EMÈS Weddings

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 22 February 2026

Last Reviewed: February 2026

1. Data Controller

The data controller responsible for your personal data is:

M. & S. Thomas GbR (trading as EMÈS Weddings)
Shayne Thomas
Jenaer Strasse 71
91058 Erlangen, Germany
Email: shayne@emesweddings.com
Website: https://emesweddings.com

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at the details above.

2. Scope of This Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how EMÈS Weddings collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data in connection with our website at https://emesweddings.com (the “Website”), our photography and videography services, and any communications between us and you.

We are committed to processing your data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and applicable German data protection law (BDSG).

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information You Provide to Us

When you submit an inquiry form, communicate with us by email, or engage our services, we collect:

  • Your name
  • Your email address
  • Your phone number (if provided)
  • Wedding date, venue, and related event details
  • Any other information you choose to share in your messages

3.2 Automatically Collected Data

When you visit our Website, we automatically collect certain technical data, including:

  • IP address (which is considered personal data under GDPR)
  • Browser type and version
  • Device type and operating system
  • Pages visited and time spent on each page
  • Referring website or URL
  • General geographic location (country/region level, not precise location)

This data is collected via Google Analytics and cookies. Please see Section 8 (Cookies) and Section 9 (Third-Party Services) for more detail.

3.3 Photography and Videography Data

As a wedding photography and videography business, we create, process, and store images and videos of you, your guests, and others present at your event. These images and videos may constitute personal data, and in some cases — such as images that reveal religious beliefs or health information — may be considered special category data under Article 9 GDPR.

We obtain your explicit consent to photograph and film your wedding as part of our services agreement. Our contract with you sets out clearly:

  • How your images and videos will be stored and for how long
  • Whether and how your images may be used for our portfolio, website, or social media (with your separate consent)
  • How to withdraw consent for portfolio use at any time

If you have not signed a services agreement with us, we will not use your images for any promotional purpose.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under Article 6 GDPR:

  • Performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)): Processing your inquiry, communicating about bookings, delivering our photography/videography services, and fulfilling contractual obligations.
  • Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): When you voluntarily submit our contact form, or when you provide separate consent for us to use your images in our portfolio or on social media. You may withdraw this consent at any time (see Section 11).
  • Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)): Analysing website traffic via Google Analytics to improve our Website and services. We have assessed that this interest is not overridden by your privacy rights, as the analytics data is anonymised/pseudonymised and you retain the ability to opt out via our cookie consent tool.
  • Compliance with Legal Obligations (Article 6(1)(c)): Where we are required to retain or disclose data under applicable law.

Where we process special category data (e.g., images revealing health or religious information), we rely on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) GDPR.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

  • Responding to your inquiries and providing information about our services
  • Managing bookings, contracts, and the delivery of wedding photography and videography
  • Communicating with you before, during, and after your event
  • Sending images and videos to you after your wedding
  • Improving our Website by analysing usage patterns (via Google Analytics)
  • Displaying portfolio imagery on our Website or social media, where you have provided consent
  • Complying with legal or regulatory obligations

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling.

6. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties. We may share your data only in the following limited circumstances:

  • Service Providers: Third-party providers that assist us in operating our Website and business, such as our web hosting provider, WordPress, and Google Analytics. These providers act as data processors and are bound by contractual obligations to safeguard your data.
  • Portfolio and Publication: With your explicit consent, we may share selected images with wedding publications, blogs, or on our social media channels. You can withdraw this consent at any time.
  • Legal Requirements: Where required by law, such as in response to a court order, regulatory request, or other legal obligation.

We do not share your data with any third parties for their own marketing purposes.

7. International Data Transfers

Our primary business operations and website hosting are based within the European Economic Area (EEA). However, some of our third-party service providers — in particular Google LLC (Google Analytics) — are based in the United States and may process your data outside the EEA.

Where data is transferred to a third country, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

  • Google’s adherence to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework
  • Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission

If we introduce any new international data transfers in the future, we will update this policy and ensure GDPR-compliant safeguards are applied.

8. Cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience on our Website. Cookies are small data files stored on your device.

We use the following categories of cookies:

  • Functional (Essential): Strictly necessary for the Website to operate correctly. These cannot be disabled.
  • Preferences: Allow us to remember your settings and choices.
  • Statistics/Analytics: Used via Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our Website. This data is collected in an anonymised or pseudonymised form.
  • Marketing: Used to track visitors across websites for advertising purposes. We do not currently use marketing cookies for our own advertising.

You can manage or withdraw your cookie preferences at any time using our cookie consent tool (available via the banner on our Website). You can also manage cookies via your browser settings.

For full details, see our Cookie Policy.

9. Third-Party Services

Our Website and business operations make use of the following third-party services, each of which has its own privacy policy:

  • Google Analytics (Google LLC): Website traffic analytics. Data may be transferred to the US under EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework safeguards.
  • WordPress (Automattic Inc.): Our Website is built on WordPress. Automattic may process technical data related to hosting and platform operations.
  • Web Hosting (SiteGround): Our Website is hosted on SiteGround’s servers within the EU. SiteGround processes technical data related to hosting and server operations under a Data Processing Agreement with us.
  • Pic-Time: We use Pic-Time to deliver and host client image galleries. Pic-Time may store and process client images and associated personal data on our behalf, subject to a Data Processing Agreement.
  • Dropbox (Dropbox Inc.): We use Dropbox to store, archive, and manage project files, which may include images and client-related documents. Dropbox is based in the US; transfers are safeguarded by Standard Contractual Clauses. Data is processed under a Data Processing Agreement with us.
  • Adobe Lightroom (Adobe Inc.): We use Adobe Lightroom for editing client photographs. Adobe may process image files and associated metadata on our behalf. Adobe is based in the US; transfers are safeguarded by Standard Contractual Clauses and Adobe’s adherence to applicable data transfer mechanisms.
  • Fluent Forms (WPManageNinja): We use Fluent Forms to power our website inquiry form. Form submissions are stored within our WordPress database on our SiteGround hosting environment and are not transmitted to any external third-party servers by default.

We have entered into Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) with each of these providers where required by GDPR.

10. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law:

  • Inquiry and contact form data: Retained for up to 12 months from the date of your last contact, unless a booking is made.
  • Client booking and contractual data: Retained for up to 10 years from the completion of services, as required by German commercial and tax law (HGB, AO).
  • Wedding photographs and videos: Retained in accordance with the terms of your client contract. Our contract sets out specific retention periods for raw files and edited images, along with your rights to request deletion.
  • Analytics data (Google Analytics): Retained for 26 months as per our Google Analytics configuration (default setting).
  • Portfolio images: Retained until you withdraw your consent for their use.

You may request deletion of your data at any time (see Section 11).

11. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject under GDPR, you have the following rights:

  • Right of Access (Article 15): Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Rectification (Article 16): Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to Erasure (Article 17): Request that we delete your personal data (‘right to be forgotten’), subject to legal obligations to retain certain data.
  • Right to Restriction (Article 18): Request that we limit the processing of your data under certain conditions.
  • Right to Data Portability (Article 20): Receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
  • Right to Object (Article 21): Object to processing based on our legitimate interests (e.g., analytics). We will cease processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent (Article 7(3)): Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal. To withdraw consent for portfolio use, contact us at shayne@emesweddings.com.
  • Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. As we are based in Bavaria, Germany, the relevant authority is: Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA), Promenade 27, 91522 Ansbach, Germany. Website: www.lda.bayern.de.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at shayne@emesweddings.com. We will respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

12. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

  • Secure HTTPS encryption on our Website
  • Password-protected access to client files and data
  • Secure cloud storage for images and videos
  • Limiting access to personal data to those within our team who need it

However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. We remain responsible for ensuring your data is handled with appropriate care, and this policy sets out the steps we take to do so.

In the event of a data breach that is likely to affect your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the relevant supervisory authority as required by GDPR Articles 33 and 34.

13. Children’s Privacy

Our Website and services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16 without verifiable parental consent.

If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child under 16, please contact us immediately at shayne@emesweddings.com and we will take prompt steps to delete it.

Please note that children may appear in wedding photographs. Their images are handled in the same manner as all client data, and we rely on the consent of the parent or guardian (typically through your services agreement) for any such use.

14. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or legal requirements.

When we make significant changes, we will notify you by:

  • Sending an email to the address you have provided us (for existing clients), and/or
  • Displaying a prominent notice on our Website

The “Effective Date” at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of our Website after changes are posted does not constitute acceptance of those changes where consent is the relevant legal basis — we will seek fresh consent where required.

15. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the way we handle your personal data, please contact us:

M. & S. Thomas GbR (trading as EMÈS Weddings)
Shayne Thomas
Jenaer Strasse 71, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Email: shayne@emesweddings.com
Website: https://emesweddings.com

Supervisory Authority:
Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA)
Promenade 27, 91522 Ansbach, Germany
Website: www.lda.bayern.de

EMÈS Weddings — For couples who choose presence over performance.