I Bought My Wedding Online

By Sonja Kowanjko

Sonja Says:

"Planning a wedding is such an exciting time in a woman's life; however with most of us leading hectic lives it can also prove to be very time consuming- not to mention expensive!

As technology continues to rapidly develop, so do our ideologies- on how to stay in touch, work, and yes, that's right- shop!

I recently spoke to a woman who purchased nearly her entire wedding online- saving her loads of time, money and stress. And to top it all off, she had a ball doing it!
Enjoy reading her story."

I bought my wedding online

The first time I met Peter, I literally threw myself on him! I was at a singles night with my friend, Majella, and I'd mistakenly thought Peter was a guy I'd gone to school with, so I raced over and threw my arms around him.

Boy did my cheeks go red as tomatoes when I realised he was the wrong person!

I didn't see Peter for another two years, bumping into him again at yet another singles night! Yet, although it seemed like fate might want us together, it was actually Peter's friend- David- who approached me, saying his friend Peter wanted to know where he knew me from.

After relaying the story of how I'd jumped Peter two years earlier, David, 36, was in a fit of laughter. The more David and I chatted, the more we realised we had in common and we soon exchanged numbers, and went out on a romantic dinner that weekend.

From that night, I knew David was the one.

By our second date, David said he loved me and after seven months of dating David proposed to me in September 2005.

And of course I said yes!

As I was working full time as a loans manager, I didn't want to waste any time in getting a head start on the wedding plans. Within two weeks I booked a church for the ceremony, and a friend of ours owned the reception Metropolis House and told us to have our wedding there and leave everything to him!

I found my wedding gown days later, and then started concentrating on organising my accessories, bridesmaids' dresses and jewellery.

Upon my first visit to a bridal store, I was shocked with the price tags!

Both David and I didn't want to go into debt for our wedding, so that night I jumped on my computer, opened Google, and typed the word ‘wedding' into the search engine.

Hundreds and hundreds of links followed and I spent hours scouring all the websites from around the world, excited by just how much wedding stuff was available online!

And then I stumbled across the perfect diamante-encrusted veil on Ebay. Before I knew it I'd placed a bid, winning the auction days later!

After that I was sold. I decided to purchase as much as I could for our wedding online, from my tiara, to my shoes, to organza shawls and bonbonerie. I purchased stuff from all over the world, right in the comfort of my own home.

It was great to do all my wedding shopping around my work hours, and each time a new package arrived I felt like it was Christmas!

Excluding our reception, I only spent a total of $8000 on our classic-themed wedding, with every one of our 100 guests complimenting how wonderful everything looked.

Deborah Pither, 47.

Bomboniere

We found wine stoppers in the shape of love hearts on an American website, www.efavormart.com. They were lovely and just $1.69US each!

Cake

Our cake was two-tiered, with the bottom layer fruit and the top chocolate caramel mud. It was covered in peach colored icing and topped with a display of sugar roses and scattered petals, and the bottom tier was served as dessert to our guests. We purchased the cake was from Fantasy Cakes

Ceremony Location

We held our ceremony at Toorak Uniting Church

Reception

Our reception was held at Metropolis House, Brunswick, Vic

Decorations

Our reception decorations were candelabras as part of our package, but for our ceremony we purchased pew bows online to decorate the church.

Bride & Groom's wear

My wedding dress was by JN Bridal from Ferrari Formal Wear, Mitcham, Vic. It was a two-piece gown with beading across the top of the bodice, and I had the button-up back altered to a tie back. The groomswear and bridal party outfits also came from Ferrari Formal Wear.  

Accessories

My veil was purchased from Ebay, shipped to me from South Australia. My jewellery (including my tiara) and the flowergirls' was also purchased on Ebay, shipped from Hong Kong. The bridesmaids' jewellery was also purchased online, shipped from Park Avenue, US. The organza shawls worn by my bridesmaids were also purchased on Ebay, shipped from the UK, as were my diamante stockings. And our shoes were purchased from Panache Bridal Shoes, Sydney

Invitations

I designed and handmade the invitations along with the place cards and
thank you notes, using supplies from Riot art & craft stores, Vic.  

Transport

Our cars were provided by From Hot Rod Heaven

Accommodation

We spent our wedding night at The Windsor in Melbourne's CBD

Honeymoon

We honeymooned on Long Island Resort, in the Whitsundays.