Wedding Services in New South Wales

TERMS OF USE

PLEASE READ THE TERMS OF USE STATEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE.

These Terms of Use ("Agreement") outline the terms and conditions (the "Terms") applicable to your use of the products and or services of ABIA Weddings Australia Pty Ltd ("ABIA Weddings Australia" or “ABIA"), available at www.abia.com.au (the “Site”), as well as any other websites owned, wholly or in part and/or operated wholly or in part, by ABIA Weddings Australia. By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand and agreed to be bound by the following terms and conditions of use and ABIA’s Privacy Policy, which govern ABIA Weddings Australia’s relationship between wedding vendors, engaged couples, wedding couples and any third parties in relation to the use of this website, platforms, systems and functionalities provided by ABIA.

If you do not agree to these the terms and conditions below or privacy policy, please do not use this Site.

ABIA reserves the right to amend these Terms without notice. All modified terms and conditions shall take effect immediately and will be binding once they have been posted to the Site. Therefore, ABIA encourages Wedding Vendors, prospective engaged couples, married couples and all other third parties to review the terms and conditions.

This Agreement may not be modified, amended, and/or changed by any persons other than representatives of ABIA Weddings Australia.

WEDDING INDUSTRY PLATFORM AND ONLINE MARKETPLACE

THIRD PARTY TO TRANSACTIONS: ABIA Weddings Australia is a platform and online marketplace for the wedding industry. ABIA Weddings Australia is not a wedding product or wedding service provider, wedding vendor or an agent representative. ABIA Weddings Australia facilitates an online marketplace whereby users which include engaged couples, wedding couples, wedding vendors and other third parties offering products and services related to Weddings and or Engagements and or Honeymoons, can communicate for the purpose of exchanging goods and services for Weddings and or Engagements and or Honeymoons. ABIA Weddings Australia is a platform for the booking process and is strictly a third party to the transaction.

RATINGS, WEDDING AWARDS AND ACCREDITATION FACILITATOR: ABIA Weddings Australia facilitates a platform for wedding couples to rate the products and or services of the wedding vendors once they have utilised the particular product and or service and for wedding vendors to receive client ratings provided by their engaged couples for the purpose of gaining industry accreditation with ABIA Weddings Australia and eligibility in the Annual Wedding Industry Awards.

WEDDING DIRECTORY: ABIA Weddings Australia facilitates a platform whereby engaged couples can list their wedding details to for the purpose of connecting with wedding vendors in the exchange of products and services for their Wedding, Engagement or Honeymoon.

ABIA WEDDING VENDOR DIRECTORY
ABIA Weddings Australia facilitates a platform whereby wedding vendors can list their business details for the purpose of connecting with wedding vendors in the exchange of products and services for a prospective Wedding, Engagement or Honeymoon.


RATINGS SYSTEM

The Client Ratings consist of the opinions provided by wedding couples who have used the products and or services of their wedding vendors for the Engagement, Wedding and or Honeymoon and a calculated score based on the criteria of: Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money, Attitude of Staff, Number of Client Ratings and Best Vendor of The Day. ABIA Weddings Australia does not make judgments on the accuracy of the opinions, ratings, comments, testimonials or statements provided by any of wedding couple and merely facilitates a platform for the purpose of displaying and calculating the scores using the aforementioned criteria.

Rules of providing ratings and reviews:

1. Wedding couples may only leave one numerical rating in the four Pillars of Perfection (Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money, Attitude of Staff) per unique transaction in each category, whether positive, neutral, or negative, for any wedding vendor, plus one testimonial review, per wedding, for the ‘Best Vendor’ that provided a wedding product or service for their Engagement, Wedding of Honeymoon.
2. Wedding vendors, their representatives, their agents, their employees or any persons working on their behalf, may not provide a rating or review for the wedding vendor.
3. Wedding vendors, their representatives, their agents, their employees or any persons working on their behalf, may not provide a rating or review any wedding vendor which they have not used for their own Engagement, Wedding or Honeymoon.
4. By submitting the rating and or review, the wedding couple understands and agrees that the rating and review is subject to an audit by the representatives of ABIA Weddings Australia, at their discretion.

5. ABIA Weddings Australia is provided with a court order finding that the review is defamatory, inaccurate or unlawful

6. The rating or review was provided for a wedding vendor that did not provide products or services for that particular wedding

7. To protect the integrity of the Ratings system, any rating and or review which has been audited by a representative of ABIA Weddings Australia, may be removed or amended under the following conditions:

• The wedding couple has incorrectly, inaccurately or mistakenly provided a rating or review
• The wedding couple was incorrectly, inaccurately or mistakenly registered
• The rating and or review is deemed to be dishonest, false or completed in a manner that would or would be likely to manipulate the system
• The rating and review was completed in the presence of the wedding vendor which they are rating or reviewing for their Engagement, Wedding and or Honeymoon
• The rating or review was completed under duress, influence, encouragement or incentive of a wedding vendor, its representative, agent, employee, family member, friend or affiliate
• The rating or review was completed for the purpose of leading to harmful, slanderous, defamatory or disparaging ratings and or reviews against the wedding vendor
• The rating and review was completed by any persons other than the wedding couple including but not limited to: the wedding vendor and or its representative, employee, family member or friend
• The review contains profanity, abusive, harmful, discriminatory or pornographic content
• The rating or review is a duplicate rating or review for a wedding vendor
• The rating or review was not provided by a legally married couple:

PRESERVING THE INTEGRITY OF ABIA

The Ratings System, Accreditation System, the Vendor Directory is based on the ability for wedding couples to accurately and honestly rate and review the products and or services of their wedding vendors and for other wedding couples to evaluate those ratings and make voluntary decisions upon the collective ratings and reviews provided by the only entity entitled to rate and review the products and or services of their wedding vendors; their Engagement, Wedding and or Honeymoon clients. Thus, in order to preserve the integrity of the Ratings System, Accreditation System, the Vendor Directory, wedding couples and wedding vendors commit to the following:

1. Wedding vendors will not restrict, prevent or discourage a wedding couple from accurately and honestly completing the rating and or review
2. Wedding vendors will not encourage, influence or incentivise a wedding couple to complete the form in a specific manner.
3. Wedding couples will advise ABIA Weddings Australia if a wedding vendor has knowingly or unknowingly tampered with, manipulated or attempted to alter, change, influence encourage or discourage a wedding couples rating or review in a particular manner and or offered an incentive or compensation in exchange for a specific rating or review for their own business or another wedding vendor.
4. Wedding vendors or their employees, affiliates, representatives, family members or friends will not rate or review on behalf of their wedding couples or any other persons who receive a voting form from ABIA Weddings Australia
5. Wedding vendors will not be in the presence of or oversee the ratings and reviews of its wedding members
6. Wedding vendors will not register more than one wedding couple to rate and review their products and or services, more than one time in each category
7. Wedding couples will not rate and or review wedding vendors more than one time in each category

ABIA ACCREDITATION AND AWARDS ACHIEVEMENT

The Awards achieved by a wedding vendor and or ABIA Accreditation afforded to a wedding vendor does not provide an assurance of the quality of product, quality of service, value for money, attitude of staff, or the ability for the wedding vendor to supply the product and or service as agreed to or as describe and does not ensure that the wedding vendor will not make failures or omissions and therefore ABIA Weddings Australia cannot be held liable on the basis of ABIA Accreditation or Awards achievements (including but not limited to: ratings and wedding awards) provided to the wedding vendor or any other affiliation with the wedding vendor which may be perceived as endorsing the wedding vendor. Engaged couples should use ABIA Accreditation, ABIA Awards, Ratings and Business Profile as one step in their wedding planning process and the engaged couple should not make a decision on entering into an agreement for products and or services with a wedding vendor solely based on their affiliation with ABIA and the engaged couple must make further investigations and undertake independent research before entering into a transaction with a wedding vendor listed with or associated to ABIA Weddings Australia.

AUTHENTICITY OF ACCOUNT AND REGISTRATION

By registering with ABIA, engaged couples and wedding vendors acknowledge that the details they have provided are authentic and legitimate and understand that ABIA Weddings Australia will pursue legal action against any persons or wedding vendors who create false, duplicate, unauthentic, unsolicited accounts or otherwise false accounts for any loss or damage incurred by ABIA Weddings Australia, any wedding vendors and or any engaged couples and or wedding couples.
 

MESSAGING PLATFORM

1.   Engaged couples, wedding couples and wedding vendors agree to use the messaging platform solely for the purpose of communicating the exchange of goods and services related to the prospective Couple’s Engagement, Wedding or Honeymoon.

2. ABIA Weddings Australia is not responsible for the content, data or information wedding vendors, engaged couples or wedding couples transmit, include or share via the Chat platform and therefore assumes no liability for any loss or damage incurred for any reason, including but not limited to: any errors, omissions, defamation, slander, libel, falsehoods, obscenity, pornography, profanity, spam mail, abuse, offensive, inappropriate, obscene, marketing or advertising or unsolicited messages, unlawful or otherwise objectionable content or information encountered on the Chat platform
3. ABIA Weddings Australia does not have a duty to review, amend or control the Chat platform or any other communications between engaged couples or wedding couples and the wedding vendor and therefore will not be held liable for any communication exchanged and loss or damage incurred from such exchanges of communication.
4. Notwithstanding that ABIA Weddings Australia has no obligation or responsibility to review, amend or control the Chat platform or any other communications, it reserves the absolute right to do so. Further, ABIA Weddings Australia may at any time remove, withdraw, or edit any content or messages and or block any users from using or having access to the message platform at its discretion and need not provide a reason for doing so.
5. By using the Chat platform, wedding vendors, engaged couples and wedding couples expressly agree not to exchange any of the following:

1. Dishonest, knowingly inaccurate, misleading, slanderous, defamatory, imflammatory, fraudulent content or behaviour.
2. Pornographic, distressing or indecent content or behaviour.
3. Content that may be viewed as threatening, harmful, offensive or harassing or that advocates harassment, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, or otherwise objectionable behavior or content.
4. Content or behaviour that would constitute, encourage, promote, influence illegal activity or give rise to civil liability or go against the Terms of Use.
5. Content that impersonates any person or entity or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity, including ABIA Weddings Australia.
6. Content including any private information of any third party, or requesting or suggesting the exchange of third party private information.
7. Content including viruses, harmful or disruptive links or files, or that causes any harm or liability.
   8. Sensitive information, including but not limited to: account information, passwords, card numbers, financial account numbers or other cardholder data within message platform.
   9. Content relating to the Ratings system and rating or reviewing the wedding vendor.

6. Access to the Chat Platform will be restricted if ABIA receives three (3) or more complaints relating to a particular wedding vendor, engaged couple or wedding couple if the communication by a wedding vendor, engaged couples or wedding couple violates the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy, as determined by ABIA representatives in their sole discretion.

PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES

1. By visiting this site, using ABIA platforms, functionalities, systems or communicating with any ABIA representatives or affiliates, you agree not to:
   
   a) give access to or facilitate access for any robot, spider, scraper or any other automated means

b) copy, duplicate, recreate, refabricate, frame or mirror or otherwise incorporating any part of ABIA site, its platforms, systems, infrastructure, programs and or structure into any other website without our prior written permission from an ABIA representative

f) attempt to or successfully modify, translate, adapt, edit, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any part of ABIA site, its platforms, systems, infrastructure, programs and or structure

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARK AND RESTRICTIONS OF USE

1. ABIA website, its systems, platforms, information, content and merchandise contains copyrighted material which is owned and propriety of ABIA Weddings Australia Pty Ltd. This material includes, but is not limited to: trademarks, Award Plaque, Award Logo, Accreditation Logo, Accreditation Certificate, Testimonial Certificate, or any other merchandise bearing ABIA branding or in relation to the ratings system, the wedding directory, campaigns, functionalities and infrastructure used to provide ABIA website and the system, inventions, potentially patentable business methods, quotes, phrases, HTML code and or computer code and or scripts, algorithms used to calculate the Awards ratings and Accreditation ratings and listing order on the vendor directory (which collectively is ”Intellectual Property Content”), all of which, unless otherwise pursuant to a third party license (such as: Branding License or Franchise License), is the sole property of ABIA and ABIA retains all appurtenant rights, interest and title thereto.

2. ABIA further claims ownership rights under the copyright and trademark laws in relation to the design, layout, look, appearance and graphic function of ABIA website, system, Brides And Grooms competitions and social media accounts.

3. ABIA further claims ownership over trademarks, trade names, service marks, domain names, site names, titles or other indicia of ownership (collectively the “Marks”) owned by ABIA, including but not limited to: ABIA Weddings Australia, ABIA, (Partners of Perfection), ABIA Wedding Awards, Partners of Perfection, Victorian Annual Wedding Industry Awards, New South Wales Annual Wedding Industry Awards, Queensland Annual Wedding Industry Awards, South Australian Annual Wedding Industry Awards, Western Australian Annual Wedding Industry Awards, Australian Capital Territory Annual Wedding Industry Awards, Northern Territory Annual Wedding Industry Awards, Tasmanian Annual Wedding Industry Awards, ABIA Award Winner, ABIA Award Finalist, ABIA Winner, ABIA Award Runner-Up, ABIA Award Third Place Finalist, ABIA Finalist, National ABIA Award Winner, National ABIA Award Finalist, Designer of Dreams, National Wedding Industry Awards, Brides And Groom Campaign, BAG Campaign, Brides And Groom-to-Be Campaign, VOWS, Vendors of Wedding Services, ABIA Accreditation, ABIA Membership/Partnership, ABIA Accredited, ABIA Appointed, ABIA Approved, ABIA Ambassador, ABIA Hall of Fame, ABIA Member.

4. ABIA Weddings Australia expressly reserves all Intellectual Property Content, copyright, trademarks and Marks in all documents, information, graphics and materials related to ABIA and we reserve the right to take legal action against any persons who modify, copy, distribute, transmit, upload, share, display, perform, reproduce, duplicate, amend publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer, or sell or re-sell any information, software, products, or services obtained from or through this Website, email communications, newsletters, documents, information or materials provided by or obtained through ABIA, its representatives or affiliates for the purposes of sale, commercial gain or the use by any third party, unless:

a) If you have entered into an agreement with ABIA Weddings Australia for the purchase of a branding license. In this instance, the agreement entitles your business to use: ABIA Weddings Australia Awards logo in its original form (only if achieved and directly provided to your business by ABIA), Membership/Partnership and or Accreditation logo in its original form only if achieved and directly provided to your business by ABIA, Membership/Partnership and or Accreditation Certificate in its original form only if achieved and directly provided to your business by ABIA, for a period of twelve (12) months from the date of the agreement, in so far as to promote your Accreditation and Awards achievement.

b) If you have purchased any materials and or merchandise bearing ABIA Weddings Australia branding and or logos, including but not limited to: Awards Plaque, Awards Certificate, Accreditation or Membership/Partnership Certificate, Accreditation or Membership/Partnership logo, Certificates, Posters, Flyers, Email Signatures, newsletter Templates and Graphic Designs.

5. In the instances where you have entered into a branding license agreement with ABIA, or you have purchased any materials and or merchandise bearing ABIA Weddings Australia branding and or logos and or insignia and or indicia and therefore have been given the express right to use the specific intellectual property content, copyright, trademark and or mark, you agree that you will not use the aformentoned in any manner that may intentionally or unintendedly cause loss and or damage to ABIA, and or cause harm to the reputation of ABIA or diminish the value of ABIA and understand that ABIA reserves the right to pursue legal action against any persons who does so.

CONTENT PROVIDED BY YOU

1. By providing content to ABIA, including but not limited to: images, videos, logos, phrases and quotes, you expressly represent and warrant the following:

a) you are the owner of the content with all appurtenant rights thereto and that any persons, businesses or entities connected with the content have granted you permission to publish, distribute, reproduce and distribute the content for advertising and or marketing and or promotional purposes; or

b) you legitimately hold a world-wide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable, sub-licensable, non-exclusive license to use, publish, distribute, reproduce and distribute the content.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

1. By using this site, wedding vendors, engaged couples, wedding couples and or third parties absolve ABIA Weddings Australia from liability resulting directly or indirectly, wholly or in part of using the Site, facilities, platforms or affiliations of ABIA Weddings Australia and waives any legal action against ABIA Weddings Australia.

2. It is the responsibility of the wedding couples to ensure the products and services, information, material and content available on this site and by ABIA or any material, data or content made available by a third party source or external link or offline advertising which is affiliated to ABIA, meet the requirements by the wedding couple.

3. The wedding couple cannot hold ABIA responsible for any inaccuracies, errors, omissions, failures or falsehoods, even I such content encouraged, influenced or caused the wedding couple to connect with and or make a transaction with the wedding vendor.

4. ABIA Weddings Australia is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any of wedding vendors, wedding couples, or any other third party, affiliate or representative.

5. Although ABIA Weddings Australia attempts to keep the Site, its platforms and systems safe and free from malicious bugs, use the site, platforms and systems at your own risk as ABIA takes no liability for any damage or loss incurred by visiting or using any part of ABIA site, system, platform or link.

6. ABIA Weddings Australia does not guarantee the Site, its platforms and systems will always be secure, safe, without error and or will function without disruptions, delays, failures or omissions.

7. As ABIA website, platforms and systems include sensitive information including but not limited to financial details and personal details, it is the responsibility of the wedding vendor, wedding couple and any other third party to keep your account secure.

8. ABIA Weddings Australia and its employees are not responsible for any claims of loss or damage resulting from use of the system and therefore will not be held liable for any consequential, indirect or direct damages arising wholly or in part from any users connection with ABIA, the site, ability or inability to use the systems, platform, program or affiliated event or campaign or competition or coupon or booking, or any consequential loss or damages of any kind arising from any decision made or inaction or action taken by you, or a representative, or a third party in reliance of the information or content contained on the site, platform, program or affiliated event or campaign or competition or coupon or booking, whether in an action for breach of contract and or any other tortious action or whether from errors, omissions, falsehoods or failures in the directory, awards, system, accreditation, message platform, inaccuracies of listings or wedding vendor listing or any other product or service provided by ABIA.ABIA’s liability and any liability attributed to its employees, wedding vendors, engaged couples, wedding couples and third parties is limited to $100.00 notwithstanding the failure of essential purpose of any remedy.

INDEMNITY

By using this site, and or making decisions based on information and or content which is affiliated in any way to ABIA and or entering into agreements based on the information or content related in any way to ABIA, wedding vendors, engaged couples, wedding couples and third parties absolve ABIA Weddings Australia and its employees from liability resulting directly or indirectly, wholly or in part of using the Site, facilities, products or services or platforms or affiliations of ABIA Weddings Australia and waives any legal action against ABIA Weddings Australia and agree to indemnify and defend ABIA Weddings Australia and its employees from any claim and or demand including reasonable legal fees, or liabilities including but not limited to any losses, costs, harm, damage, whether direct or indirect or consequential, made by or arising out of, whether wholly or in part, the use of ABIA site, facilities, products or services or platforms or affiliations.

NO WARRANTY

ABIA, its employees and wedding vendors provide the site, products and services “as is” without any warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. ABIA Weddings Australia gives no warranty that the documents, products or services or tools will be free of errors, or that defects will be corrected, or that our website or its server is free of viruses or any other harmful components. Whilst we, at all times endeavour to have the most accurate, reliable and up-to-date information on our website, we do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the result of the use of any document, product, service, link or information on ABIA website or as to their correctness, suitability, accuracy, reliability, or otherwise. It is your sole responsibility and not the responsibility of ABIA Weddings Australia to bear any and all costs of servicing, repairs, or correction. The applicable law in your state or territory may not permit these exclusions, particularly the exclusions of some implied warranties. Some of the above may not apply to you but you must ensure you are aware of any risk you may be taking by using this website or any products or services that may be offered through it. It is your responsibility to do so.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
ABIA Weddings Australia may provide links to other websites, advertisements and information relating to wedding vendors and or third parties on the website, directory, platforms, systems or email communications.
ABIA Weddings Australia takes no responsibility for any of the content, data and or information located on the linked and external websites or for any loss or damage incurred by following or landing on the link or external website.

ARBITRATION

Should you wish to pursue a non-legal dispute regarding ABIA, wedding vendors, engaged couples or wedding couples you may bring forward your dispute via email to: info@abia.com.au.

JURISDICTION

This agreement and ABIA website is governed by the laws of Queensland and Australia.
Should you wish to pursue a legal dispute, you must make such submissions to the courts of Queensland.

UNENFORCEABLE TERMS

Should any term, clause or condition in the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy be deemed illegal and unenforceable by any State or Territory, then that term, clause or condition will excluded and be considered as never to have been included in Terms of Use or Privacy Policy in the State or Territory it is deemed to be unenforceable and illegal. Any excluded term, clause and condition shall not have bearing on the legality and enforceability of any other terms, conditions or clauses or the legality and enforceability of the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. However, should the clause, term or condition be deemed legal and enforceable in any other State or Territory, it will continue to be part of this agreement in those particular States and Territories and will remain legal and enforceable.

Engaged Couples and Wedding Couples


REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT

1. By registering and or creating an account and or submitting personal information, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy and you accept both agreements and agree to the following:
2. you are an authentic engaged couple or have had a legal marriage
3. the details you have provided are true and accurate
3. ABIA Weddings Australia may pursue legal action against any persons who create false, duplicate, unauthentic, unsolicited accounts or otherwise false accounts, for any losses or damage incurred
4. you are giving permission for ABIA Weddings Australia to use your profile picture, content, and information and have no objection to the publication, use, modification, deletion and marketing of the content by ABIA Weddings Australia or its licensees, successors and assigns
5. your details will be subject to the Privacy Policy.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

1. The information ABIA will request from you and how it will be used is outlined in detail under the Privacy Policy. Please read this information carefully before registering an account with ABIA and providing your details to ABIA.
2. The following details will be made available ONLY to wedding vendors who meet your set wedding requirements: wedding ID number, wedding budget, number of guests, number of bridesmaids, number of groomsmen, wedding date and proposed wedding date, residential state, wedding location and proposed wedding locations, wedding venues and wedding vendors you have already booked, the wedding categories you are interested in.
3. The following details will be made available ONLY to wedding vendors who meet your wedding requirements, AND that you have carefully selected as your “favourite” wedding vendors: your first and last name, your partners first and last name, email address and phone number, wedding ID number, wedding budget, number of guests, number of bridesmaids, number of groomsmen, wedding date and proposed wedding date, residential state, wedding location and proposed wedding locations, wedding venues and wedding vendors you have already booked, the wedding categories you are interested in. By choosing a wedding vendor as a “favourite” you give unequivocal permission for ABIA Weddings Australia to release the aforementioned details and give unequivocal permission for those particular wedding vendor connect you via the Chat platform and or via email and or phone.
    

WEDDING VENDORS

1. ABIA Weddings Australia does not provide any of the products or services advertised or offered by any wedding vendor or third party.
2. ABIA Weddings Australia does not endorse any products or services provided by the wedding vendor and or third party.
3. ABIA Weddings Australia has no control over the quality, accuracy, safety, or legality of the transactions between you and the wedding vendor that take place on the website or via any of its platforms and or facilities, or beyond.
4. ABIA Weddings Australia cannot guarantee the accuracy of wedding vendor listings.
5. ABIA Weddings Australia cannot guarantee the ability of Wedding Vendors to provide products or services.
6. The Awards achieved by a wedding vendor and or ABIA Accreditation afforded to a wedding vendor does not provide an assurance of the quality of product, quality of service, value for money, attitude of staff, or the ability for the wedding vendor to supply the product and or service as agreed to or as describe and does not ensure that the wedding vendor will not make failures or omissions and therefore ABIA Weddings Australia cannot be held liable on the basis of ABIA Accreditation or Awards achievements (including but not limited to: ratings and wedding awards) provided to the wedding vendor or any other affiliation with the wedding vendor which may be perceived as endorsing the wedding vendor. Engaged couples should use ABIA Accreditation, ABIA Awards, Ratings and Business Profile as one step in their wedding planning process and the engaged couple should not make a decision on entering into an agreement for products and or services with a wedding vendor solely based on their affiliation with ABIA and the engaged couple must make further investigations and undertake independent research before entering into a transaction with a wedding vendor listed with or associated to ABIA Weddings Australia.
7. ABIA Weddings Australia uses techniques to assist in verifying the identity of Wedding Vendors when they register with ABIA Weddings Australia; however, ABIA Weddings Australia cannot guarantee each wedding vendors’ identity or the business legality.
8. ABIA Weddings Australia cannot be held liable or responsible for any omissions or failure by Wedding Vendors, including but not limited to instances where a Wedding Vendors fails to provide a product or service, wholly or in part as agreed to or described and thus cannot be held responsible for the actions or inactions of wedding vendors, engaged couples, or third parties.
9. By using the Site, facilities, platforms and affiliations of ABIA Weddings Australia, you absolve ABIA Weddings Australia from liability resulting directly or indirectly, wholly or in part of using the Site, facilities, platforms or affiliations of ABIA Weddings Australia and waives any legal action against ABIA Weddings Australia.
10. Any and all communications, correspondence, verbal or written, or any warranties or representations, made with regard to products and services offered through ABIA Weddings Australia is between you and the wedding vendor.
11. Any transaction entered into with the wedding vendor or any third party is solely and strictly between the prospective client and the wedding vendor or third party and ABIA Weddings Australia is not a party to that transaction.
12. ABIA Weddings Australia will not be involved in any dispute between the you and wedding vendor, except in instances regarding your use of the Site.

RATING WEDDING VENDORS

1. You must only submit a rating for your wedding vendor once you have used the product and or service related to your Engagement, Wedding or Honeymoon.
2. When rating your wedding vendors, you agree to provide a true and honest rating in the Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money and Attitude of Staff.
3. You will not accept incentives from a wedding vendor or any persons representing a wedding vendor to rate their products and or services in a particular manner that is not a true and honest reflection of their products and or services in the Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money and Attitude of Staff.
    
4. If ABIA Weddings Australia believes you have undermined the integrity of the Ratings system in any way, your account will be suspended or terminated.
    
5. ABIA Weddings Australia reserves the right to pursue legal action for any loss or damage incurred from the direct or indirect cause of undermining the Rating System.

RATINGS, REVIEWS, COMMENTS & TESTIMONIALS

1. You acknowledge and agree that your ratings will be confidential and that your written review will be published. In this instance, by submitting content to ABIA Weddings Australia, you are granting ABIA Weddings Australia and its wedding vendors a nonexclusive, royalty-free and perpetual right to: use, duplicate, distribute, publish, create derivative works and merchandise from and publicly display the content you have provided including but not limited to: ratings, reviews, testimonials and comments, in any marketing and advertising, both online and offline for any purpose.

YOUR COMMITMENTS

By registering, you are making the following commitments:

1. You will not provide any false personal information, or create an account for any person other than yourself, without prior written permission ABIA Weddings Australia.
2. You will not create more than one account.
3. If your account has been suspended or terminated, you will not create another one without prior express and written permission from ABIA Weddings Australia.
4. You will keep your account information accurate, honest and up-to-date.
5. You will not share your password with any person or allow any other person to access your account, or undertake any actions which may affect the security of your account.
6.  You will act in good faith and provide fair and honest ratings, reviews, testimonials and comments relating to the wedding vendors products and or services.

WEDDING ACCOUNT TERMINATION

1. ABIA Weddings Australia reserves the absolute right to refuse a registration, suspend or terminate an account at any time, if it is in violation of the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy.
    
2. You may petition for re-instatement by submitting a written statement via email correspondence to ABIA (info@abia.com.au), with the headline ‘Petition For Reinstatement’, outlining why your account should be reinstated and your contact information. Your petition for re-instatement within thirty (30) days and the it will be solely up to the discretion of ABIA as to whether your account will be re-instated. You will be advised by written statement via email correspondence as to the result of ABIA’s determination. The written statement will include a judgement of ‘approved’ or ‘disapproved’, but it will not specific the reasons for the decision. All decisions will be final and will not be subject to review.
3. If for any reason, the relationship between ABIA and wedding couple has been terminated, or the account has been deactivated, ABIA will have the absolute right to retain all reviews, ratings, testimonials, comments, communication, profile information, wedding details and personal details.

Wedding Couples


What information ABIA collects

1. When a wedding vendor registers your details on with ABIA, they will be asked to provide the following information: a) first name and last name, b) email address, c) contact phone numbers, d) wedding date, e) residential state, f) wedding state g) the services the wedding vendor has provided.
2. ABIA will ask you to provide the following information and content relating to you as an induvial that can identify you or contact you directly and the businesses you have used for your Engagement, Wedding or Honeymoon, including: your first and last name, your partners first name and last name, email address, contact phone numbers, wedding date, residential state, wedding vendors business and contact details.
3. ABIA will collect and store the numerical rating in the criteria of Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money and Attitude of Staff, for each wedding category and wedding vendor that you have used for your Wedding, Engagement or Honeymoon.
4. In order to preserve your privacy, ABIA will allocate a your ratings with a Nomination ID, this Nomination ID will be the only data used to identify your ratings publicly on the wedding directory and on any other relevant merchandise, marketing, advertising or promotional material.
5. ABIA will collect and store the testimonial written review which you have provided for the wedding vendor which you have elected at the ‘Best wedding vendor of the day’, relating to your Wedding, Engagement and or Honeymoon.
6. If you visit the site, ABIA will automatically receive, collect, gather and store any information and data from your computer including but not limited to: your user history and online activity on ABIA website and any systems or functionalities provided by ABIA, communication on the messaging platform, any and all actions undertaken on the site, session data, your IP address, browers software, referring website, information identifying your device, content viewed and pages visited.
7. By creating an account, ABIA will store your username and password in so far as to assist you with accessing your profile, managing your profile or investigating breaches of this agreement.

Obtaining Consent

1. Wedding vendors must obtain express consent from you prior to registering your details on the system.
2. If you wedding details were provided to ABIA in error, without consent or you no longer wish for ABIA to store your details, please send an email to: info@abia.com.au with the title ‘Withdraw Consent to Store Information’ and request that your information be withdrawn, deleted and removed from ABIA website and your account to be terminated. A representative from ABIA will be in contact with you within 48 hours and proceed with your request within a further 48 hours.

How your information will be used

1. In order to preserve your privacy and to facilitate a true and honest ratings system, ABIA will allocate a Wedding ID number to your account in lieu of your first and last names, this Wedding ID number and your wedding date will be the data used to identify your ratings publicly.
2. In order to preserve your privacy, ABIA will allocate a your ratings with a Nomination ID, this Nomination ID will be the only data used to identify your ratings publicly on the wedding directory and on any other relevant merchandise, marketing, advertising or promotional material.
3. ABIA will use your ratings and reviews to calculate a wedding vendors’ overall score when evaluating the business for:
   
   a) Accreditation
   b) Wedding Awards
   c) Directory listing placement
4. If you have provided a testimonial, ABIA will publicly make available:
   
   a) the numerical rating you have provided in the criteria of Quality of Product, Quality of Service, Value for Money and Attitude of Staff
   
   b) the written review which you have provided for the wedding vendor which you have elected at the ‘Best wedding vendor of the day’. This testimonial will include your Wedding ID number and Wedding Date.
5. Your testimonial review may be used for merchandising purposes, at sole discretion of ABIA.
6. Any data, except personal details and contact details, collected from your use of the site will be used by ABIA and or its affilitates for marketing and advertising purposes.

7. ABIA will further collect and store your information, data and content for the following general purposes:

13. to allow you to register, access, manage and use the site;
14. to gather data for statistics
15. to keep a record of communication with wedding businesses;
16. to facilitate a booking services between wedding vendors and engaged couples
17. to facilitate a directory of wedding vendors;
18. to facilitate a voting system based on the ratings of past weddings;
19. to publish your wedding profile and details and make them available to businesses which meet your set requirements
20. to communicate with you in general, including to provide information about ABIA, wedding vendors, engaged couples, wedding couples, the wedding community, affilitates, sponsors and third parties;
21. to improve our products, services, system, algorithms, functionalities and website
22. to offer various product, services and marketing initiatives for your business
23. to inform you of special offers, deals, initiatives, campaigns, wedding awards, Membership/Partnership status, programs, industry events and any other services relating to your business
24. to facilitate rewards, incentives and competitions