Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 8/26/2026

Here Comes The Guide ("we," "us," or "our") provides wedding venue listings and related services through our website (herecomestheguide.com) and our ChatGPT app (the "Services").

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, and retain information, and the choices available to users. It also describes the data our ChatGPT app returns from its tool calls, as required by the platform on which the app is distributed.

Our Services are operated from the United States. By using the Services, you acknowledge that information you provide will be processed in the United States and in other jurisdictions where our service providers operate.

1. Information We Collect

We collect information in the following categories.

A. Information You Provide

Search inputs, such as location, guest count, and venue preferences
Information submitted through inquiry forms, including name, email, phone number, wedding date, guest count, date flexibility, preferred contact methods, and any message you choose to include
Favorites or saved venues, stored as venue identifiers, not full venue records
Communications you send to us or to venues

B. Information Automatically Collected by Our Website

When you use our website, we may collect:

Device and browser information
IP address and general location
Usage data, such as pages viewed, interactions, and timestamps

This information is collected through cookies, pixels, and analytics technologies. IP address is also retained by our website's form-handling system in connection with inquiry submissions for security and spam-prevention purposes.

The ChatGPT app does not use cookies or client-side tracking technologies and does not collect device fingerprints, browser information, or IP address. It does send a limited set of pseudonymous usage events to Google Analytics 4, as described in Sections 4 and 9. The app runs inside ChatGPT's interface and is subject to OpenAI's data handling for that platform.

C. Information Used by the ChatGPT App

When you use our ChatGPT app, we process:

Your prompts and search queries
Filters you explicitly select, such as region, guest capacity, price tier, venue type, and features
Interactions such as favoriting venues or sending inquiries
A platform-provided per-user identifier ("subject ID") issued by the ChatGPT platform. We use this identifier as the key under which your saved venues, recently entered contact details, and submission history are stored for a short period to enable continuity across the conversation. It is not tied to a durable account.
An "idempotency key," which is a random identifier the app generates and stores alongside each inquiry submission to prevent duplicate outreach if a request is retried

2. Data the ChatGPT App Returns from Tool Calls

Our ChatGPT app exposes a limited set of tools. The data returned by each tool is:

Venue search and venue details — venue name, city, state, region, guest capacity, price tier, short description, image URLs, and a link to the full listing on herecomestheguide.com. No user-related data is returned.
Saved venues ("shortlist") — the list of venue identifiers you have saved, creation and update timestamps, and, when applicable, the contact details you most recently entered so the inquiry form can be pre-filled. No data about other users is ever returned.
Inquiry submission — a submission identifier, a per-venue delivery status, the submission timestamp, and, on retry, the idempotency key that was used. No authentication tokens, internal session identifiers, raw log lines, or internal Craft CMS identifiers beyond the submission identifier are returned.

We audit these responses to ensure they include only the data strictly necessary to fulfill the user's request, consistent with the platform's data-minimization requirements.

3. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

Provide and improve venue search results
Personalize results based on filters you explicitly select
Enable you to save or favorite venues
Facilitate inquiries you choose to send to venues
Operate, maintain, secure, and debug our systems
Analyze usage of our website and improve the Services
Measure and improve the performance of our advertising, and show you more relevant ads, through partners such as Meta

We process information related to inquiries and communications, such as submission timestamps, selected venues, and related request details, to facilitate and support those interactions.

We process personal information where we have a valid legal basis to do so, including where processing is necessary to provide the Services you request, to comply with legal obligations, or for our legitimate business interests in improving and securing our Services, including advertising.

We do not process personal information for purposes materially different from those described in this Privacy Policy without providing appropriate notice or obtaining consent where required.

4. ChatGPT App Data Use and Processing

We adhere to data-minimization principles and limit collection and processing to the information necessary to fulfill a specific user request.

We do not retain full ChatGPT conversation histories beyond what is necessary to fulfill a specific request and maintain system functionality.

What Data Is Used

User inputs, such as search queries and preferences
Filters explicitly selected by the user, such as region, price tier, and venue type
Error events and high-level system metrics retained briefly for debugging and performance monitoring. Raw user inputs are not written to application logs.
Limited pseudonymous usage events for analytics, sent server-side to Google Analytics 4 using a salted, one-way hash of the platform-provided subject identifier

How It Is Used

To retrieve and rank relevant venue listings
To return structured venue information, as described in Section 2
To support features such as favoriting venues and sending inquiries
To measure aggregate usage and improve the ChatGPT app through limited pseudonymous analytics

Saved or favorited venues and the most recently entered contact details are associated with the platform-provided subject identifier described in Section 1.C, are session-scoped rather than durable account data, and are retained for a limited period of up to approximately 7 days.

ChatGPT app analytics events do not include names, email addresses, phone numbers, wedding details, message content, or other directly identifying information.

What the Tool Does Not Do

It does not access vendors, articles, or other planning resources outside of venue listings.
It does not share user data with venues unless you explicitly submit an inquiry.
It does not use your inputs or personal information to train or improve our machine-learning models.

5. Data Sharing and Sub-Processors

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. We disclose personal information only as described in this Privacy Policy and only to the extent necessary to operate the Services. Section 7 describes what this means for "sale" and "sharing" of personal information under California law.

We share information with the following categories of recipients:

Venue partners. When you choose to send an inquiry, we share the information you provide, such as name, email, phone number, and event details, together with limited contextual details, such as the venue(s) you selected and submission timing, with the venue partner(s) you selected.
Internal Here Comes The Guide team members. Every inquiry submission is also delivered to an internal team address for support, quality-assurance, and operational purposes, in addition to the venue partner(s).
Meta. We use the Meta Pixel on our website to measure the performance of our advertising on Meta's platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram) and to build audiences for retargeting. This involves sharing information about your browsing activity and interactions on our website with Meta. See Section 9 for more detail and Meta's Privacy Policy for how Meta itself processes this information.
OpenAI. OpenAI operates the ChatGPT platform on which our app runs. Your conversational inputs are transmitted to and processed by OpenAI as part of delivering that platform. OpenAI's use of that data is governed by OpenAI's own terms and privacy policies. We do not control OpenAI's independent processing of data within the ChatGPT platform.
Postmark. Postmark delivers transactional email, including inquiry notifications to venues and internal recipients.
Hosting and infrastructure providers. These include the providers that host our website and our self-hosted content-management system (Craft CMS with the Solspace Freeform plugin), where inquiry submissions are stored, as well as the hosts of our session cache, used for short-term ChatGPT-app state, and our venue search index.
Google Analytics 4. Google Analytics 4 provides analytics for our website and receives a limited set of pseudonymous usage events from the ChatGPT app. ChatGPT app events are transmitted server-side and are associated only with a salted, one-way hash of the platform-provided subject identifier. They do not include names, email addresses, phone numbers, wedding details, message content, or other directly identifying information.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own independent marketing purposes, other than as described above with respect to advertising partners such as Meta.

6. Data Retention

We retain different categories of information for different periods depending on the nature of the data and the purpose for which it was collected.

A. Inquiry and Submission Data

Information submitted through inquiry forms is stored in our website CMS, including Craft CMS / Freeform. These records are retained as business records to support venue communications and legal obligations; deletion is available upon verified request, as described in Section 7.

B. ChatGPT App Data

Search session data: up to approximately 1 hour
Saved venues, most recently entered contact details, and recent submission history: up to approximately 7 days
Idempotency keys: up to approximately 7 days
Application logs: limited to error events and system metrics and retained only briefly
Pseudonymous ChatGPT app usage events sent to GA4: retained according to Google Analytics 4 configuration settings

We do not retain full ChatGPT conversation histories beyond what is necessary to fulfill a specific request and maintain system functionality.

C. Analytics and Advertising Data

Usage data collected through analytics and advertising tools, such as Google Analytics 4 and Meta, is retained in accordance with those tools' configurations and is generally aggregated or de-identified over time.

7. User Controls and Choices

You may:

Choose what information to include in searches or inquiries
Avoid submitting sensitive personal information in ChatGPT prompts
Request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information
Stop using the ChatGPT app at any time
Manage cookies through your browser settings

Depending on your location, you may have additional rights under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) or the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including the rights of access, correction, deletion, and objection to certain processing.

California Privacy Rights (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to:

Know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and share, and the categories of third parties involved
Opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of your personal information, as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA
Limit the use of sensitive personal information (we do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information as defined by the CCPA/CPRA)
Non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

We do not sell personal information for money. Our use of advertising technologies such as the Meta Pixel may be considered "sharing" of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising under the CCPA/CPRA. You can opt out of this sharing at any time by contacting us at privacy@herecomestheguide.com. We also honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal where technically feasible.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@herecomestheguide.com. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before fulfilling a request. We will respond to verified requests within 45 days, or longer only where permitted by applicable law.

Where applicable, we will delete or de-identify personal information upon verified request, unless retention is required for legitimate business or legal purposes.

8. AI and Automated Processing

Our ChatGPT app operates within the ChatGPT platform, where AI systems provided by OpenAI generate responses based on your inputs. Our app provides structured data and functionality that supports those responses.

Outputs are generated automatically by the ChatGPT platform and may not always be complete or accurate.

We do not use your inputs or personal information to train or improve our own machine-learning models.

Your inputs are transmitted to and processed by OpenAI to provide the ChatGPT service, in accordance with OpenAI's policies.

Please do not submit sensitive personal information, such as health, financial, or government identification data, through the Services.

9. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies on our website to:

Enable core functionality
Understand usage patterns
Improve performance and user experience
Measure and improve the performance of our advertising

These technologies may assign a unique identifier to your device or session to help recognize repeat visits.

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to collect and analyze usage data on our website. For more information, please see our Cookie Notice page.

Meta Pixel. We use the Meta Pixel, a piece of code from Meta that tracks visitor activity on our website, measures the effectiveness of our advertising, and helps us build audiences for ad targeting and retargeting on Meta's platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram). See Meta's Privacy Policy and Section 7 above for more information and your opt-out rights.

The ChatGPT app does not use cookies or client-side tracking technologies. However, it sends a limited set of pseudonymous usage events to Google Analytics 4 using a server-side implementation. These events are associated with a salted, one-way hash of the platform-provided subject identifier, which cannot be reversed to identify an individual. They do not include names, email addresses, phone numbers, wedding details, message content, or other directly identifying information. This information helps us understand aggregate usage and improve the ChatGPT app.

You can control cookies through browser settings.

10. Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information, including sanitization of user-provided text fields before they are transmitted or stored, and authenticated, encrypted channels for communication with our back-end services and sub-processors.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take appropriate measures to protect data.

11. Children's Privacy

The Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

The Services may contain links to third-party websites, including venue listings.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties. You should review the privacy policies of any third-party services you access.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Updates will be posted on this page with a revised effective date.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, contact us at:

privacy@herecomestheguide.com

15. Summary of Data Collection and Use

Search queries Source: User (ChatGPT app) Purpose: Venue recommendations Shared With: OpenAI (platform processing) Retention: Up to approximately 1 hour
Filters (user-selected) Source: User (ChatGPT app) Purpose: Search ranking Shared With: OpenAI (platform processing) Retention: Up to approximately 1 hour
Saved venues Source: User (ChatGPT app) Purpose: User experience Shared With: None Retention: Up to approximately 7 days
Recently entered contact details (inquiry pre-fill) Source: User (ChatGPT app) Purpose: Pre-fill inquiry forms for convenience Shared With: None, unless you submit an inquiry (see Inquiry details) Retention: Up to approximately 7 days
Recent submission history Source: Generated by the ChatGPT app Purpose: Conversation continuity and duplicate-inquiry prevention Shared With: None Retention: Up to approximately 7 days
Platform-provided subject ID Source: ChatGPT platform Purpose: Key for short-term per-user app state Shared With: None Retention: Up to approximately 7 days
Salted one-way hash of the subject ID Source: Generated by the ChatGPT app Purpose: Pseudonymous ChatGPT app usage analytics Shared With: Google Analytics 4 Retention: Per Google Analytics 4 configuration
Idempotency key Source: Generated by the ChatGPT app Purpose: Prevent duplicate inquiries on retry Shared With: None Retention: Up to approximately 7 days
Inquiry details Source: User (website & ChatGPT app) Purpose: Contact selected venues Shared With: Venue partners, internal Here Comes The Guide team, and Postmark (email delivery); stored in our self-hosted website CMS (Craft CMS / Solspace Freeform) Retention: Retained as business records; deletion available upon verified request
Website browsing/interaction data — ad matching Source: Automatically collected (website, via Meta Pixel) Purpose: Ad measurement and retargeting on Meta's platforms Shared With: Meta Retention: Per Meta's retention settings; opt-out available (see Section 7)
IP address (website form submissions) Source: Automatically collected (website only) Purpose: Security and spam prevention Shared With: None; stored in our website CMS (Craft CMS / Solspace Freeform) Retention: Per our CMS retention settings
Website usage data Source: Automatically collected (website only) Purpose: Analytics and performance Shared With: Google Analytics 4 Retention: Per Google Analytics 4 configuration
ChatGPT app usage events (pseudonymous) Source: Automatically collected (ChatGPT app) Purpose: Aggregate analytics and product improvement Shared With: Google Analytics 4 Retention: Per Google Analytics 4 configuration