Terms of Service

Last updated: 8 May 2026 · Version 2.1

1. About Novia

Novia (Novia Wedding (Pty) Ltd, registered in South Africa) operates a curated marketplace connecting engaged couples with wedding venues and vendors across South Africa. We provide tools to discover, compare, contract, and pay for wedding services with milestone-based escrow protection.

Our role. Novia acts as a marketplace intermediary and payment facilitator. The contract for wedding services is between the couple and the vendor directly. Novia is not a party to that contract but enforces these Terms, the standard Cancellation & Refund Policy, and dispute resolution as set out below.

2. Using Our Platform

By creating an account you confirm that you are 18 years or older, that the information you provide is accurate, and that you will use the platform in good faith. Couples can browse listings, send enquiries, accept quotes, and use planning tools. Vendors who pass our curation review can manage listings, send quotes and invoices, and receive payouts via Paystack.

3. Pricing Transparency (CPA §22 & §23)

Novia is built around price transparency. To uphold this and to comply with the South African Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (the “CPA”):

Every listing a business has claimed must show a real starting price in ZAR. Vague pricing such as “price on application” is not permitted. Directory profiles a business has not yet claimed show no price at all, rather than a guess.
Every quote sent through the platform must itemise what is included at the quoted price, what is excluded, and any optional extras with their unit prices. Quotes that fail this test are blocked from being sent.
Quotes are written in plain language. Any fixed-term commitment exceeding 24 months must be flagged separately.
The 5% platform fee and 2.9% Paystack processing fee are disclosed on every invoice before payment.

4. Quotes, Validity & Re-Quoting

Each quote is valid for the period stated on its face (default 14 days from issue). After that date the quote expires automatically and the couple cannot pay against it; the vendor must issue a fresh quote at current pricing.

If the couple changes the brief materially after acceptance (e.g. guest count changes by more than 10%, new location, additional services), the vendor may issue a revised quote for the difference. The original deposit remains held in escrow against the revised total.

5. Payments, Escrow & Trust Account

Payments are processed by Paystack. Novia offers two payment models on every invoice:

Standard. Paid in full via Paystack split payment. The vendor receives their share immediately, Novia takes its 5% platform fee, Paystack its 2.9% processing fee.
Milestone (escrow). Payment is split into stages (e.g. 25% deposit, 50% interim, 25% final). Each milestone is held in escrow by Novia. Funds release only when the couple confirms the milestone has been delivered, or automatically per the schedule in section 6.

In plain language, for couples. Each payment is held for 14 days after you pay. Your final payment is held until 7 days after your wedding, so the money only reaches the supplier once your day has happened. Section 6 sets out the exact rule.

All amounts are in ZAR. Paystack is responsible for processing security and PCI-DSS compliance.

Trust account & segregation. Escrowed milestone funds are held in a Paystack subaccount earmarked for the booking and are not commingled with Novia’s operating funds. Escrowed funds are not assets of Novia and could not be claimed by Novia’s creditors in the unlikely event of corporate insolvency. Couples and vendors may request a statement of held milestone balances at any time via hello@novia.wedding.

Vendor cash-flow protection. When a vendor has delivered a milestone but the couple has not confirmed within a reasonable time, the vendor may request early release with evidence (photos, signed delivery confirmation, written statement). The couple is given 7 days to respond. If they do not, Novia’s admin team may fast-track the release on the available evidence in line with section 10 below.

Chargebacks. Where a milestone has been delivered, confirmed (or auto-released) and is undisputed, couples agree not to initiate a card-network chargeback in lieu of the dispute process in section 10. Chargebacks against delivered services are a material breach of these Terms and may result in account suspension, recovery of the chargeback amount via legal means, and a report to credit-bureau partners.

6. Escrow Release Policy

Funds release on the earliest of:

The couple confirming delivery of a milestone in the platform.
Automatic release, if no dispute is raised. Deposit and interim milestones release 14 days after the funds were received into escrow. The final milestone releases 7 days after the wedding date, or 14 days after the funds were received into escrow, whichever of the two is later. A reminder is sent to the couple 7 days before that release date.
Resolution of an open dispute in favour of the vendor.

Why the final milestone is different. A deposit is a commitment fee paid long before anything is delivered, and holding it until the wedding would be an unreasonable cash-flow burden on the vendor, so it follows the 14-day rule. The final milestone is held until after the wedding because that is the first moment the couple can actually judge whether the service was delivered. The 7 days after the wedding are a window to raise a dispute, not a delay imposed on the vendor.

How this applies in practice. Where an invoice has a single payment rather than a schedule, that payment is the final milestone and is therefore anchored to the wedding date on the same terms. Where no wedding date is recorded against the booking, the final milestone falls back to releasing 14 days after the funds were received into escrow. No milestone is ever held for longer than 548 days (approximately 18 months) from the date the funds were received into escrow, whatever wedding date is on file.

Section 5 above sets out the separate route by which a vendor who has delivered may request early release with evidence.

7. Cancellation, Cooling-off & Refunds

Cooling-off (CPA section 16). Because bookings on Novia are concluded electronically, every couple has the right to withdraw within 5 business days of accepting a quote, with a full refund of any amounts paid. The Withdraw button is available in your couple dashboard on every accepted quote until that window closes. Vendors are notified at the moment of acceptance and only treat the booking as confirmed after the cooling-off period has elapsed.

After cooling-off. The full schedule of refund percentages is on our Cancellation & Refund Policy page and applies as the default to all bookings on the platform. Vendors may publish stricter or more generous schedules of their own; the schedule shown on each quote at the time of acceptance is the binding one and cannot be changed retroactively.

Acceptance & binding terms. When a couple clicks “Accept & Sign” on a quote, Novia takes a permanent snapshot of the inclusions, exclusions, optional extras, line items, total, cancellation schedule, force-majeure clause, coordination dependencies and any active surcharge clauses. That snapshot is the contract for the booking and is emailed to both parties as a viewable link.

8. Force Majeure

Neither party is in breach of these Terms or of an underlying booking when performance is prevented by an event reasonably outside their control. For South African weddings these include, but are not limited to:

Eskom load-shedding at Stage 4 or above on the event day, where it materially affects the venue (no backup power, refrigeration loss, etc.).
Government-declared natural disaster, state of emergency or pandemic-related restriction.
Severe weather warning issued by the South African Weather Service for outdoor venues.
Strike or industrial action affecting key suppliers.
Fuel-price escalation beyond the surcharge mechanism in section 9 below.

When a force majeure event affects a booking, parties will first attempt to reschedule. If rescheduling is not possible, the refund follows the “Force Majeure” row of the Cancellation & Refund Policy: vendors retain reasonable out-of-pocket costs already incurred (with proof) and refund the remainder.

9. Fuel-Price Escalation Clause

The South African petrol price is regulated monthly by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and is materially affected by global oil prices and the rand exchange rate. Where a quote includes a transport, mobile-catering, or off-site delivery component, the vendor may include a fuel-surcharge policy on that quote, capped as follows:

The fuel index at the date of the quote (typically the wholesale petrol price for that province) is recorded on the quote.
If, on the date the service is actually delivered, the index has risen more than 15% above the recorded value, the vendor may pass on a surcharge of up to 5% of the affected line items’ subtotal.
The surcharge must be communicated in writing through the platform at least 7 days before the event. If communicated later, it is forfeited.
If a surcharge is invoked, the couple may cancel the affected line items without penalty within 48 hours of the surcharge notice.

Vendors may not invoke this clause for general inflation, currency fluctuation under 10%, or events more than 7 days before delivery.

9b. Materials Price Escalation (optional, capped)

For categories where raw-materials cost can swing materially between quote and delivery (e.g. florists, caterers), vendors may opt into a Materials Escalation Clause on their listing, capped at 8% of the affected line items’ subtotal and triggered only when the official Stats SA Consumer Price Index has risen more than 3% above the index recorded on the quote date. The vendor must produce proof of cost (supplier invoices) when invoking the clause and must give the couple at least 7 days’ notice. The couple may cancel the affected line items without penalty within 48 hours of receiving the surcharge notice.

9c. Change Orders

When a couple needs to change the brief after acceptance (guest count, date, location, scope), they submit a Change Order through the platform. The vendor reviews and either accepts at the original price, issues a revised quote for the difference, or declines if the change is impossible. The original deposit is preserved against any revised total. Material guest-count changes (greater than 10% in either direction) typically warrant a revised quote.

10. Dispute Resolution

Either party may raise a dispute through the platform. Novia’s commitments:

Acknowledgement within 2 business days.
Investigation completed within 5 business days of acknowledgement.
Both parties may upload evidence (messages, photos, signed documents) directly to the dispute thread.
If the responding party does not engage within 7 days of acknowledgement, the dispute is escalated to senior review and may be decided on the available evidence.

Possible outcomes:

Full refund to the couple (vendor did not deliver).
Partial refund proportional to what was delivered.
Funds released to the vendor (dispute unfounded).
Replacement vendor sourced where reasonably possible.

Novia’s decision is final and binding for disputes under R50 000. For larger disputes parties may proceed to independent arbitration under the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) rules. Repeated upheld disputes against a vendor (3 or more) result in removal from the platform.

Minor feedback. Not every issue rises to a dispute. Couples may send minor feedback (a 1–5 rating with a note) attached to a milestone, e.g. a small detail that fell short. The vendor receives this privately and can reply. Feedback influences the Trust Score lightly but does not trigger the dispute SLA or refund flow. It is not displayed publicly unless the couple later upgrades it to a public review.

11. Vendor Obligations (summary)

Detailed vendor terms are in the Vendor Agreement. In summary, vendors must deliver services as quoted, respond to enquiries within 48 hours, keep listings accurate, and honour the cancellation schedule attached to each accepted quote.

12. Couple Obligations

Couples must confirm milestone delivery, or raise a dispute, before that milestone’s automatic release date under section 6: 14 days after payment for deposit and interim milestones, and 7 days after the wedding for the final milestone. Disputes must be raised in good faith with supporting evidence, and couples must not engage in chargeback abuse against the vendor or Novia. Frivolous disputes may result in account restrictions.

13. Limitation of Liability

Novia’s liability to either party for any claim arising from the platform is capped at the total platform fees paid in respect of the relevant booking. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under South African law (including under the CPA, sections 51 and 61).

14. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes are notified to registered users by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

15. Governing Law & Contact

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Questions or notices: hello@novia.wedding.