Terms for member photographers

Version of 18 October 2026.

In brief

stavelens presents your work to couples without your name: they rate your photos, and you are revealed to those whose taste matches your eye. In return, we ask you to show only your own photos, taken at real weddings. All members pay the same membership fee, and no one can buy their place. Your photos remain yours. These principles, and a few practical rules, are set out in more detail below. These terms supplement the site's Terms of use and the Privacy policy.

1. Who we are, and your membership

stavelens is operated by stavelens Sàrl, a Swiss limited liability company, Rue Saint-Pierre 2, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland, UID CHE-486.072.610 ("stavelens", "we", "us"). Contact: [email protected].

You accept these terms by ticking the box provided when you sign up; we keep the date and the version accepted. You join as a professional, in the course of your business as a photographer. One account corresponds to one photographer, registered under their real name; a studio registers each of its photographers separately. An account may not be shared or transferred, and you are responsible for everything done from yours.

These terms exist in several languages; in the event of any difference in interpretation, the French version shall prevail.

2. Admission

stavelens is open to professional wedding photographers who have photographed at least fifteen weddings as lead photographer, which you certify when you sign up. We do not judge your style: it is the couples who rate.

We may, at any time, ask you for evidence to verify your photos or your experience: a link to a complete delivered gallery, the original file of a photo, or an equivalent item. Please provide it within five working days.

We remain free to accept or refuse a registration. A refusal is not final: you may apply again later.

3. Your photos

By uploading a photo, you assure us:

• that it was taken by you, and not by a second photographer or a member of your team;
• that it comes from a real wedding, for real clients, and not from a workshop, an inspiration shoot or a staged session;
• that it remains a photograph: usual retouching is welcome, but not composites, nor elements added or generated by software;
• that it bears no signature, logo or watermark;
• that you hold the rights to it and that the people photographed have agreed that you may show it, in compliance with the commitments made to your clients.

Your portfolio must faithfully reflect your current work. A photo that does not comply with these rules is removed; if the breaches are serious or repeated, article 9 applies.

4. What we do with your photos

They remain yours. You retain all your rights. We do not sell your photos and do not transfer them to anyone.

For the Finder and your profile. For the duration of your membership, you authorise us, free of charge and worldwide, to host your photos, to adapt them technically (formats, sizes), to display them without your name in the Finder and with your name on your profile page, and to analyse them in order to describe their style and improve our algorithms. The ratings and statistics derived from these analyses belong to us; they do not allow your images to be reconstructed.

To promote stavelens. You also authorise us, free of charge and worldwide, to use your photos to present and promote stavelens: on our social media, in our emails, our articles, our presentations and our advertising. We credit you whenever the format allows. We may crop a photo to fit a publication and add text to it, without changing its content.

Removal. You may remove a photo at any time from your account. It leaves the Finder and your profile immediately. The files are then deleted from our servers within thirty days and from our backups within ninety days. Temporary copies may remain for some time in caches or search engines beyond our control. We also stop using it in new publications; those already published may remain online.

Your texts. You write the texts of your profile yourself and you are responsible for them. You authorise us to publish them on the site for the duration of your membership. We do not use your name to promote stavelens without your consent, apart from the credit accompanying your photos.

5. The Finder

The Finder's results depend on the couples' ratings, the photos presented in each session, the members present in each country and our algorithms, which we continually improve. Taste is not an exact science: we cannot guarantee a number of presentations, enquiries or weddings.

To enter the Finder, your profile must be approved and have the minimum number of photos online indicated in your account. We may change how the Finder works and its rules; such changes do not give rise to any refund.

6. Your profile, your city and your countries

Please keep your profile accurate and up to date. Your base country and your base city are those where your business is established; you may change them once a year. Your city serves as the starting point in the Finder and is shown to couples. By activating other countries, you undertake to work there and to include your travel costs in your prices. An additional region or country gives access to the Finder for that region or country; it never improves your ranking.

Towards couples, you undertake to enter into a written contract before any deposit, to have backup equipment and professional liability insurance, not to have yourself replaced without the couple's consent, and to deliver work consistent with what you present.

Your relationships with couples (quote, contract, service, payment) are your sole responsibility. We are not a party to them.

7. Membership fee

Price. Membership costs 109 € per year and includes your base country. The price is set in four currencies, with no exchange rate: 109 €, 119 $, 95 £ or 99 CHF. The currency depends on your base country: Swiss francs for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, pounds for the United Kingdom, euros for the euro area, US dollars everywhere else. In countries we divide into large regions, currently the United States (Northeast, Midwest, South and West), your base region takes the place of your base country, and each other region counts as an additional region. Each additional region or country costs half of the annual fee, that is 55 € (59 $, 49 £ or 50 CHF) per year, up to five in total, base country included. There is only one plan. Any applicable taxes are added depending on your country.

Special conditions. An invitation or a code may provide for special conditions for your first membership period (duration, amount, payment method); they are set out in the invitation, repeated when you register or pay, and apply only to their holder. At the end of that period, the membership continues on the ordinary conditions if you pay for it from your account, at the earliest thirty days before that date; otherwise, it ends as described in article 8.

Invitation code. A photographer who signs up with an invitation code receives the benefit indicated with the code, for example an offered membership period or a reduction on their first year. No means of payment is requested during an offered period. Afterwards, the membership continues at the full price under the terms of this article. A sign-up benefits from only one code.

Payment and renewal. The fee is paid in advance, for twelve months, through our payment provider (currently Stripe); we do not store any card data. It renews automatically every year, at the price then in force, on the payment method on file, without prior notice; you expressly accept this when you pay, and an invoice is sent to you after each payment. Each additional region or country has its own renewal date and renews in the same way. You may stop the renewal of your membership or of a region at any time before its renewal date, from your account; the period already paid remains yours. If your membership ends, your additional regions and countries are paused and resume, for the time they had left, when you resume it.

Late payment. If a payment fails, you have fifteen days to settle it; after that, your profile leaves the Finder until payment is made. A payment disputed with your bank immediately ends the membership or region it concerned.

Price changes. Any increase is announced to you at least thirty days before your renewal; you remain free not to renew.

Refunds. A fee paid covers the current period and is not refunded if you stop before it ends. We refund it if your registration is refused after payment, and on a pro rata basis if we ourselves terminate your membership without any breach on your part, or if we withdraw an additional region or country that you had paid for. A question about an invoice? Write to us within thirty days.

8. End of membership

Stopping renewal. If you do not renew, you leave the Finder at the end of the paid period. Your profile page remains accessible via its address until you delete your account. You may resume your membership at any time.

Account deletion. You may delete your account at any time; your profile, your photos and your texts are then removed as described in article 4.

Inactive accounts. An account without membership for more than two years may be deleted, after a warning e-mail.

On our side. We may terminate a membership with thirty days' notice, with a pro rata refund.

9. Breaches

If you do not comply with these terms, we may, depending on the situation, send you a notice, remove photos, suspend your profile while a check is carried out, or terminate your membership. Termination for breach takes effect without notice or refund.

This applies in particular to: photos that are not yours or do not come from real weddings, an inaccurate certification of experience, multiple accounts or a shared account, any attempt to influence the Finder (organised voting, calls to vote, automated programs), and any conduct that harms couples, other members or stavelens.

We inform you by e-mail and are happy to consider your explanations.

10. Liability

stavelens is provided as is. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect damage, loss of clients or revenue, the acts of couples or other third parties, or interruptions due to events beyond our control (failure of a provider, cyberattack, decision of an authority). Should we nevertheless be held liable, our liability would be limited to the membership fees you have paid us during the last twelve months.

For your part, you are responsible for your photos, your texts and your services, and you bear the costs of third-party claims relating to them, including reasonable defence costs.

11. Changes

We may amend these terms. Any material change is announced in your account at least thirty days in advance; if it does not suit you, you may stop your membership before it takes effect. Corrections of form or changes required by law may apply immediately.

12. Transfer

We may transfer your membership, together with the authorisations it includes, to a company that takes over our business; you will be informed of this. Your membership is personal and may not be assigned.

13. Personal data and e-mails

The processing of your data is described in the Privacy policy.

As a member, you receive two kinds of e-mails at your account address. E-mails about your account (confirmation of your address, accepted or declined photos, invoices, end of a special period, security, account deletion) are necessary for your membership: you receive them in every case, as long as your account exists. Our news (what is new on the site and in the Finder, tips, stavelens updates) is sent to you as a member; you can unsubscribe at any time, from your space or through the link in each of these e-mails, with no effect on your membership.

14. Governing law and place of jurisdiction

These terms are governed by Swiss law. The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Fribourg, Switzerland. In the event of a disagreement, write to us first at [email protected]: we will reply within thirty days and seek a solution with you.

Should any clause be held invalid, the others remain applicable.

For any question: [email protected].