Sure, you vowed to ignore those thousand-dollar designer wedding gowns and grab the most affordable dress on the rack. But would you ever buy a gown that cost just $0.99?
Custom-made wedding gowns are for sale on eBay for less than one dollar, reports Australia's News.com.au, thanks to Chinese manufacturers hoping to entice Western brides. Though customers will still have to pay postage fees of around $150, that's still considerably less than the $1,211 brides spend on average.
A search on eBay for "wedding dresses" reveals gowns in a variety of styles available for anywhere from $0.99 to $15, with instructions to send your measurements and color preference. Several brides told News.com.au that they were satisfied with the quality of their 99-cent dresses.
"I was very worried, I thought I would unwrap it and it would be made of cellophane or something but it is beautiful, the workmanship is superb and it fits perfectly," bride Allison McPhee said.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that several Chinese wedding dress manufacturers are currently being sued by fashion designers who claim they copied their dresses. As many as 600,000 knockoff wedding gowns were purchased online from overseas last year, according to American Bridal & Prom Industry Association lawyer Craig S. Hilliard.
Designers quoted in both articles agreed that brides who buy online will get what they pay for, citing problems with fit and cheap fabrics.
"For every bride that orders a dress on the internet that's perfect, there's another that isn't happy at all," designer Anna Campbell told News.com.au.
Australian designer Karen Willis Holmes also says that buyers should question how ethically these 99-cent gowns are made.
Tell us: would you buy a $0.99 wedding dress?
Click through the slideshow below to see cute wedding dresses that cost less than $250.
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