Privacy Policy
This policy sets out how we collect, process, and hold your personal data when you visit our website (sustainableweddingalliance.com), sign up for our newsletter, contact us by email, book tickets through Ticket Tailor, become a member, or otherwise provide personal data to us. It also explains how we use third-party services, including our CRM system (Streak), automation tools (Zapier), and our ethical AI assistant (Thaura).
We are Sustainable Wedding Alliance Ltd of Monkswell, Little Baldon, Oxford, England, OX44 9PU, and we are the data controller of your personal data. This policy affects your legal rights and obligations, so please read it carefully. If you have any questions, contact us at hello@sustainableweddingalliance.com.
A note on our new website
We recently launched a redesigned website built to be as low-carbon as possible. That means no cookies, no advertising trackers, and no third-party analytics scripts following you around. We don’t need a cookie banner, and there’s nothing to opt out of. You can browse our site without us collecting any personal data about you.
Personal data we collect
We collect different personal data depending on how you interact with us.
Newsletter subscribers. If you sign up for our newsletter, we collect your email address and any other information you provide when you sign up. Our newsletter is sent through EcoSend, a privacy-first email platform.
Email communications. When you contact us by email, we keep a record of the correspondence, including your email address and the content of your message. We may also record calls or video calls we have with you, and keep a transcript or summary.
Ticket purchasers. When you book a ticket for an event, training course, or workshop through Ticket Tailor, we collect personal data such as your name, email address, and billing details to process your order and provide the service. Ticket Tailor acts as our processor for this. If you provide personal data about another person (for example, when booking multiple tickets), you confirm that you have told them about this policy and, where necessary, obtained their consent. See our ticket page privacy notice for the detail that applies specifically to bookings.
Members. If you become a member of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, we process your data to provide your membership under our membership terms and conditions. This may include your name, business details, contact information, and the content of your sustainability assessment. Members also engage with each other through our private membership platform, Circle, and data related to your profile and activity there is handled in accordance with Circle’s privacy policy.
CRM (Streak). If you interact with us as a potential partner, supplier, training attendee, or member, your contact details and related correspondence may be stored in our CRM system, Streak. This may include your name, email address, phone number, company, and details of our interactions.
Automations (Zapier). We use Zapier to connect our tools and automate routine tasks, such as adding new newsletter subscribers to our email list or passing booking details to our other systems. When an automation runs, your personal data passes securely between the relevant services. Zapier acts as a processor and does not use your data for its own purposes.
Forms and surveys. If you complete a survey, application, or feedback form, we collect the data you provide. Typeform and Google Forms are in use on the new site.
Sustainability assessments. If your business completes a SWA sustainability assessment, we collect the information you submit so we can assess it and produce your report and accreditation.
You do not need to provide us with any personal data to browse our website. All personal data you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate. If we suspect or identify fraud, we will record this.
Data we automatically collect
Our website sets no cookies and uses no third-party analytics or advertising trackers. To understand how the site is used and to measure and reduce its carbon footprint, we use the built-in analytics of our hosting platform, provided by Root and Branch. These analytics are first-party, cookie-free, and used only on an aggregated basis to improve the website and track its environmental performance over time. They are not used to identify you or to profile you.
Use of ethical AI assistance (Thaura)
We use an AI assistant called Thaura to help with internal tasks such as drafting communications, summarising information, and improving our operational efficiency.
Why Thaura: we carefully evaluated AI tools and selected Thaura for its strict privacy guarantees and ethical alignment with our values. We no longer use other AI assistants for internal tasks.
How it works: our team may use Thaura to draft emails, newsletters, structure marketing content, or internal documents. In these cases, we input general business information or anonymised data rather than personal data.
Privacy guarantee: Thaura never trains on user data, does not sell data to third parties, and does not make conversations accessible to other users. Its infrastructure is hosted in the EU (Finland) and processes data in line with GDPR.
No automated decision making: we do not use AI to make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. All final communications and decisions are reviewed and approved by our human team.
Marketing communications
If you opt in to receive marketing communications from us, we process your data on the basis of that consent to send you newsletters, blog posts, and information about events, training, workshops, and initiatives. We retain a record of your consent.
You can unsubscribe at any time by contacting hello@sustainableweddingalliance.com or clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email. Please allow up to 5 business days for your preferences to take effect.
Lawful processing of your personal data
We process your personal data on the following bases:
Contract: to fulfil our obligations to you, such as supplying tickets to an event, training course, or workshop, providing membership services under our membership terms and conditions at sustainableweddingalliance.com/terms/, and contacting you with information relating to your purchases or membership.
Legitimate interests: including dealing with customer service requests, responding to enquiries, managing relationships with partners, suppliers, and business contacts through our CRM, enforcing agreements, regulatory and legal purposes, audit, contacting you about changes to this policy, and impact report measurements which we publish regularly.
Consent: where you have given explicit consent, such as for marketing communications.
Legal obligations: to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Who we share your data with
We may share your personal data with service providers, sub-contractors, and agents acting on our behalf and under our instructions, including:
- Payment providers (e.g. Stripe, PayPal)
- Event ticketing (Ticket Tailor)
- Email communications (EcoSend)
- CRM (Streak)
- Automations (Zapier)
- Accounting software (Xero)
- Community platform (Circle)
- Form and survey tools (Typeform & Google Forms)
- AI assistant (Thaura — see above)
- IT service providers, accountants, auditors, and lawyers
- Freelancers, team members, and administrators engaged on contract
We may also disclose personal data to legal and regulatory authorities where required by law, and in connection with a business transfer such as a merger, acquisition, or restructuring. We ensure any third party we share data with has appropriate safeguards in place under data protection law.
Where we hold and process your personal data
Our website is hosted by Root and Branch, a UK-based provider of low-carbon hosting whose platform measures the energy use and carbon emissions of the websites it serves. Some of our other service providers may store or transfer personal data outside the UK and EU. Where that happens, we only work with organisations that provide adequate safeguards in accordance with applicable data protection laws, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or standard contractual clauses. Thaura’s infrastructure is hosted within the EU.
Cookies
We don’t use any. The redesigned website sets no cookies, essential or otherwise, so there is no cookie banner and nothing for you to configure. Our ticketing platform and other third-party services we link to may set their own cookies when you use them; those are governed by their own policies, which we’d encourage you to read.
Security
We process your personal data with appropriate technical and organisational measures, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage. Information you provide to us is stored on secure servers, and payment transactions are encrypted using SSL. Where we have given you (or you have chosen) a password, you are responsible for keeping it confidential.
No system can be completely secure, so while we take these steps seriously, we cannot promise your personal data will always remain completely secure.
Retention
We retain your personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected and as required by law:
- Marketing data: until you opt out of receiving marketing communications.
- Ticket bookings and enquiries: typically 12 months after the event or contact, to respond to any follow-up queries.
- Membership and assessment data: for the duration of your membership and in line with our internal retention policies, which are regularly reviewed.
- Accounting records: as required by law (currently six years for tax purposes).
Your rights
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have inaccurate data rectified, to request erasure, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent (for example, marketing). If you have any complaints, you can lodge them with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk.
To exercise any of these rights, contact hello@sustainableweddingalliance.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request, and we reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee only if a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
Links to other websites
Our website contains links to other sites, including our For Conscious Couples site and our suppliers’ websites. Once you leave our site, we have no control over it, and your activity there is governed by that site’s own privacy policy.
General
This policy is governed by the law of England and Wales, and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. We may change this policy from time to time; any changes will be posted on this page. If you continue to use our website or services after changes take effect, you will have accepted them.
Last updated: October 2026