Privacy Policy

Orbyne Studio (“Belowen”, “we”, “us”) operates belowen.com and the invitations published on it. For account, payment and website information, we decide how that information is used and are the controller under UK and EU data protection law.

Guest information submitted through an invitation, such as RSVPs, guestbook wishes and gift reservations, is collected for the couple who published that invitation. The couple decides who they invite and what they ask, and we process those replies on their behalf to run the invitation. We also use limited guest information ourselves to send the emails a guest asks for and to keep the service secure.

You can reach us about anything in this policy at [email protected].

From couples

• Account details. Your email address, which you use to sign in with a one-time link. We do not use passwords.
• Invitation content. Everything you add to an invitation: names, wedding date and time zone, venues, schedule, welcome message, story and milestones, photos, wedding logo, frequently asked questions, registry items, RSVP questions and a Spotify link if you choose one.
• Partners. The email address of anyone you invite to manage an invitation with you.
• Purchase records. The Stripe checkout reference, amount, currency and date of your payment. Card details are entered on Stripe’s checkout and never reach our servers.
• Notification preferences. Which emails you want to receive about publishing, RSVPs and gift reservations.

From guests

• RSVPs. Your name, whether you are attending, party size and the names of the rest of your party, dietary requirements, answers to the couple’s questions, an optional message and an optional email address for a confirmation.
• Guestbook. Your name and the wish you write. Wishes become public on the invitation only after the couple approves them.
• Gift reservations. Your name, email address and the quantity you reserve, so the couple can see what has been claimed and you can manage your reservation.
• RSVP reminders. Your email address, only if you ask to be reminded and confirm the request from your inbox.

From everyone who visits

• Technical information. Your IP address, browser and device type as part of ordinary web requests. To limit abuse we store a keyed, one-way hash of your network address in short-lived rate-limit records rather than the address itself.
• Usage information. Pages viewed and product steps completed, such as starting an invitation or reaching checkout, collected through analytics as described below.

• To build, preview, publish and host your invitation and show guests the details you chose to share.
• To collect replies and show them to the couple and their partners in the dashboard.
• To take payment through Stripe and keep records of purchases.
• To send transactional email: sign-in links, payment and publishing confirmations, RSVP and gift notifications, partner invitations, RSVP confirmations and reminders that a guest requested.
• To protect the service, prevent spam and abuse, and investigate problems.
• To understand how people use Belowen and improve it. Analytics never receives invitation text, venues, guest names, email addresses, dietary requirements, messages or payment details.
• To respond when you contact us, and to meet legal obligations.

We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not send marketing email to guests.

Where UK or EU data protection law applies, we rely on these legal bases:

• Contract for running your account, your invitation and your purchase.
• Legitimate interests for processing guest replies on behalf of the couple who invited them, securing the service, preventing abuse and measuring how the product is used.
• Consent for RSVP reminder emails, loading the Spotify player and analytics cookies where consent is required. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation for keeping payment and tax records.

A published invitation can be opened by anyone who has its link. Couples can make an invitation private, in which case guests need the access code the couple shares with them. Approved guestbook wishes are visible to anyone who can open the invitation.

RSVPs, gift reservation details, reminder sign-ups and pending or rejected guestbook wishes are visible only to the couple and the partners they add. A guest can review or change their own reply through the private link sent with their confirmation.

We share information with the service providers below, who process it for us under contract. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect people from harm, or as part of a sale or reorganisation of the business, in which case this policy continues to apply.

Railway

Application hosting and database

Cloudflare

DNS, network protection and private photo storage

Stripe

Payment processing and checkout

Resend

Transactional email delivery

Google Analytics

Website and product usage measurement

Spotify

The optional music player on an invitation

Stripe and Spotify also act as independent controllers for their own services and process information under their own privacy policies. The Spotify player is not loaded until a guest chooses to play it; once loaded, Spotify receives the guest’s IP address and browser information and may set its own cookies.

We use a small number of cookies:

Sign-in session

Keeps you signed in for up to 30 days. Required.

Invitation access

Remembers that a guest entered the access code for a private invitation, for 30 days. Required.

Reply link

Lets a guest manage their own reply or reminder from the same browser, for 30 days. Required.

Analytics

Google Analytics cookies that measure visits and usage.

Third parties

Stripe sets cookies on its checkout page for fraud prevention. Spotify may set cookies once its player is loaded.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking required cookies will stop sign-in and private invitations from working.

• Published invitations, their photos and the replies they collect are hosted until 18 months after the wedding date. Gallery photos are deleted from storage when that period ends.
• Sign-in links expire after 15 minutes and sessions after 30 days.
• Purchase records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, usually six to seven years.
• You can ask us to delete your account at any time by emailing [email protected]. We delete its invitations and the guest information they hold, apart from purchase records we must keep.

Couples can delete RSVPs and guestbook wishes and release gift reservations from the dashboard at any time.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, receive a copy in a portable format, object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw consent. To make a request, email [email protected] from the address on your account or reply. We will respond within one month, or sooner where local law requires, and we will not treat you differently for exercising these rights.

Guests

The couple controls the replies to their invitation, so the quickest way to change or remove a reply is to use your reply link or ask the couple. If that does not work, contact us and we will help.

United States

Residents of California and other states with privacy laws have the rights described above, including the right to know what we collect and to request deletion. We do not sell or share personal information as those laws define it, and we do not use sensitive personal information beyond what is needed to provide the service. An authorised agent may make a request for you with proof of authorisation.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to your local regulator: the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or your state attorney general in the United States.

Our service providers store and process information in the United States and other countries. Where information leaves the UK, EU, Canada or Australia, we rely on the provider’s contractual commitments, including the UK International Data Transfer Addendum and EU Standard Contractual Clauses where they apply, to keep it protected to the same standard.

All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS. Sign-in uses single-use links that are stored only as hashes. Photos are kept in private storage and served only after an access check, with location and camera metadata removed on upload. Access to production systems is limited to the people who run the service. No system is perfectly secure, and we will notify you and the relevant authorities of a breach that affects you where the law requires it.

Belowen accounts are for adults planning a wedding. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13, or under 16 in the UK and EU, except where a parent or guardian replies on their behalf as part of a party. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

We will update this policy when the service or the law changes, and revise the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will email account holders before it takes effect. The Terms of Service govern your use of Belowen.

Orbyne Studio, operator of Belowen.
Email [email protected].