Getting ready for the big day is not easy. From planning the whole celebration to sending out fancy invitations and picking up the most show-stealing wedding cake the guests have seen, there’s always too little time and too many things.

But no matter how the prep goes, there’s one thing you can’t really give your “I do” without, and it’s a wedding dress. And one social media influencer from New Zealand named Shannon decided to share her wedding dress haul with 3.14 million YouTube subscribers. Except they were all cheap and ordered online. And that’s a screaming red flag.

You’ve probably heard of the expectation vs. reality phenomenon: when a real item looks a far cry from how it’s advertised on the web. But Shannon is no rookie. “It took so long to figure out what dress was what because they usually take other designers’ dresses and pretend that’s their photo.” So let’s see how it all turned out, and you can already suspect it’s not gonna be picture-perfect.

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The Youtuber named Shannon ordered a bunch of cheap dresses online to see if any of them were good

The first thing Shannon tried was a super shimmery and glittery wedding dress for $30

But she said it made her look like “one of those Barbie dolls on top of the Christmas cake”

For most brides, picking out the perfect white wedding dress is one of the most exciting parts of planning a wedding. But in reality, it can be a really expensive purchase, and depending on your budget, the search can become rather daunting.

While Americans spend on average $33,391 for their weddings, with the venue and the engagement ring being the most expensive, the average wedding dress cost in 2019 was $1,600.

It also varies by region: for example, spending for the dress in the Mid-Atlantic reached almost $2k, while in the Midwest, it would set you back around $1.5k, according to the 2019 survey run by the Knot.

The second dress for $34 looked “similar-ish” to the picture online but the quality was not that good

Interestingly, the same data showed that couples who dress for a hometown wedding tend to spend much less than the ones who pick an international destination for the celebration. On average, they are happy to spend $2000 on their look.

But while splashing on your dream wedding dress may be truly tempting, some couples opt for more budget-friendly alternatives like renting one, buying a pre-owned dress, or selling it after the celebration is over.

This backless floral lace dress cost $16 and, according to Shannon, it’s not a bad option for whoever doesn’t want to spend much on their wedding dress

Many Youtubers have recently tried their luck at finding a cheap dress on online shopping destinations like Wish, Etsy, or Amazon. “This isn’t exactly a new trend,” lifestyle vlogger Tina Yong told Insider. “There are quite a few other videos from other creators buying products from Wish.”

Even if the price and quality ratio is not always the best, many were surprised to actually try on a nice-looking dress that would indeed work for their big day after some minor alterations.

In the picture, this $13 dress looked exactly like the one Shannon had, but in reality, it was totally different

This $23 deep-neck dress “looks kinda like the picture,” but it doesn’t sit nicely on the skin and is really thin

Shannon found this $16 chiffon dress really cute in pictures, and it was “kinda similar” in reality, but not exactly

This $25 embroidered dress has a beautiful silhouette and Shannon said it fit her as perfectly as she could have hoped for

This $40 dress made Shannon feel like Cinderella, but the bottom looked like a “marshmallow” and it didn’t quite fit her figure

This affordable $19 dress had a rating of 5/5 and looked very flowy in the picture, but when put on, Shannon felt a little “frumpy”

The $17 dress was “made terribly” but the Youtuber loved its beige color

Watch the part 1 video of Shannon trying out the wedding dresses under $40

And this is what people had to say about her cheap wedding dress haul

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