Policies

Privacy policy

Effective October 13, 2026. This version replaces the policy dated August 5, 2026.

The Short Version

You can read every listing and guide on this site without an account and without giving us anything.
If you send a vendor an inquiry, we pass it to that one vendor and nobody else.
If you open a planner account, we store what you type into it so you can come back to it.
Our own analytics are cookieless and cannot identify you. We also use Google Analytics to measure traffic.
We never sell or rent personal information, and we do not run advertising.
Vendor listings are built from public business information. A business can correct or remove its listing at any time.
Ask us for a copy of your data, a correction, or deletion and we answer within 30 days.

1. Who we are

Colorado Elopement Guide is an independent directory and planner for couples eloping or having a micro wedding in Colorado. It is run by Ryan from Denver. Our mailing address is Colorado Elopement Guide, 1905 Sherman Street, Ste 200 1074, Denver, CO 80203. The fastest way to reach us is the contact page.

This policy covers coloradoelopementguide.com, the emails we send, and the vendor and couple accounts on the site. It does not cover the websites of the vendors we list or the payment pages run by Stripe, which have their own policies.

2. What we collect from couples

Browsing. Nothing beyond the analytics described in section 4. You can read listings, guides and permit pages without an account.

Saving vendors without an account. The heart button saves vendors in your own browser (local storage on your device). That list never leaves your device unless you create an account or ask us to email it to you. If you ask us to email your list, we store your email address and send the list to you.

Planner account. If you start a planner we store your email address, a hashed version of your password if you set one, the sign in links we send you, and when you last signed in. Inside the planner we store only what you choose to enter: partner names, wedding date, region, guest count, budget, saved vendors, your notes and quote amounts for each saved vendor, and which checklist items you have ticked off. Nothing in your planner is shown to vendors or to anyone else.

Vendor inquiries. When you use the Check Availability form on a vendor's page we store your names, email address, wedding date, guest count and message, along with the vendor you wrote to. If that vendor has claimed their listing, we email them your full inquiry with your address as the reply address so they can answer you directly. If the vendor has not claimed their listing, they get a notice that a couple asked about a date without your contact details, and your message waits for them in our system until they claim. We never send your inquiry to any other vendor. We filter obvious spam and limit how many inquiries one address can send in a day.

Planning kit and planning notes. If you ask for the Colorado Elopement Planning Kit we store your email address, where on the site you signed up, and which emails in the series we have sent you. We email the kit right away, then three short planning notes over about two weeks. Every one of those emails has a one click unsubscribe link.

Contact form. We store your name, email address and message so we can reply and keep a record of the conversation.

3. What we collect from vendors

Public business information. Listings start from information a business has already published: its name, address, phone number, website, category, Google rating and review count, a public photo, and map coordinates. We gather this from the business's own website and from its Google Business Profile through a data provider called DataForSEO. When a business publishes a contact email on its own website we may store it so we can invite the business to claim its free listing. This is business contact information and we use it only to run the directory and to send that invitation. Every invitation has a way to opt out, and we stop when you ask.

Claim forms and accounts. When you claim a listing or open a vendor account we store your name, email address, message, a hashed version of your password if you set one, sign in links, whether your account is verified, when you last signed in, and whether you have unsubscribed from reminder emails. Email addresses used in sign in attempts are stored briefly so we can limit abuse.

Listing edits and photos. Changes you make to your description, phone number and website, the photos you upload, and your Featured waitlist signup are stored and shown on your public listing.

Inquiries and stats. Inquiries couples send you are stored so you can find them in your dashboard. Your dashboard also shows how many times your page was viewed and how often your website and phone links were clicked. Those counts come from the cookieless analytics described below and cannot identify the couples behind them.

Featured billing. Payments are handled by Stripe. We receive your name, email address, the amount paid and the billing period so we can turn Featured on and off. We never see or store card numbers.

4. Analytics

We use two systems to understand how the site is used.

Our own first party analytics. These set no cookies. For each page view we record the page path, the referring website, campaign tags from the link you clicked, device type (phone, tablet or desktop), browser family, country, and a visitor hash. The hash is made by hashing your connection address and browser string, then hashing the result again with a random value that changes every day. We never store your IP address or your browser string, the hash cannot be reversed, and because the salt changes daily the same visitor cannot be followed from one day to the next. We also record a few clicks that matter to the site, such as clicking through to a vendor's website or sending an inquiry, without the content of what you sent. Automated traffic and our own devices are excluded.

Google Analytics 4. Google Analytics sets cookies and processes data under Google's privacy policy. We use it to measure traffic and which pages people find useful. We do not use it for advertising, we do not run ads, and we strip sign in tokens from page addresses before they are sent to Google. Google keeps event data for 14 months. You can block it with Google's opt out browser add on or any content blocker.

Server logs. Our hosting provider, Vercel, keeps short lived request logs that include IP addresses for security and debugging. They are deleted automatically after a short period measured in days.

Fonts. The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, which means your browser requests the font files from Google and Google sees your IP address in that request, as with any file loaded from another website.

5. Email and unsubscribing

Our emails are sent through Resend from the address hello@send.coloradoelopementguide.com. Replies come to a Google mailbox that Ryan reads. We send three kinds of email:

Things you asked for. Sign in links, the planning kit, your emailed vendor list, inquiry deliveries to vendors, claim confirmations, Featured billing notices and replies to your messages. These continue for as long as you have an account or an open request.
Planning notes for couples. Three short notes over about two weeks for people who asked for the planning kit or started a planner. One click on the unsubscribe link in any of them stops the series immediately, with no sign in needed.
Vendor invitations and reminders. A short series inviting a business to claim its listing, and a few onboarding reminders after an account is created. Each has an opt out. We never send more than one to the same vendor within three days and the series stops on its own.

If a link does not work, reply to the email or use the contact page and we will stop by hand.

6. How we use information

To run the directory and the planner, and to show vendors the edits and photos they publish.
To deliver an inquiry to the vendor a couple chose, and to let that vendor reply.
To send what you asked for and to answer your messages.
To show each vendor the views and clicks on their own page.
To turn Featured placement on when a vendor pays and off when a subscription ends, and to keep tax and accounting records of those payments.
To keep out spam, bots and abuse, and to limit how fast forms can be submitted.
To understand which pages are useful so we can improve the site.
To meet legal obligations and to respond to lawful requests.

We do not sell or rent personal information. We do not share a couple's inquiry with any vendor other than the one they wrote to. We do not share the newsletter list with vendors or anyone else. We do not use personal information for advertising.

8. How long we keep it

Planner accounts are kept for as long as you use them. Ask us to delete your account and we remove it, your saved vendors, notes and checklist within 30 days.
Inquiries are kept so the vendor can find them in their dashboard and so we can resolve disputes. Ask us and we delete your inquiry from our records; we will also ask the vendor to delete their copy.
Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribed addresses are kept only on a suppression list so we do not email you again.
Vendor accounts and listing edits are kept while the listing is live. When a listing is removed we keep a short record of the removal so the business is not added again by mistake.
Vendor photos are deleted when you delete them in your dashboard or when your listing is removed.
Payment records are kept for as long as tax and accounting rules require, normally seven years.
Analytics are kept in aggregate. Visitor hashes cannot be linked to a person and are not linked across days.
Sign in attempt records are kept for a short time for rate limiting and then discarded.
Contact form messages are kept so we have a record of the conversation. Ask us and we delete them.

9. Security

The site is served over HTTPS only. Passwords are stored as bcrypt hashes, never in plain text. Sign in links work once and expire after 30 minutes. The database allows no public access; every action that touches personal data goes through access controlled functions, and secrets are never shipped to the browser. Vendor photos are checked for file type and size before they are stored.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach ever affects your personal information we will tell you by email and notify authorities as Colorado law requires.

10. Your choices and rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

tell you what personal information we hold about you and send you a copy;
correct it;
delete it, including closing a planner or vendor account;
stop emailing you;
remove or correct a business listing (see the editorial policy; removals happen within one business day).

Send requests through the contact page or by mail to the address in section 1. We confirm you are the account holder by replying to the email address on the account, then answer within 30 days. There is no charge, and we will never treat you differently for asking. If you think we have handled your information badly, tell us first and we will try to fix it; you can also complain to the Colorado Attorney General or your local data protection authority.

Because our own analytics cannot identify you and we do not sell data or run ads, there is nothing to opt out of there. Browser signals such as Global Privacy Control are respected in the sense that there is no sale or targeted advertising to object to. To block Google Analytics, use the add on or a content blocker mentioned in section 4.

11. Children

This site is for adults planning a wedding. It is not directed at anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

When we change this policy we update the effective date at the top. If a change affects what we collect from account holders or how we use it, we also email account holders before it takes effect. Older versions are available on request.

13. Contact

Use the contact page or write to Colorado Elopement Guide, 1905 Sherman Street, Ste 200 1074, Denver, CO 80203. We reply within two business days.