These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of the United Vows website, mobile experiences, and platform services (collectively, the "Platform"). United Vows is operated by United Vows LLC, an Ohio limited liability company. References to "United Vows" mean United Vows LLC unless context requires otherwise.

Please read these Terms carefully. They contain (i) a binding arbitration agreement and (ii) a class action waiver in Section 14. These provisions affect how disputes between you and United Vows are resolved. By creating an account or using the Platform, you agree to these Terms in full. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

United Vows operates as three connected experiences: a free planning suite for couples, a marketplace for wedding vendors, and a guest experience for invitees. The Terms below are organized by which apply universally and which apply only to specific roles.

1. Eligibility, account creation, and electronic-contract consent

You must be at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract to create a United Vows account. By creating an account, you represent that you meet these requirements. We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts at our discretion if we believe an account is being used in violation of these Terms or applicable law.

You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access. You are responsible for activity on your account up until you report a compromise.

Electronic contract and consumer-consent to electronic records. By clicking to accept these Terms during account creation, you (a) agree to enter into this contract by electronic means under the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act ("ESign Act"), 15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq., and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act ("UETA") as enacted in your jurisdiction; (b) agree your electronic acceptance has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature; (c) affirmatively consent under 15 U.S.C. § 7001(c) to receive these Terms, the Privacy Policy, and other required notices, records, and disclosures (including any record that a law would otherwise require be provided in writing) in electronic form on a category-wide basis for the duration of your relationship with us.

For the avoidance of doubt and to satisfy 15 U.S.C. § 7001(c) where it applies:

Right to a paper copy. You may request a paper copy of any electronic record we provide to you, free of charge, by emailing support@unitedvows.com. The first paper copy of any given record is free; if you request more than three (3) paper copies of the same record we may charge reasonable duplication costs.
Right to withdraw consent. You may withdraw your consent to receive future records in electronic form at any time by emailing support@unitedvows.com. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the legal effectiveness, validity, or enforceability of records provided to you in electronic form before your withdrawal. If you withdraw consent, we may no longer be able to provide the Platform to you and may close your account.
Updating your contact information. Notify us promptly of any change to the email address or other contact information associated with your account by updating your account settings or emailing support@unitedvows.com.
Hardware and software requirements. To access and retain electronic records, you need: an internet-connected device, a current version of a major web browser, a working email account capable of receiving HTML email, software capable of opening PDF documents, and sufficient device storage. By clicking to accept these Terms, you confirm you can access and retain electronic records under these requirements.
Scope. Your consent covers categories of records, including these Terms and any update, the Privacy Policy and any update, the Refund Policy, the Cookies Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy, the DMCA Policy, the Platform Addendum, any vendor-couple contract you sign on the Platform, any payment authorization (including any NACHA WEB-debit authorization for ACH payments), tax forms, and any required regulatory disclosure.

We act as a provider-agnostic sender of electronic records. We may use any one or more electronic-signature services to administer signing of contracts on the Platform, and we reserve the right to change the underlying provider at any time without further notice; the legal effect of your signature does not depend on which service we use. For every signed record, we capture and retain an audit trail consisting of: the authenticated identity of the signer (account identifier, name, and email of record), the timestamp of acceptance in coordinated universal time (UTC), the IP address and user-agent of the accepting session, the exact text and version of the consent and the document signed, the SHA-256 hash of the signed document, and the authentication method used (clickwrap acceptance, access code, one-time passcode, or stepped-up identity verification, as applicable to the record).

2. Free for couples, performance-based for vendors

Couples use the planning suite at no cost. This includes AI assistance, vendor search, the budget and guest tools, the wedding website builder, and secure payment tools that route your payments directly to your vendors through Stripe. We do not charge couples for matching, recommendations, or completing bookings.

Vendors pay a performance-based platform fee on bookings completed through the Platform. The fee is determined by the vendor's tier (VERIFIED, ESTABLISHED, or ELITE) and is published on our pricing page. The fee may be lower than the standard tier rate when an Early-Engagement Lock applies, when the vendor is enrolled in the Founding Vendor Program (specific Founding Vendor Program terms are provided in writing at the time of enrollment and govern in addition to these Terms), or when an active promotional code redemption is in effect. The applicable fee is locked at the time each payment is charged and is collected automatically as the Stripe application fee on that charge.

Stripe processing fees (currently around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) are separate from our platform fee and go directly to Stripe. Vendors may absorb these or pass them on to their clients at their discretion. Stripe's variable percentage may be partially refunded by Stripe on refunded transactions; Stripe's per-transaction fixed fee is not refundable. We do not control either.

Vendor billing under these Terms is transaction-based on completed bookings. We do not charge vendors a flat recurring subscription fee for use of the Platform at launch.

Premium-feature unlock by platform activity (not by purchase). Certain features on the Platform unlock based on qualifying on-platform activity rather than by payment. For couples, the qualifying action is completing a booking through the Platform, which unlocks the "United Vows Bonus" set of premium planning and wedding-website features at no charge. Certain vendor features may also unlock based on a vendor's qualifying on-platform activity, on terms published separately and updated from time to time. Eligibility criteria, qualifying activities, and the specific features that unlock under each program are set out in the relevant program description on the Platform and may change with reasonable notice.

Metered paid vendor features. Certain Platform features are charged by use rather than by subscription. At launch these are electronic-signature contract sends (a monthly free allowance, then the published per-send price), the AI Receptionist (metered per minute against a monthly spending cap you set), and use of certain AI features beyond their included monthly allowances. These charges operate on the following terms:

Charged by use. Nothing is prepaid. We do not sell credits, tokens, or a stored balance, and there is nothing for you to pre-fund. Each billable use is recorded against your account when it occurs and is charged to the payment method you have on file with United Vows through our payment processor. Sales and use tax, where applicable, is assessed on that charge.
Free allowances are consumed first. Where a feature includes a free monthly allowance, that allowance is used before any charge is recorded. Your usage against each allowance is shown in your vendor billing pages.
AI overages are off unless you turn them on. Use beyond an included AI allowance is blocked by default. It is charged only if you have added a payment method and affirmatively enabled overages for your account, and you may disable overages at any time from your billing settings, effective immediately.
You set the AI Receptionist cap. AI Receptionist use is metered per minute against a monthly cap you control. We notify you as you approach the cap, and when your month-to-date use reaches it the feature is switched off for the remainder of the month unless you raise the cap.
No credit extended. If a charge cannot be collected on your payment method, the affected paid feature is paused until the payment method is corrected. We do not extend credit.

The pricing of specific paid features, including the per-contract electronic-signature fee, the AI Receptionist per-minute rate, and AI overage rates, is published on our pricing page and in your vendor billing pages, and is locked at the time each charge is recorded. Refund handling for these charges is documented in our Refund Policy at unitedvows.com/refund.

If we introduce any new recurring or subscription-based vendor fee in the future, affected vendors will receive clear advance notice and any required disclosures under applicable auto-renewal laws before any such charge takes effect.

3. Payments, payment methods, and how money moves

Accepted payment methods. Couples may fund bookings using methods we make available on the Platform from time to time. At launch, accepted methods include major credit and debit cards, ACH bank debits (where supported by Stripe Connect), Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Additional methods may be enabled later, including buy-now-pay-later ("BNPL") and instant-payment rails (such as RTP and FedNow). Any BNPL option, when offered, will include the consumer-credit disclosures required by the federal Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) and Regulation Z, made directly by the BNPL provider in accordance with applicable law.

How payments work (direct charge; vendor is merchant of record). When you book a vendor through the Platform, you pay the vendor directly. Your payment is processed through Stripe Connect and charged to the vendor's connected Stripe account. The vendor is the merchant of record for the wedding services. For vendor bookings, United Vows does not receive, hold, escrow, or take custody of your payment at any point, and United Vows does not release funds to the vendor, because those funds are never routed to or held by United Vows. (Registry gifts work differently — see the Registry Gifts paragraph below.) United Vows's platform fee is collected automatically as the Stripe application fee on each charge at the time the charge is made. Deposits and each scheduled payment are charged directly to the vendor's connected account on the schedule stated in your vendor-couple contract. Our role is limited. We are not the principal obligor on the underlying service contract, we are not an escrow agent, and we do not guarantee, insure, advance, or recover any payment.

Settlement timing (ACH and other delayed-settlement methods). Because the vendor is the merchant of record, settlement of each payment to the vendor's connected account is governed by Stripe's settlement rules for the payment method used. For ACH debits and other methods with delayed settlement, funds settle to the vendor's connected account after the payment clears the Automated Clearing House network. United Vows initiates no separate payout of its own, because United Vows holds no funds. Couples may be shown a "payment processing" status until Stripe confirms the charge has succeeded.

ACH payment authorization (NACHA WEB debit). Where you elect to fund a booking by ACH bank debit, your signature on the underlying vendor-couple contract (including the United Vows Platform Addendum) constitutes your written authorization under NACHA Operating Rules for the WEB-debit entries initiated through the Platform to the vendor's connected account for the amounts and on the schedule described in that contract. We retain the authorization text, the timestamp, the IP address, and the document hash, and we tie the authorization to the signed contract for evidentiary purposes. You may revoke the authorization for any subsequent payment by written notice to support@unitedvows.com a reasonable time before the next scheduled debit; revocation does not affect payments already initiated.

Reversed, returned, or unauthorized ACH payments. Because the vendor is the merchant of record and United Vows holds no funds, United Vows does not release funds to a vendor and therefore does not claw funds back from a vendor. If an ACH payment is returned, reversed (including under the NACHA unauthorized-return claim window applicable for up to sixty (60) days), or otherwise charged back, the reversal affects the vendor's connected Stripe account and is handled under Stripe's rules and the applicable NACHA and card-network rules. Because the vendor is the merchant of record, a chargeback, dispute, or ACH return is charged first against the vendor's connected Stripe account balance; if that balance is insufficient to cover it, the shortfall is allocated under Stripe’s Connect platform rules and the loss-liability configuration of the vendor’s connected account; where United Vows is required to fund any such shortfall, United Vows may recover it from the vendor under the Platform Loss Recovery terms of the United Vows Platform Addendum. The couple remains responsible for the underlying contractual obligation; an unauthorized-return claim by the couple as to a payment the couple actually authorized constitutes a breach of these Terms and may be pursued by the vendor. Any United Vows conditional-payout or clawback mechanism applies only if and when a future United Vows protected-payment program is enabled and the vendor has opted in to that program under a separate agreement; it does not apply to standard direct-charge bookings.

Claims on a booking. Because United Vows holds no funds, there is no payment hold or auto-release to pause. If a couple believes a vendor failed to meet the contract on one of the published grounds, the couple may file a claim through the Platform. United Vows records the claim, notifies the vendor, and holds the vendor to a 7-day response deadline and a 30-day resolution deadline; the vendor may respond with an account of what happened, issue a refund, or decline. United Vows does not mediate the claim, does not decide who is right, does not issue findings of fact or liability, does not hold or move the parties' funds, and does not guarantee or recover any amount. What United Vows records is objective: whether the vendor responded, and whether the claim was resolved. A vendor who does not engage may lose standing in our recommendations and, on a pattern of unresolved claims from different couples, may be removed from the Platform. Nothing United Vows records is an admission or a finding for purposes of any subsequent litigation or arbitration between the parties. This claims process is how a couple raises a booking dispute with United Vows; a vendor's recourse against a couple is directly under the contract and applicable law, including the dispute-resolution provisions of Section 14.

Chargebacks. Chargebacks initiated through the cardholder's bank are governed by 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). Any refund the couple and vendor agree to is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance; a vendor's voluntary refund process may be paused while a chargeback is pending to avoid a duplicate refund. Chargeback handling and ACH return handling are independent processes that may run in parallel.

Registry gifts. Cash gifts that wedding guests contribute through a couple’s United Vows registry are processed differently from vendor bookings: the gift is charged through United Vows’s own Stripe account and then transferred to the couple’s connected Stripe account, so gift funds are briefly in transit through United Vows’s payment processing before reaching the couple. United Vows charges no fee of its own on a registry gift. The only amount deducted is the payment processor’s standard card fee (currently around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction), which is charged by Stripe on the card transaction and is not received or retained by United Vows. That deduction is itemized for the guest before they pay, and the amount transferred to the couple is the gift less that amount. A guest’s gift is a gift to the couple, not a payment for services; refunds of gifts, if any, are between the guest and the couple except where a card network or processor rule requires otherwise. If a gift transfer to the couple fails (for example, the couple has not completed payout setup), United Vows holds the gift only until the transfer can complete or the gift is returned to the guest.

4. Cancellation and refunds

Either the couple or the vendor may cancel a contract from their dashboard at any time before the wedding. The bands below are United Vows's default cancellation framework and apply unless the vendor's contract states different cancellation and refund terms. Because the vendor is the merchant of record and United Vows holds no funds, any refund under these bands or under the vendor's own terms is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance. United Vows does not hold, advance, or recover refund amounts. 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. United Vows does not decide refund disagreements and does not guarantee any refund outcome; the couple may file a claim through the Platform, and any refund is issued by the vendor. Refund eligibility under the default framework is determined by who is cancelling and how close to the wedding date the cancellation occurs:

Vendor-initiated cancellation: 100% refund of all paid amounts. Treated as vendor breach.
Couple-initiated, more than 90 days before wedding: 100% refund.
Couple-initiated, 30 to 90 days before wedding: 50% refund of all paid amounts.
Couple-initiated, less than 30 days before wedding: deposit forfeit. Subsequent paid milestones still refund 100%.
Couple-initiated after the wedding date has passed: 0% refund unless the vendor failed to perform in whole or in part, in which case a partial-performance refund applies (see Refund Policy).
Force majeure cancellations (either party, due to extraordinary circumstances outside the cancelling party's control, such as a declared natural disaster, declared public-health emergency, venue insolvency, or similar): refunds handled case-by-case between the couple and the vendor, with the Platform's claims process available to the couple.

The applicable refund is issued by the vendor from the vendor's Stripe balance, typically within 3 to 10 business days after the cancellation is recorded. The full policy is documented at unitedvows.com/refund.

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.

5. AI features and their limits

The Platform includes AI-assisted features, including but not limited to the Vows Assistant chat, the Instant Profile Builder for vendors, AI-generated proposals, AI-assisted vendor matching, the AI Receptionist for vendor phone handling, the vendor Coach, and Insights.

AI outputs are computer-generated suggestions, not professional advice. Outputs may contain errors, omissions, or fabricated information. You should not rely on AI outputs for legal, medical, financial, tax, insurance, employment, immigration, or any other professional or regulated decision. Independent verification with a qualified human professional is required for any decision with material consequences. United Vows is not liable for outcomes resulting from acting on AI suggestions without such verification, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Conversations with AI features may be processed by third-party AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google). We have configured these integrations to use no-train endpoints where available, meaning your inputs are not used to train the AI providers' public models. We retain AI conversations for service quality, debugging, and abuse-detection purposes as described in our Privacy Policy.

Where state law (including Colorado SB 24-205, Texas HB 2818, and analogous statutes) requires additional disclosure for substantial-impact AI uses, those disclosures are made at the point the relevant feature is used.

6. Vendor responsibilities

Vendors agree to:

Maintain accurate, current business information on their profile.
Respond to inquiries within a reasonable time (typically within 48 hours).
Honor confirmed bookings, deliver the contracted services, and uphold the standards a reasonable couple would expect from a professional in the vendor's category.
Not solicit bookings off-Platform after a couple has been introduced via United Vows. Doing so is grounds for tier demotion, fee reassessment, or account termination.
Maintain any required licensing, insurance, or permits for their services.
Comply with all applicable federal, state, and local law in providing services, including consumer-protection, anti-discrimination, and tax law.

7. Couple responsibilities

Couples agree to:

Communicate truthfully with vendors about wedding details (date, guest count, budget, location).
Pay milestones on the agreed schedule. Late payments may result in cancellation per Section 4.
Not invite vendors to circumvent the Platform. Booking off-Platform after meeting a vendor through United Vows constitutes a breach of these Terms.
Provide honest reviews based on actual experience.

8. Promotional codes

From time to time we offer promotional codes that reduce or waive the platform fee for a vendor's first set of bookings. Promotional codes are entered at vendor signup and are non-transferable. The benefit is locked at the time of redemption: subsequent changes to the code's terms do not affect already-redeemed benefits. Each vendor account may redeem at most one promotional code in its lifetime.

9. Cross-vendor features

United Vows includes cross-vendor features designed for collaboration between vendors working on the same wedding:

Vendor recommendations: vendors can publicly endorse other vendors on the Platform. Endorsements are visible to couples and to other vendors.
Shared wedding-day timelines: confirmed vendors on a wedding can view the couple's timeline and add per-event notes that the couple and other confirmed vendors can see.
Day-of group chat: when two or more vendors are confirmed on the same wedding, a shared messaging thread auto-creates with the couple and all confirmed vendors as participants.

Information shared in these surfaces is visible to the participants listed above. Do not share sensitive information (passwords, financial account numbers, government IDs, health data) in these channels.

10. Reviews, ratings, and content

Couples may submit reviews of vendors after a contracted booking. Reviews must reflect an honest experience and must not contain harassment, defamation, or off-topic content. We may remove reviews that violate these standards in accordance with our published content-moderation criteria. Vendors may not offer compensation in exchange for positive reviews. Our review-content policy and removal procedure are governed by our Acceptable Use Policy.

Content you upload to United Vows (photos, profile text, reviews, real-wedding showcases) remains your intellectual property. By uploading, you grant United Vows a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to host, display, reproduce, distribute, and create technical derivatives of that content as needed to operate the Platform, including showing it on couple-facing vendor pages, search results, social previews, and marketing materials. You may revoke this license on a forward-going basis by deleting the content. The license persists for content already used in marketing collateral, social previews already published, and copies retained in routine backups for the period necessary to expire those uses.

11. Acceptable use and assumption of risk

Do not use United Vows for unlawful purposes, to harass other users, to circumvent security, to scrape or mass-extract data, to impersonate others, or to upload malware. The full list lives in our Acceptable Use Policy at unitedvows.com/aup.

Assumption of risk. You understand that wedding services are provided by independent vendors, not by United Vows. You assume the risk that an independent vendor may underperform, fail to perform, or otherwise breach the contract you sign with them. The Platform provides discovery, communication, payment facilitation, and a claims process that records what happened and holds vendors to a response deadline. The Platform does not guarantee the quality, satisfaction, or outcome of any vendor's services. Your recourse for vendor performance is against the vendor under the vendor-couple contract and applicable law, not against United Vows.

12. Account suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate accounts for material breach of these Terms, fraud, abusive behavior, or as required by law. We will provide notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure when the breach is curable and the circumstances permit. Egregious violations (fraud, security abuse, illegal content) may result in immediate termination without prior notice. Active bookings and disputes in progress remain subject to their existing terms even after account termination.

13. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

United Vows is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, ACCURACY OF CONTENT, AND ANY WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or that defects will be corrected.

13.1 Liability cap (conspicuous; please read)

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, OUR AGGREGATE CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS, YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM, OR ANY UNITED VOWS SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE LESSER OF: (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNTS YOU PAID TO UNITED VOWS IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE THOUSAND U.S. DOLLARS (US $1,000).

Where a specific booking is involved, the United Vows Platform Addendum applies a per-booking cap (the lesser of commission paid to United Vows on that booking or US $1,000). The lower of the two applicable caps controls. This cap applies regardless of the form of action (contract, tort, statute, or otherwise) and even if a limited remedy is held to have failed of its essential purpose; the cap and the exclusion of consequential damages in Section 13.2 are intended to stand independently. You acknowledge that this cap is an essential basis of the bargain and that without it our fees would be materially higher.

13.2 Exclusion of indirect, consequential, and punitive damages

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we shall not be liable to you for any indirect, consequential, incidental, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost goodwill, lost business opportunities, lost wedding deposits to third parties, emotional distress, or loss of wedding-day experience, regardless of the form of action (contract, tort, statute, or otherwise) and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. The exclusion of consequential damages in this Section 13.2 is independent of, and survives any failure of essential purpose of, any limited remedy.

13.3 Marketplace role; Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

United Vows is a neutral marketplace and is not a party to the contract between couples and vendors. We facilitate discovery, communication, contracting, payment facilitation, and a claims process, but the underlying service contract is between the couple and the vendor. We are not an agent, partner, joint-venturer, employer, escrow bank, or guarantor of any vendor or couple. We are not liable for the quality of services rendered by vendors, the accuracy of vendor profiles, or outcomes of weddings beyond what our claims process expressly addresses.

Vendor profile content, reviews, messages, photos, ratings, recommendations, and other user-generated content on the Platform are the responsibility of the user who posted them, not United Vows. We act as an interactive computer service provider under 47 U.S.C. § 230 and are not the publisher or speaker of user-generated content. Nothing in these Terms is intended to waive or limit the protections of 47 U.S.C. § 230. Where we apply content-moderation criteria (including review removal), we do so in a good-faith effort to enforce these Terms and our Acceptable Use Policy; such moderation does not transform our role into that of a publisher.

13.4 Non-waivable rights and savings clause

Nothing in these Terms limits any warranty, remedy, or liability that cannot be limited or waived under applicable state or federal law, including: (a) liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct; (b) any non-waivable right under a state consumer-protection statute (including the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law, the New York General Business Law §§ 349 and 350, the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act (Chapter 93A), the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and the Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty and Notice Act (N.J.S.A. § 56:12-15), the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and analogous state laws); and (c) the right to seek public injunctive relief in court where such relief cannot be waived under applicable state law, including under McGill v. Citibank, N.A. (2017) 2 Cal.5th 945 and analogous state authorities. To the extent any provision of Section 13 would otherwise be unenforceable in your jurisdiction as applied to a non-waivable right, that provision is automatically reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable while preserving its protective intent, and the remainder of Section 13 continues in full force.

13.5 Contractual limitations period

To the extent permitted by applicable law, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to these Terms or your use of the Platform must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose, or be forever barred. This shortened limitations period does not apply to (a) claims governed by a state statute that prohibits or supersedes contractual shortening of limitations periods (including California Civil Code § 1670.5 and analogous authorities), (b) claims for indemnification under Section 13, or (c) claims relating to intellectual property or unauthorized access reserved to court under Section 14.2.

14. Disputes between United Vows and you (binding arbitration; class action waiver)

This Section 14 is the EXCLUSIVE process for resolving disputes between you and United Vows. If you do not agree to this Section 14, you may not use United Vows. Please discontinue use and close your account before any dispute arises.

Important distinction. Disputes between a couple and a vendor (about the vendor's wedding services) are governed by the Underlying Agreement between them and by the United Vows Platform Addendum, not this Section 14. This Section 14 governs disputes between YOU (couple, vendor, guest, or other user) and UNITED VOWS LLC.

14.1 Federal Arbitration Act; mandatory binding arbitration

These Terms evidence a transaction involving interstate commerce, and the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. ("FAA"), governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Section 14. Any dispute, claim, or controversy between you and United Vows arising from or relating to these Terms, your use of the Platform, or any United Vows service (a "Covered Dispute") shall be resolved exclusively by binding individual arbitration, except for the limited carve-outs in Section 14.2 below.

Arbitration is administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under the AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules then in effect (and, where the threshold criteria are met, the AAA Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules described in Section 14.3). A single arbitrator presides. The arbitration is conducted by video conference unless either party demands an in-person hearing, in which case the seat of the arbitration is the state of Ohio (United Vows LLC's state of formation). The arbitrator's decision is final and binding. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Cost allocation. For consumer arbitrations, AAA's Consumer Arbitration Rules cap the consumer's filing and case-management fees. United Vows will pay all arbitration fees and expenses (other than the consumer's capped filing fee) to the extent required by the AAA Rules. If you can demonstrate that the costs of arbitration would be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, United Vows will pay the additional fees necessary to ensure the forum is not financially inaccessible to you, consistent with Green Tree Financial Corp.-Ala. v. Randolph, 531 U.S. 79 (2000).

14.2 Limited mutual carve-outs (either party may use court)

Notwithstanding Section 14.1, either party may pursue a claim in a court of competent jurisdiction for any of the following limited purposes without first resorting to arbitration:

Injunctive or equitable relief to stop ongoing harm or prevent imminent harm where monetary damages are inadequate.
Intellectual property infringement (including unauthorized use of trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, or Platform technology).
Unauthorized access to the Platform, your account, or another user's account, including claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030) and analogous state computer-fraud statutes.
Breach of confidentiality obligations.
Collection of unpaid platform fees, commissions, or amounts owed under these Terms.
Abuse of the Platform (fraud, harassment, repeated Terms violations, account-takeover attempts).
Small claims that qualify for small claims court jurisdiction, provided the claim is brought on an individual basis (not as part of a class action).

These carve-outs are mutual. Either party may invoke them. They do not waive arbitration for any other Covered Dispute.

14.3 Class, collective, and representative action waiver; mass-arbitration governance

YOU AND UNITED VOWS AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN AN INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS, COLLECTIVE, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION (other than a private attorney general action that cannot be waived under applicable state law). The arbitrator may award injunctive relief only to the individual party seeking relief and only as necessary to remedy that party's specific harm. Multi-claimant proceedings and class arbitrations are not permitted.

Mass Arbitration governance. If twenty-five (25) or more Demands for Arbitration are filed against United Vows that present materially similar claims, the AAA Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules then in effect (October 2024 version or successor) shall govern, including any applicable batching, bellwether, staged-fee, counsel-and-claimant verification, and consolidated case-management procedures. The parties shall meet and confer in good faith to agree on a process consistent with those Rules.

Non-severability of the class waiver from the arbitration agreement. The class-action waiver in this Section 14.3 is non-severable from the arbitration agreement in Section 14.1 as a matter of intent. If a court determines that the class-action waiver as applied to a particular claim is unenforceable, that particular claim shall be litigated in a court of competent jurisdiction under Section 14.2, and all other claims subject to Section 14.1 remain in arbitration. This calibrated severability is intentional: it does not create a "poison pill" that collapses the entire arbitration obligation if a single claim is held to be unwaivable.

14.4 30-day opt-out window

You may opt out of the arbitration provisions in this Section 14 (Sections 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3) by sending a written opt-out notice to United Vows within thirty (30) days of first agreeing to these Terms. The notice must:

Be sent to the contact address in Section 16
Include your full name, the email address used to create your United Vows account, and a clear statement that you are opting out of arbitration
Be received by United Vows within the 30-day window

If you opt out, neither you nor United Vows may require arbitration as to claims between you. You remain subject to all other provisions of these Terms, including the class action waiver in Section 14.3, which the FAA permits to stand independent of the arbitration agreement.

Opting out does not affect any prior arbitration agreement you may have entered with United Vows for separate claims.

14.5 Delegation of arbitrability to the arbitrator

You and United Vows agree that the arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of this Section 14, including any claim that all or any part of this Section 14 is void or voidable. This delegation is intended to be a clear and unmistakable agreement to delegate threshold arbitrability questions to the arbitrator, as recognized in Henry Schein, Inc. v. Archer & White Sales, Inc., 586 U.S. 63 (2019). The carve-outs in Section 14.2 and the 30-day opt-out in Section 14.4 are explicit, narrow exceptions to this delegation and do not undermine it; see Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, 602 U.S. 143 (2024).

14.6 Pre-arbitration informal-dispute notice

Before initiating an arbitration, either party shall first send a written notice of dispute to the other party describing the nature and basis of the claim and the specific relief sought ("Notice of Dispute"). You must send your Notice of Dispute to United Vows at the contact address in Section 16. United Vows shall send its Notice of Dispute to the email address associated with your account. The parties shall then have thirty (30) days from receipt of the Notice of Dispute to attempt in good faith to resolve the claim informally. If the claim is not resolved within thirty (30) days, either party may proceed to arbitration. Compliance with this informal-dispute notice is a condition precedent to commencing arbitration and is intended to apply individually to each claimant in any mass-arbitration scenario.

14.7 Severability

If any provision of this Section 14 is found unenforceable in a particular case or jurisdiction (other than the class-action waiver, which is governed by Section 14.3), the unenforceable provision is severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions remain in full force. The arbitrator (or court, if applicable per Section 14.2) shall determine the scope and enforceability of this Section 14 in accordance with the delegation in Section 14.5.

14.8 No waiver by United Vows

United Vows's failure to enforce any provision of this Section 14 at any time does not constitute a waiver of the right to enforce it later or to enforce any other provision.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email and an in-app notice at least thirty (30) days before they take effect, except where a shorter notice period is required by law, by a security or fraud-prevention need, or by a court or regulator. Material changes do not apply retroactively to disputes that arose before the effective date of the change. Continuing to use United Vows after the effective date of an updated set of Terms constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not accept an update, you may close your account and discontinue use; closure does not retroactively void the Terms that applied during your prior use.

16. Contact, designated agent, and notices

General questions about these Terms: support@unitedvows.com. We aim to respond within 5 business days.

Privacy-specific questions: privacy@unitedvows.com.

Security disclosures: security@unitedvows.com.

Trust & safety reports: trust@unitedvows.com.

Designated Agent for Service of Process (United Vows LLC, Ohio): Registered Agents Inc., 6545 Market Ave N, Suite 100, Canton, OH 44721.

Designated DMCA Copyright Agent: see our DMCA Policy at unitedvows.com/dmca.

17. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement and integration. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Refund Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, DMCA Policy, Cookies Policy, and (for vendor-couple bookings) the United Vows Platform Addendum and the Underlying Agreement, constitute the entire agreement between you and United Vows regarding the Platform and supersede any prior agreements, understandings, or representations.

No-reliance. You acknowledge that, in entering into these Terms, you have not relied on any statement, representation, assurance, or warranty other than those expressly set out in these Terms and the documents incorporated by reference. This Section 17 does not exclude liability for fraudulent misrepresentation.

No oral modification. These Terms may be modified only by (a) a written instrument signed by an authorized representative of United Vows, or (b) a posted update under Section 15. No statement by any United Vows employee, contractor, or representative may modify these Terms.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. The class-action waiver is subject to the calibrated severability rule in Section 14.3.

Survival. Sections 5 (AI features and their limits), 10 (Reviews, ratings, and content), 11 (Acceptable use and assumption of risk), 13 (Disclaimers and limitation of liability), 14 (Disputes between United Vows and you), and 17 (Miscellaneous) survive termination of these Terms.

Governing law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio (United Vows LLC's state of formation), without regard to conflict-of-laws principles, except where (a) the FAA preempts under Section 14, or (b) a non-waivable consumer-protection law of your state of residence applies.

Controlling language. These Terms, and all United Vows policies and agreements they incorporate by reference, are made and executed in the English language. Any translation that may be provided is for convenience only; if there is any conflict or inconsistency between the English-language version and a translation, the English-language version controls.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of substantially all assets, on notice to you.

No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms are between you and United Vows. Except as expressly provided, no third party is a beneficiary or has any right of enforcement.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.