it is necessary for me to provide the service you have asked me to provide and fulfil my agreement with you.

Sensitive information

Sometimes information you choose to share while telling me your story may reveal things such as your health, ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs or sexual orientation.

Where this information is relevant to your ceremony and is classed as special category data, I will only use it where data protection law allows me to do so. Where appropriate, I will ask for your explicit consent before using this information.

You can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect anything that was lawfully done before you withdrew it, although it may affect my ability to include that information in your ceremony.

Payments, records and legal obligations

I may retain information relating to bookings, payments and transactions where I am required to do so for accounting, tax or other legal purposes.

Running and protecting my business

I may also use limited personal information where reasonably necessary to administer Ridgway Ceremonies, maintain appropriate business records, protect the security of my website and communications, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Where I rely on my legitimate interests for these purposes, I will consider those interests against your rights and privacy.

Marketing

I will not add you to a marketing mailing list simply because you have made an enquiry or booked a ceremony. If I introduce email marketing in the future, I will ask for any consent required before sending it.

Who I share your information with.

I do not sell your personal information.

I only share personal information where it is reasonably necessary to provide your ceremony, run Ridgway Ceremonies, or comply with a legal obligation.

Venues and wedding suppliers

Where necessary for planning and coordinating your ceremony, I may share relevant information with people involved in your wedding, such as your:

• venue or wedding coordinator;

• photographer or videographer;

• musicians or DJ;

• other ceremony participants or suppliers.

I will only share the information they reasonably need for their role. I will not routinely share your full questionnaire, personal notes or complete ceremony story with other suppliers.

Services I use to run Ridgway Ceremonies

I use trusted third-party services to operate the business and website. These may process personal information on my behalf.

These currently include:

• Squarespace, which hosts this website and processes information submitted through the website;

• Namecheap, which provides my domain registration and business email services; and

• other professional or technical services I may reasonably need to operate the business, such as payment, accounting or IT services.

Where another organisation processes personal information on my behalf, I remain responsible for choosing appropriate providers and handling your information in accordance with data protection law.

Legal and professional requirements

I may disclose personal information where I am legally required to do so, or where reasonably necessary to obtain professional advice or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

If I ever need to share information for a purpose that you would not reasonably expect, I will consider whether I need to tell you or obtain your consent first.

How long I keep your information

I only keep personal information for as long as I reasonably need it for the purpose for which it was collected, or where I need to retain it to meet legal, accounting or business requirements.

As a general guide:

• Enquiries that do not lead to a booking: I will normally delete the enquiry and associated correspondence within 12 months of our last contact, unless there is a good reason to keep it for longer.

• Questionnaires, planning notes and ceremony drafts: I will normally keep these for up to 12 months after your ceremony, then securely delete them unless you have asked me to retain something for a specific reason.

• Final ceremony scripts: I may keep a copy for up to 2 years after the ceremony for reference and to deal with any follow-up questions. Any particularly sensitive information that is no longer needed may be removed sooner.

• Booking agreements and relevant correspondence: I may retain these for up to 6 years after the service has been completed where reasonably necessary for business records or to deal with potential contractual or legal claims.

• Invoices, payment records and accounting information: I will retain these for as long as required by UK tax and accounting law.

• Information processed with your consent: where consent is the basis for keeping or using information, I will stop using it for that purpose if you withdraw your consent, unless I have another lawful reason to retain it.

When information is no longer required, I will securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

These periods may occasionally need to be extended where there is an ongoing complaint, dispute, legal requirement or other legitimate reason to retain particular information.

How I keep your information safe

I take reasonable steps to protect the personal information entrusted to Ridgway Ceremonies from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

Personal information is only accessed where it is needed for the purposes described in this policy. As a sole trader, access to the personal information I hold about my clients is generally limited to me.

I use reputable service providers for services such as website hosting, email and domain management, and I take reasonable care to keep the devices, accounts and services I use secure.

I also aim to minimise the amount of personal information I keep and securely delete information when I no longer have a reason to retain it.

No method of storing or transmitting information can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If I become aware of a personal data breach, I will assess it and take any action required under data protection law, including notifying affected individuals or the Information Commissioner's Office where required.

Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the way I am using your personal information, you may have the right to:

• be informed about how your personal information is collected and used;

• access the personal information I hold about you and receive a copy of it;

• correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;

• ask me to delete personal information where there is no longer a lawful reason for me to keep it;

• ask me to restrict how I use your information in certain circumstances;

• object to certain uses of your personal information, particularly where I rely on legitimate interests;

• receive or transfer certain information you have provided to me in a portable format where the right to data portability applies; and

• withdraw consent at any time where I am relying on your consent to use particular information.

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every situation. For example, I may need to retain certain information to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

Exercising your rights

If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, or simply want to ask what information I hold about you, please contact:

david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

You do not normally have to pay to exercise your data protection rights.

I will respond as quickly as reasonably possible and, where the law requires it, no later than one calendar month after receiving your request and any information reasonably needed to confirm your identity or clarify the request. In certain complex cases, the law allows additional time and I will let you know if that applies.

Your right to object

You have the right to object to certain processing of your personal information where I rely on legitimate interests.

You also have an absolute right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing. If you object to direct marketing, I will stop using your information for that purpose.

Complaints about how I use your information

If you are unhappy with the way I have collected, used, stored or shared your personal information, please contact me in the first instance so I have the opportunity to look into your concerns.

You can make a data protection complaint by emailing:

david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

You do not need to use legal language or refer to particular data protection laws when making a complaint. Just tell me what you are concerned about and, if possible, what you would like me to do to resolve it.

I will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it.

I will then take appropriate steps to investigate the complaint without undue delay, keep you informed where appropriate, and let you know the outcome of my investigation.

Complaining to the Information Commissioner’s Office

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection.

I would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns first, but you are not required to contact me before approaching the ICO.

Information about making a complaint is available on the ICO website.

International transfers of your information

Some of the service providers I use to operate Ridgway Ceremonies may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, I take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate level of protection is in place and that the transfer is made in accordance with UK data protection law.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include transferring information to a country recognised by the UK as providing an adequate level of data protection, or relying on appropriate contractual or other legal safeguards.

If you would like more information about how your personal information may be transferred internationally, please contact me at:

david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

Cookies and website information

This website uses cookies and similar technologies to help it function properly and, where permitted, to understand how visitors use the site.

Essential cookies

Some cookies are necessary for the website to work correctly, provide security, remember certain settings or deliver features you have requested.

These essential cookies do not require your consent where they are strictly necessary for the service you have asked to use.

Analytics and other non-essential cookies

Squarespace may also use non-essential cookies to provide website analytics and help me understand information such as how visitors find and use the site.

Where consent is required, these cookies will not be placed until you have chosen to accept them through the website’s cookie controls.

You can decline non-essential cookies or change your cookie preferences using the cookie controls provided on this website.

Declining non-essential cookies should not prevent you from accessing the main content or contacting Ridgway Ceremonies.

Information collected when you visit the website

Depending on your cookie choices and the services in use, technical information may be collected about visits to this website, such as browser or device information, pages viewed, approximate location derived from an internet connection, and information about how visitors interact with the site.

I use this information only where there is a lawful reason to do so, such as operating and securing the website or, where appropriate consent has been given, understanding how the website is being used.

For more information about the cookies used by this website, please use the cookie preferences available on the site.

Changes to this privacy policy

I may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in the way Ridgway Ceremonies operates, the services I use, or changes in data protection law.

Where a change significantly affects how I use personal information, I will take reasonable steps to make that change clear and, where required, bring it to the attention of the people affected before using their information in a new way.

I recommend checking this page occasionally for the most current version of this policy.

Last updated: 13 August 2026

Questions about your privacy?
david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk