Terms of Use

1. Who we are

WedConnect SA ("we", "us", "our") operates the wedding-services marketplace at wedconnectsa.com. We are based in Cape Town, South Africa. You can reach us at hello@wedconnectsa.com.

2. Our role — we are a marketplace, not a service provider

WedConnect SA is a marketplace that connects couples planning weddings with independent wedding-service providers (vendors) across South Africa.

We are not the vendor. We do not provide wedding venues, photography, catering, florals, music, attire, or any other wedding service ourselves. Each vendor is an independent business. When a couple books a vendor, the contract is between the couple and the vendor — not with us.

We do not guarantee the quality, safety, legality, availability, or timeliness of any vendor's services. We verify what we reasonably can (business registration, insurance claims where relevant), but verification is not a warranty.

3. Accounts

• You must be 18 or older to create an account.
• You must give accurate information and keep it up to date.
• You're responsible for keeping your password safe and for everything that happens under your account.
• Tell us immediately at security@wedconnectsa.com if you suspect unauthorised access.
• You may close your account at any time. We may close an account that is inactive for 24 months, with notice.

4. Terms for couples (platform users)

Browsing and using the Planning Hub is free. We do not charge couples to send enquiries, save favourites, use the budget tracker, or contact vendors.

When you send an enquiry, your name, email, wedding date and message are shared with the vendor so they can respond. See our Privacy Policy.

You agree to:

• Use the site for genuine wedding-planning purposes only
• Not submit fake enquiries or harass vendors
• Not scrape, copy or republish vendor listings
• Leave honest reviews based on actual experience (see Reviews)

5. Terms for vendors (listed businesses)

Eligibility

To list a business you must:

• Be a registered South African business (CIPC-registered, sole proprietor, or equivalent)
• Provide actual wedding-related services
• Hold any licences, permits or insurance your industry requires
• Agree to handle couples' personal information lawfully under POPIA

Listing accuracy

Your listing must accurately describe what you offer, where you operate, and your pricing structure. You may not:

• Misrepresent your experience, credentials, or portfolio
• Post images you don't have permission to use
• Promise services or outcomes you cannot deliver
• List on behalf of another business without authorisation

Responding to enquiries

If you receive an enquiry through WedConnect SA, we ask (but don't require) that you respond within 48 hours, even if just to say you're unavailable. Consistently ignoring enquiries may affect your ranking or result in account suspension.

Plans & fees

Listing is free. Premium features (verified badge, unlimited photos, analytics, priority placement) are available on paid plans. Current pricing is shown on the vendor sign-up page. We'll give you at least 30 days' notice before changing the price of a plan you're already on.

Vendor refunds

Paid plans are billed monthly or annually. You may cancel at any time; your plan continues until the end of the billing period you've paid for. Annual plans are not refunded on a pro-rata basis unless we materially breach these Terms or you cancel within 7 days of first signing up.

6. Content & conduct

You retain ownership of anything you upload (photos, descriptions, reviews). By uploading, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display it on the site and, for vendors, in marketing materials promoting the platform (e.g. "featured vendor" social posts). You can revoke this licence for future use by deleting the content.

You may not upload, link to, or transmit anything that is:

• Unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or inciting hatred
• Infringing of someone else's copyright, trademark, or privacy
• Malware, spam, phishing, or harvesting other users' data
• Misleading about who you are or what you offer

We may remove content that breaches these Terms without notice, and we may report illegal content to law enforcement.

7. Intellectual property

The WedConnect SA name, logo, site design, code, and compilation of listings are our intellectual property (or licensed to us). You may not copy, scrape, reverse-engineer, or build a competing product from our data. Fair quotation for news or commentary is fine.

8. Payments & fees

All prices are in South African Rand (ZAR) and include VAT where applicable. Payments from vendors are processed by PayFast (Payfast (Pty) Ltd), a licensed South African payment service provider. We do not store full card numbers.

Failed payments: we'll attempt to re-bill twice. If payment remains unpaid for 14 days, premium features are paused until the account is up to date.

9. Bookings & disputes

Any booking, contract, deposit or payment between a couple and a vendor is between those two parties. We are not a party to it and we are not responsible for its performance.

That said, if you have a dispute with someone you met through WedConnect SA, tell us at disputes@wedconnectsa.com. We will:

• Share any information we hold that is relevant and lawful to share
• Mediate informally if both parties want that
• Take action against vendors who repeatedly breach their commitments (suspension, removal, refund of platform fees)

For disputes we cannot resolve, couples may escalate to the National Consumer Commission, and vendors may pursue the usual commercial remedies.

10. Reviews

Reviews help other couples make good choices. We want them to be real.

• Only post a review of a vendor you have actually engaged with for a genuine wedding
• Be truthful. Honest criticism is welcome; false or defamatory claims are not
• Don't offer or accept incentives for positive reviews
• Vendors may publicly reply to reviews once; continued disputes should be handled in private

We reserve the right to remove reviews that clearly breach these rules, but we will not remove a review simply because the vendor is unhappy with it.

11. Suspension & termination

We may suspend or close your account (with notice where reasonable, without notice where necessary) if you:

• Breach these Terms in a material way
• Put other users or the platform at risk (fraud, abuse, security threats)
• Fail to pay outstanding fees after notice
• Misrepresent who you are or what you offer

On termination, your listings are removed from public view. Some information is retained as set out in the Privacy Policy.

12. Our liability

We work hard to keep the site accurate and available, but we do not warrant that:

• The site will be uninterrupted or error-free
• Every vendor listed will deliver what they promise
• Information on the site is complete or up to date at every moment

To the fullest extent permitted by South African law, our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or relating to your use of the site is limited to the greater of R1,000 or the fees you have paid us in the 12 months before the claim.

We do not exclude or limit liability for:

• Death or personal injury caused by our negligence
• Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation
• Anything that cannot lawfully be excluded under the CPA or other South African statute

13. Consumer Protection Act

If you use the site as a consumer (not for business), you have rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008. Nothing in these Terms limits those rights. In particular:

• You have a cooling-off right for purchases made through direct marketing (contact us within 5 business days)
• You have the right to fair, reasonable and just contract terms
• You have the right to have disputes heard by the National Consumer Tribunal

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes (changes that affect your rights or obligations), we'll email you at least 14 days before they take effect. Continuing to use the site after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms. If you don't want to accept them, you can close your account.

15. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa. Any dispute will be dealt with by the South African courts or, where applicable, by the National Consumer Tribunal or the relevant ombud.

16. Contact