M'sian Bride Shares How She Only Spent About RM3,000 On Wedding Outfits & Other Essentials
Who knew online shopping could save you so much money? :p
By Samantha Khor — 09 Apr 2019, 10:24 AM
Weddings are expensive.
But that doesn't mean you can't have your dream wedding on a limited budget. Just ask this resourceful Malaysian couple who spent only about RM3,000 on wedding essentials and decor, including outfits for their pre-wedding shoot and the actual ceremony.
The secret? Taobao.
Yep, the Chinese online shopping site, famous for its massive marketplace of cheap goods and currently the world's biggest e-commerce website.
In a viral Facebook post, the bride - Jasmine - wrote that they decided to look for wedding essentials on Taobao as they only had a limited budget after paying for the wedding venue.
By purchasing everything she needed for the wedding on Taobao, Jasmine added that they ended up spending less than it would cost to purchase a wedding package in Kuala Lumpur.
From traditional outfits and decorations to wedding invites and photo albums, check out the items they found on Taobao and how much they cost:
1. Traditional Qun Kua for the bride and groom, with phoenix and dragon embroidery respectively
The bride's Qun Kua costs RM405, while the groom's dragon-embroidered Tang-style jacket and skirt costs RM282.
The Qun Kua even has a gorgeous phoenix-embroidered train with gold trimmings at the hem!
The bride also bought a pair of bright red shoes embroidered with hydrangeas for only RM85.
2. Golden headdress, veil, and earrings to match the bride's Qun Kua
The intricate headdress with golden flowers, which comes with a pair of matching tassel earrings, cost RM103.
The sheer veil, with red and gold embroidery, costs RM20.
3. Satin bathrobe for the bride and custom-made hangers
Pink with the word "Bride" embroidered in gold at the back, the satin bathrobe costs RM36.
Wooden hangers engraved with the bride and groom's names as well as the date of the wedding, cost RM30 for a pair.
4. Wedding dress and three-piece suit for the newlyweds, as well as matching white pantsuits for the pre-wedding photo shoot
The bride's mermaid cut wedding dress costs RM200, while the groom's slim cut three-piece suit costs RM300.
Matching accessories for the bride include a crown-and-earrings set (RM28), in addition to a 175cm-long veil (RM41).
5. 3D wedding invites for RM2.15 each
Jasmine said that this is the find that surprised her the most, as it made her realise that wedding invites can be fun and quirky.
The couple went with a pop-up card featuring one of their pre-wedding photos, adding that they simply had to fill in a template to get the design sorted out.
6. Decorations for the wedding venue
The Tiffany Blue carpet lining the floor costs RM114, while the pastel-coloured balloons were priced at RM12.20 for a set of 100.
The custom-made wooden sign bearing the newlyweds' names costs RM177.
7. Auspicious decorations and red packets
The Chinese flower ball, reminiscent of the ones you see in period dramas, costs RM14, while the '囍' sticker costs RM3.80.
Smaller adhesive '囍' stickers were purchased at RM5 for a set of 350.
Red envelopes with quirky sayings cost RM6 for a set of 30.
8. Bridesmaids and groomsmen's super cute army outfits only cost RM15 each
9. A heng dai challenge set, which comes with a random assortment of knick knacks like sausage lips and ass shorts
10. Last but not least, a set of leather bound photo albums, which comes in a suitcase
While the wedding was photographed by Uniquegraphy, the newlyweds paid RM443 for a set of custom design photo books from Taobao. According to the bride, she just had to send in the photos to be included in the albums, and the seller got it sorted out.
"Simple, fast, and of good quality!" she added. Check out the unboxing videos here:
All in all, the couple spent about RM3,000 for all of the items above. Considering how some wedding packages can cost up to tens of thousands of ringgit, that's a lot of money saved.
While she acknowledged that there were risks in purchasing everything from Taobao, Jasmine said that they ended up spending less than it would cost for a wedding package in KL.
To make sure you're getting your money's worth, Jasmine advised future brides to check sellers' ratings and look at buyers' photo reviews as well as to take their own measurements before confirming a purchase. She noted that the site's customer service representatives are pretty helpful too.