Privacy Policy

Last updated: 12 August 2026

Maddie Hayes Ceremonies respects your privacy and is committed to handling your personal information responsibly. As a marriage celebrant, I am often trusted with sensitive personal details, including identity documents required for legal marriage paperwork, and I take that responsibility seriously.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information I collect through this website and in the course of providing celebrancy services, why it is collected, how it is used, stored and disclosed, and how you can contact me about your privacy.

As a small Australian business, formal obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) may or may not apply to Maddie Hayes Ceremonies depending on turnover and other factors. Regardless of which specific legal obligations apply, this Policy explains how personal information is handled as a matter of good practice, particularly given the sensitivity of the information involved in marriage celebrancy.

1. What Personal Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with Maddie Hayes Ceremonies, the personal information collected may include:

  • your name, email address and phone number
  • your wedding, ceremony or event date and location
  • how you heard about Maddie Hayes Ceremonies
  • personal stories, relationship history and other details you choose to share to help write your ceremony
  • questionnaire and consultation responses
  • identity documents and information required to complete Australian marriage paperwork (such as the Notice of Intended Marriage), for example evidence of date and place of birth, current marital status, and identity documentation
  • information relating to funeral or memorial services, including details about the person being honoured, where relevant
  • booking, invoicing and payment information
  • any other information you choose to provide, for example through emails, phone calls or social media messages

2. How We Collect Personal Information

Personal information is generally collected directly from you, through:

  • the enquiry and contact form on this website
  • email, phone calls, text messages or social media messages
  • in-person or video consultations
  • planning questionnaires and forms
  • documents you provide for the purposes of preparing legal marriage paperwork

The website may also automatically collect limited technical information through cookies and analytics tools. See section 8 below.

3. Why We Collect and Use Personal Information

Personal information is collected and used to:

  • respond to your enquiry and discuss your ceremony
  • plan, write and deliver a personalised ceremony
  • prepare and lodge legally required marriage documentation
  • manage bookings, invoicing and payments
  • communicate with you before, during and after your ceremony
  • comply with legal obligations relevant to marriage celebrants
  • with your consent, share testimonials, photos or updates, for example on social media, or send occasional marketing communications

We only use personal information for the purpose it was collected, or a purpose you would reasonably expect.

4. Marriage-Related Information and Identity Documents

As an authorised marriage celebrant, I am required by Australian law to collect certain information and documents from couples in order to complete the Notice of Intended Marriage and other paperwork required under the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) and associated regulations, and to lodge the marriage with the relevant state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

This may include evidence of your identity, date and place of birth, and current marital status. This information is collected solely for the purpose of completing your legal marriage paperwork and is handled with particular care given its sensitivity. It is not used for any other purpose, such as marketing, without your separate consent.

5. Disclosure of Personal Information

Personal information may be disclosed to:

  • the relevant state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and other government bodies, where required to legally register your marriage or as otherwise required by law
  • the Attorney-General's Department (or its successor), where required in connection with celebrant registration and reporting obligations
  • trusted third-party service providers who help operate this business, see section 6 below
  • other wedding or funeral vendors involved in your day, such as a funeral director, MC or photographer, but only where you have asked for or consented to that coordination
  • any other party where disclosure is required or authorised by law

Personal information is not sold, and is not disclosed to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

6. Third-Party Service Providers

Like most small businesses, Maddie Hayes Ceremonies relies on third-party software and platforms to operate, which may include website hosting and enquiry form providers (such as Squarespace), email and document platforms (such as Google Workspace), a customer relationship management or booking platform, payment and invoicing platforms, website analytics tools, and social media and advertising platforms such as Instagram and Facebook/Meta.

Each of these providers has its own privacy policy governing how it handles information, and personal information may be processed on their systems as part of running this business. Only reputable providers with appropriate security and privacy practices are used.

7. Overseas Storage and Disclosure

Some of the third-party providers used by this business may store or process personal information on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States, given many popular software and hosting providers operate internationally. Where this occurs, your information may be subject to the privacy and data protection laws of those countries, which may differ from Australian law.

8. Website Analytics, Cookies and Tracking

This website may use cookies and similar tracking technologies, provided by our website platform and any connected analytics or advertising tools, to help the site function properly, understand how visitors use the site, and measure the effectiveness of any advertising.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; however, some parts of the website may not function as intended if you do so.

9. Marketing Communications

With your consent, Maddie Hayes Ceremonies may send you occasional communications, such as updates, offers or content relevant to your enquiry or booking. You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us directly. See section 13. Opting out of marketing does not affect essential communications relating to a confirmed booking.

10. How We Store and Protect Your Information

Personal information is stored electronically, using the platforms and providers described above, and reasonable steps are taken to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes measures such as password protection and limiting access to information to what is needed to provide your ceremony.

No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure, and while reasonable precautions are taken, absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

11. Access to and Correction of Your Personal Information

You may ask to access the personal information Maddie Hayes Ceremonies holds about you, or ask for it to be corrected if it is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. To make a request, please contact us using the details in section 13. We will respond within a reasonable time. In some circumstances, access or correction may be limited, for example where information forms part of legally required marriage records, and if so, we will explain why.

12. Retention and Deletion of Information

Personal information is generally kept only for as long as it is needed for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law.

Marriage celebrants are subject to specific record-keeping obligations under Australian marriage law in relation to documents such as the Notice of Intended Marriage, marriage certificates and related paperwork, and these records are retained in line with those requirements.

For general enquiry and booking information not subject to a specific legal retention requirement, information is generally retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for business, tax and record-keeping purposes, after which it is securely deleted or de-identified.

13. Privacy Complaints and Contact Us

If you have a concern about how your personal information has been handled, or any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it directly:

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au for independent guidance.

14. Changes to This Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. The current version will always be available on this website.