Alison McPhee, of Geham, 35km north of Toowoomba, purchased a wedding dress of eBay for 99c. Picture: David Martinelli Source: Supplied
CUSTOM-made wedding dresses that cost less than a packet of chewing gum are taking Aussie brides by storm.
Put off by hefty thousand-dollar-plus pricetags in local stores, thrifty brides-to-be are flocking online for frocks, snapping up custom-designed gowns on Ebay for as little as 99 cents each.
The tailor-made dresses, which come in a choice of designs, colours and fabric, are being auctioned off at super cheap prices by Chinese clothing manufacturers keen to capitalise on the western wedding market.
Even with hefty postage fees of $130 to $150, bridal bargain hunters say it's worth it for the overall price.
Toowoomba bride to be Allison Mcphee, 38, couldn't believe her luck when she snapped up her dream dress on Ebay for 99 cents. With added postage of $140, the custom-made strapless, hand-beaded gown was still less than 10 per cent of the cost of anything she could buy locally.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw it, when it comes up with a dress for 99 cents you go 'are you kidding me, this can't be real'," she said.
"If you bought that dress here in Australia it would have to be at least $1500 worth, it is a beautiful dress. I have a friend who's a dressmaker and she was like 'oh my god you couldn't even buy the fabric for that'."
The paramedic, who is marrying fiance Greg Doyle, 33, in October next year, said she expected the worst when she received the gown in the mail just six weeks after emailing off her measurements.
"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," she said.
"I would definitely be telling other people to do it."
Newcastle insurance worker Cheryl Gibbons, 36, is also planning on buying a dress on eBay for her 2014 wedding - a romantic lace v-neck with a cathedral train for $16.66 plus $138 postage.
"I've looked in shops near me and dresses that were very similar with all lace and the train, one I really liked was $2600 and another was $2800," she said.
"This way I figure if worst comes to worst and it doesn't fit properly I've only lost $160."
Adelaide designer of more than 30 years George Georgiou, whose custom made Alexis George gowns start at about $3500, said brides looking for bargains online should be aware they could be ripping off local designers.
"These sellers take photos of other designers' work - a photograph of one of my dresses, worn by one of my models - and sell it for 99 cents and a bride will think she's getting an Alexis George dress," he said.
"The problem is you're not getting the original product. They deceive people."
Mr Georgiou said online shoppers run the risk of poor fits and cheap fabrics.
"You won't get a good fit, the fabrics would be inferior. You get what you pay for," he said.
Sydney wedding dress designer Karen Willis Holmes, whose custom made gowns start at just over $2000, said buyers should question the ethics of Chinese manufacturers offering such cheap products.
"There is a serious question regarding how ethically these 99 cent gowns are made, I would like to think that people do spare a thought about the moral precepts of the production of these products," she said.
"If a bride is after a bargain with her wedding dress, online wedding gowns are definitely an option, but they must be aware that they are taking certain risks such as the quality, delivery delay, sizing and fitting."
Melbourne wedding dress designer Anna Campbell, whose custom gowns start at just under $2000, said buying online was a risky business.
"For every bride that orders a dress on the internet that's perfect, there's another that isn't happy at all," she said.
"You might be lucky with the fit, you might fluke it, and if you've got a standard body shape you're going to get away with it more easily but you absolutely are getting what you pay for."
Brisbane wedding dress maker of 12 years Jennifer Gifford said buying a custom made dress without being able to fit it was a risky business.
"Unless you're a very small standard size, you'll have problems," she said.
"Generally anything you get from China their sizing is a lot smaller than Australian sizing so even if you send measurements it will often come back too small.
"I've seen brides caught by this, and they try to on sell it, or it sits in the cupboard and becomes a distressing memory of the lead up to their wedding day."
WHAT ALLISON MCPHEE GOT IN HER 99c DRESS:
- Ivory satin strapless gown with a hand-beaded fine tulle overlay
- Sweetheart neckline with ruching on the bust
- Hand-sequinned one metre train with scalloped edging
- Lace up back
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