What does GDPR mean for wedding couples?

Well if you are a wedding couple planning a wedding and getting in touch with wedding suppliers, visiting wedding fayres and exhibitions then it means a lot.

Imagine this scenario...

You visit a wedding fayre and give out your contact details to several suppliers.  Contact details such as

• Name
• Address
• Mobile number
• Date of wedding
• eMail address

By itself that is fine, nearly every wedding supplier will ask for similar information.  But what if that wedding supplier left their laptop open during a post fayre visit to McDonald's (other fast food outlets are available!) and it got stolen.  Your data is now in the hands of some dodgy people.

They know who you are.  They know where you live.  They know the date of your wedding.  In short, they know when your house will be empty.  I'm sure you can work out where this "may" lead.

Now, GDPR isn't there to scare you or wedding suppliers (or other business for that matter).  It is there to ensure your data is protected and give YOU more control.  It is there to simply international business.  It applies to every EU citizen (even when we leave the EU the UK will still be included.)

How can you check to see if the wedding supplier is GDPR compliant?

Well, for one thing, there isn't an official certification badge or certification programme to do that.  GDPR is self-certified.  That means you have to take the business on trust. BUT you can do a few things to check the wedding suppliers...

1.  Do they have a Privacy Policy that specifically mentions GDPR, protecting your personal data, emails, marketing, cookies etc?  My own Privacy Policy is here.  The Privacy Policy should be easy to find by the way, not hidden.
2. Do they have a little pop or such that tells you they are using "cookies" on your computer?  My Privacy Policy covers cookies that I use, namely Facebook and Google.
3. Do they have tick box or such for YOU giving consent to be contacted?  My own Contact Page, for example, has two.  This gives me explicit permission to get in touch and chat about your wedding enquiry but NOT to place your email & other data in a database and continue to send marketing emails out or sell your data etc. It's a double opt-in.  If you don't want to send me a message via the contact form, fine - send me a normal email or call.

A few other things I would look for...

A verifiable address on the website.  You don't need this to be GDPR compliant, but before you hand over any money make sure you know how to contact them should the company fail.

• A landline, not just a mobile.  For the same reasons as above - traceability
• Are they using SSL in the bar or does it have the padlock icon?  This means the website is using encrypted data so is more secure.  Google will start to penalise websites not using SSL so it's a big thing to have for professionals
• A business email address, not a @gmail or @hotmail type account.  Again - more traceable
• If they are a Limited company they MUST have a trading address on their website and other documents (including email) AND the company registration number. Check the company out at Companies House
• If they are a Sole Trade OR Limited company they MUST have a trading address on the invoice they send you
• Look for a full website, not just a Facebook business page.

With the average wedding costing around £33,000 (via The Independent) you should take care who you give your money to.

Questions to ask wedding suppliers

Ask these questions to your prospective wedding suppliers to reassure yourself -

1. Are you insured?  Can you send me copies of your insurance
2. Are you GDPR compliant?  Can you send me copies of your Privacy Policy
3. Where do you trade from?
4. How will you protect my personal information?
5. How long have you traded for?
6. What is your cancellation policy?
7. What happens if you can't provide the goods, product or service?
8. Do you like Jaffa Cakes?

Ok, so Q8 is a bit of a joke.  And to answer the question, I love them!

More questions to think about are on this blog - 36 Questions Every Client Should Ask a Wedding Photographer.

But, seriously.  Do some background checks before parting with money, no matter how little the amount.