Cancellation & Refund Policy

Plans change. We designed the cancellation policy to be predictable and transparent so couples and vendors know exactly what to expect when they need to cancel. This policy is the default refund framework for bookings made through United Vows LLC ("United Vows," "we," "us"); individual contracts may include additional custom conditions both parties agreed to, subject to the limits in "Custom conditions" below.

1. The default cancellation bands

When you book through United Vows, you pay your vendor directly through Stripe Connect, and your vendor is the merchant of record. United Vows does not hold your funds. The bands below are our default cancellation framework and apply to your booking unless your vendor's contract states different cancellation and refund terms. Any refund under these bands is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance. Refund eligibility is determined by who is cancelling and how close to the wedding date the cancellation occurs.

These bands are a contractual obligation of your vendor, who is the merchant of record and issues any refund from the vendor's own Stripe balance. United Vows does not hold your funds and does not guarantee that a refund will be paid. If a vendor fails to issue a refund you are owed, your recourse is against the vendor under your contract and applicable law, and you may also dispute the charge with your card issuer or bank. United Vows can record a claim and hold the vendor to a response deadline, but does not decide the disagreement and cannot compel or advance the refund.

Couple-initiated cancellations

• More than 90 days before the wedding: 100% refund of all paid amounts. The vendor has time to rebook the date.
• 30 to 90 days before the wedding: 50% refund of all paid amounts. The vendor has done real prep work and rebooking is harder.
• Less than 30 days before the wedding: the deposit (the first paid milestone) is forfeited. Subsequent paid milestones still refund 100%.
• After the wedding date has passed: 0% refund unless the vendor failed to perform in whole or in part. Partial-performance refunds in this case are agreed between the couple and the vendor, using the claims process described below if they cannot agree; the vendor issues any refund.

Vendor-initiated cancellations

• Any time before the wedding: 100% refund of all paid amounts. Vendor-initiated cancellations are treated as vendor breach and the couple is made whole.

Force majeure cancellations

• Declared natural disaster, declared public-health emergency, venue insolvency, immediate family bereavement, military deployment, or similar extraordinary circumstance outside the cancelling party's control: refund handled case-by-case between the couple and the vendor, with a presumption favoring proportional refund based on services already rendered and the claims process below available to the couple. Where reasonably feasible, rescheduling is preferred over cancellation.

2. Vendor-specified cancellation terms

Contracts generated on the Platform apply the default cancellation bands in Section 1. If a signed vendor-couple contract expressly states different cancellation and refund terms in its own text, that contract language and applicable law govern between the parties. In every case, because the vendor is the merchant of record and United Vows holds no funds, any refund is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance. United Vows has no authority to compel a refund and provides no fund-holding or refund guarantee.

Statutory consumer protections preserved. Nothing in a contract cancellation term may reduce any non-waivable consumer-protection right under applicable state law (including the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the New York General Business Law §§ 349 and 350, the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and analogous state laws). To the extent a contract term would have that effect, applicable state law controls.

Couples may always file a claim through the Platform when they disagree about a refund. United Vows records the claim, notifies the vendor, and holds the vendor to a response deadline. United Vows does not decide the disagreement and does not order a refund; any refund is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance, and what the couple is owed is limited to what the underlying contract terms and applicable law allow.

3. How cancellations actually work

1. Either party clicks "Cancel this contract" from the contract detail page in their dashboard and provides a reason.
2. The system calculates the refund per the bands above (or, where the vendor has set its own cancellation policy, per that policy) and writes the decision to the contract's audit log, a permanent record of what was refunded and why.
3. The contract status flips to TERMINATED and the other party is notified by email and in-app notification.
4. The vendor issues the refund from the vendor's Stripe balance, typically within 3 to 10 business days. Refunds land in the original payment method (typically credit or debit card). United Vows returns its own platform fee (the Stripe application fee) for that booking alongside the refund — in full on a full refund, and prorated on a partial refund. Actual receipt timing depends on the destination bank.

4. Claims process

If the couple believes the cancellation policy does not fairly reflect what happened (for example, the vendor was unable to fulfill due to circumstances outside their control, the couple's situation involves a documented emergency, or partial performance was rendered), the couple may file a claim through the Platform on the published grounds. The claim process accepts filings from couples only: every published ground describes a failure by the vendor to perform, and there is no ground on which a vendor may file against a couple. A vendor takes part by responding to a claim — with an account of what happened, a refund, or a decline; a vendor's own recourse against a couple is directly under their contract and applicable law, including the arbitration provisions of the Terms of Service. Filing records the claim, notifies the vendor, and starts two clocks: the vendor has 7 days to respond and 30 days to resolve the claim with the couple.

United Vows does not decide who is right. We do not weigh the merits of a contested account, issue findings of fact or liability, or determine what either party is owed. What we record is objective: whether the vendor responded, and whether the claim was resolved. A vendor who does not engage loses standing in our recommendations, and a pattern of unresolved claims from different couples can end their listing on the Platform. Because United Vows holds no funds, United Vows does not hold or move the parties' money; any refund is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance, in the amount and at the time the vendor decides. A couple who paid by card also keeps whatever chargeback rights they have against the vendor under card-network rules.

Nothing United Vows records in a claim is a determination of liability or fact in any subsequent dispute between the parties, and we do not intend by recording it to waive any privilege or settlement protection that may apply. The parties remain free to seek other remedies available under their contract or applicable law.

5. Chargebacks

If a couple initiates a chargeback through their card issuer or bank instead of (or in parallel with) requesting a refund from the vendor, any voluntary vendor refund flow may be suspended and the matter is handled through Stripe's chargeback process and the relevant card-network rules, with the vendor's connected account bearing chargeback amounts and related card-network fees first, and United Vows, as the Stripe Connect platform, bearing any shortfall the vendor's balance cannot cover (not Stripe). Couples are encouraged to request a refund from the vendor through the Platform first. The outcome of a chargeback is determined by the card issuer; the outcome of a Platform-facilitated refund is determined by this policy and by the vendor. Because the vendor is the merchant of record, chargeback amounts and any related card-network fees are borne by the vendor's connected account under Stripe's rules.

6. Metered vendor feature charges

Metered vendor features are charged by use, as described in the Terms of Service Section 2. There is no prepaid balance and nothing for a vendor to pre-fund, so there is no stored balance to refund.

• Electronic-signature charges (per contract sent). The first five contracts a vendor sends for electronic signature each month are free. Each additional send is charged at the per-send price published on our pricing page (currently US $1.00 per contract sent). The charge is recorded when the contract is dispatched to the recipient. It is not refunded if the contract is later revoked, declined, or left unsigned, because the envelope was actually sent; re-sending is a new send at the same price. The price and your remaining free allowance are shown on the send screen before you send.
• AI Receptionist charges (per minute). AI Receptionist calls are metered per minute against the monthly cap the vendor sets. A vendor may mark a call as spam from the call record, which zeroes the billed amount for that call.
• AI feature overages. Use beyond an included monthly AI allowance is blocked unless the vendor has added a payment method and enabled overages. Recorded overage charges are not reversed by later disabling overages; disabling stops further charges.
• Tax. Sales and use tax, where applicable, is assessed on each metered charge.

7. Custom conditions

Custom cancellation conditions both parties signed to may modify the defaults in Section 1, for example a venue contract specifying non-refundable amounts beyond the deposit. Custom conditions cannot reduce a couple's statutory consumer protections under applicable state law. Where a custom condition would have that effect, the default policy applies instead.

8. Examples (illustrative)

The examples below are illustrative and use representative numbers. Actual outcomes depend on the specific contract terms, the amounts paid, and any custom conditions or dispute-review determinations applicable to the booking.

Example 1. Couple paid a $1,000 deposit and a $2,000 progress payment. Wedding is 120 days out. Couple cancels.

• Band: more than 90 days. Refund: 100%. Couple receives: $3,000. Vendor keeps: $0.

Example 2. Same booking, wedding is 45 days out when the couple cancels.

• Band: 30 to 90 days. Refund: 50% of all paid amounts. Couple receives: $1,500. Vendor keeps: $1,500.

Example 3. Same booking, wedding is 14 days out, couple cancels.

• Band: less than 30 days. Deposit forfeit; subsequent paid milestones refund 100%. Couple receives: $2,000 (the progress payment). Vendor keeps: $1,000 (the deposit).

Example 4. Same booking, wedding is 14 days out. Vendor cancels instead.

• Band: vendor breach. Refund: 100%. Couple receives: $3,000. Vendor keeps: $0.

Example 5. Wedding is held. Vendor delivers 70% of the contracted scope (for example, shoots the ceremony but misses the reception due to vendor circumstances). Couple disputes via the Platform.

• Band: after wedding date passed, vendor partial performance. Refund agreed between the couple and the vendor, with the claims process available to the couple. Likely outcome (illustrative, not guaranteed): partial refund proportional to non-performance, issued by the vendor.

9. What is not covered

• Stripe processing fees on the original payment: Stripe may refund the variable percentage portion of its fee on refunded transactions; Stripe's per-transaction fixed fee (currently $0.30) is not refundable by Stripe. We do not control either.
• Custom cancellation conditions both parties signed to may modify the bands above, subject to the limits in Section 7.
• Metered vendor feature charges already recorded (electronic-signature sends, AI Receptionist minutes, AI overages), as described in Section 6.

10. Questions

Email support@unitedvows.com. Cancellation flows live in your dashboard under the contract detail page. See also our Terms of Service.