Data and Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 30 July 2026

At The Courthouse Registry (ABN 84 236 142 143) we are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, disclose, and protect your personal information when you engage with us — whether through our website, a booking, or your ceremony itself.

This Policy is written to meet our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) it contains, as well as the record keeping requirements that apply to marriage ceremonies under the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) and the Marriage Regulations 2017 (Cth).

1. Who We Are

The Courthouse Registry provides courthouse-style registry wedding ceremonies based in Sydney, NSW. This Policy applies to all visitors, clients, celebrants, vendors, and users of our website — www.thecourthouseregistry.com.au — and our associated services.

We are an "APP entity" for the purposes of the Privacy Act, and we handle personal information in accordance with this Policy regardless of whether we ultimately fall within the Act's small business turnover threshold.

2. What Personal Information We Collect

We may collect and hold the following categories of personal information:

  • Identity Data: Full name, date of birth, gender, pronouns.

  • Contact Data: Email address, phone number, postal or residential address.

  • Marriage & Legal Documentation Data: Information required for your Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) — including evidence of date and place of birth (e.g. birth certificate or passport), photographic identification, and, where applicable, evidence of a prior divorce or the death of a former spouse.

  • Event Data: Ceremony date, run-sheet details, guest numbers, and venue or styling preferences.

  • Payment Data: Transaction and billing details (processed securely by third-party payment providers — we do not store full card details ourselves).

  • Usage Data: Information about how you browse and interact with our website.

  • Special Requirements (only if you tell us): Dietary, accessibility, or health-related information you choose to share so we can accommodate you on the day. This is "sensitive information" under the Privacy Act, and we will only collect it with your consent and use it for the purpose you gave it to us.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16 without parental or guardian consent. Separately, under the Marriage Act, a person must generally be 18 or older to marry; a party aged 16–17 may only do so with a court order and parental consent, and we will sight and retain evidence of that authorisation where relevant.

Where it's practical and lawful to do so, you may deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym (for example, when simply browsing our website) — though identity verification is a legal requirement of the marriage process itself, so this option doesn't extend to the ceremony booking.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We collect personal information through:

  • Direct interactions — booking forms, emails, calls, or in person

  • Website form submissions and enquiries

  • Your Notice of Intended Marriage and supporting documents

  • Social media messages or tags

  • Automated technologies (cookies and analytics tools)

  • Third-party referrals — e.g. celebrants, venues, or vendors, with your consent

4. Why We Collect and Use It

We use your personal information to:

  • Process bookings and deliver your ceremony

  • Prepare and lodge your Notice of Intended Marriage and related legal documentation

  • Personalise and coordinate the details of your ceremony

  • Communicate with you before and after your event

  • Manage payments, invoicing, and accounting

  • Meet our legal obligations to Births, Deaths and Marriages registries and other authorities

  • Register your marriage through Births, Deaths and Marriages

  • Improve our website and services

We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for these purposes, and we do not sell your personal information to third parties.

5. Our Legal Framework

We handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which cover matters including:

  • Open and transparent management of personal information (this Policy)

  • Collection of only what is reasonably necessary, and only sensitive information with consent

  • Use or disclosure limited to the purpose it was collected for (or a related purpose you'd reasonably expect)

  • Data quality, security, access, and correction rights

  • Restrictions on using government-related identifiers (such as passport or driver's licence numbers) as our own identifiers for you

Where our services involve solemnising a marriage, we also comply with the notice, evidence, and registration requirements of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) and Marriage Regulations 2017 (Cth).

6. Sharing Your Information

We may share your personal information with:

  • The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the State or Territory where your ceremony takes place — your Notice of Intended Marriage and Certificate of Marriage are required to be forwarded within 14 days of your ceremony so your marriage can be registered

  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics, which receives limited, largely non-identifying information from the Registry for national marriage statistics

  • Authorised celebrants engaged to solemnise your ceremony

  • Payment processors (e.g. Stripe)

  • Ceremony collaborators — photographers, venue staff, florists, and similar vendors, where relevant to your booking

  • Legal or regulatory authorities, where required or authorised by law

All third parties we share information with are required to handle it in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

7. Overseas Disclosure

Some of the tools and platforms we use to run our business are hosted or operated overseas — for example Squarespace, Stripe, Gmail, and analytics tools, e.g. Google Analytics. This means your personal information may be handled or stored outside Australia, most likely in the United States.

Before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps to ensure they don't breach the Australian Privacy Principles in relation to that information — for instance, by relying on reputable providers with their own privacy and security commitments. If you'd like a current list of the overseas providers we use, contact us using the details in Section 17.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, and accounting obligations. In general:

  • Marriage documentation (NOIM, evidence sighted, and related records) is retained in line with our obligations as [an authorised celebrant / a business supporting authorised celebrants] under the Marriage Act and Marriage Regulations, and forwarded to the relevant registry within the required timeframe.

  • Financial and accounting records are typically retained for 5–7 years in line with our tax and record-keeping obligations.

  • Other personal information is retained only as long as it remains necessary, and is then securely destroyed or de-identified.

You can ask us to delete your personal information at any time, subject to our legal record-keeping obligations (in particular, we cannot delete records we're legally required to retain or that have already been lodged with a government registry).

9. Your Rights

You have the right to:

  • Ask what personal information we hold about you and request access to it

  • Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, out of date, or incomplete

  • Ask us to stop using your information for a particular purpose, or withdraw consent where we rely on it

  • Make a complaint about how we've handled your personal information (see Section 15)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 17. We'll respond within a reasonable time and won't charge you for making a request, though we may charge a reasonable fee for giving access if applicable.

10. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. This includes secure storage, restricted access, and secure handling of physical documents such as identity evidence provided for your NOIM.

If we experience a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to you, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act.

11. Cookies & Analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Understand how visitors use our site

  • Improve website functionality

  • Measure the performance of our content

You can manage or disable cookies at any time through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website functionality.

12. Direct Marketing

We do not currently send marketing emails or SMS. If this changes in future, we will only send you direct marketing communications with your consent (opt-in), in line with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and APP 7 of the Privacy Act, and every communication will include a simple way to opt out. Operational messages relating to your booking or ceremony (such as confirmations or reminders) aren't marketing and will continue regardless of your marketing preferences.

13. Third-Party Link

Our website may link to external sites, such as Instagram, Pinterest, or vendor partners. We aren't responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies separately.

14. Children & Marriage Age

Under the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth), a person must generally be at least 18 years old to marry. A person aged 16–17 may only marry with a court order and parental consent, and we will sight and retain evidence of this before proceeding. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16 other than as part of this exceptional process, and only with parental or guardian involvement.

15. Complaints

If you believe we've mishandled your personal information, please contact us first using the details in Section 17 — we'll aim to acknowledge your complaint promptly and resolve it within a reasonable time (generally 30 days).

If you're not satisfied with our response, or don't hear back within a reasonable time, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):

📞 1300 363 992 🌐 www.oaic.gov.au 📮 GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

16. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we'll update the "Effective Date" at the top of this page and, where changes are significant, notify you directly.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions about how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

The Courthouse Registry 📍 716/185 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000 📧 hello@thecourthouseregistry.com 🌐 www.thecourthouseregistry.com