Ginny Deaza isn’t going over budget for her October 2027 wedding gown.
She’s going overseas.
But rather than packing a bag, hopping a flight, and pounding foreign pavement for the luxe dress of her dreams, the bride-to-be and her offshore couturiers are remotely creating a cost-friendly masterpiece via virtual fittings and artificial intelligence chatbots.
“I found gowns that I like from big designers. I then uploaded pictures of myself and the dresses to ChatGPT,” Deaza, 35, a lifestyle influencer, from Providence, Rhode Island, exclusively told The Post. “Then I sent the AI-generated images of myself in the dresses to Vietnam to give them ideas of my preferred look.”
Bridal retailers, from multinational chains like David’s Bridal to tiny boutiques around the globe, are utilizing sophisticated systems to enhance the wedding dress shopping experience for customers near and far.
And elegance addicts — those hoping to save a few bucks before walking down the aisle — are eating it up.
“I’m paying less than $2,500 for a custom wedding dress in Vietnam, which would have cost well over $15,000 here in the United States,” Deaza bragged.
“Prices on high-end wedding dresses in the US are crazy, and with the [troubled] state of the economy, spending thousands on a dress that I’m only going to wear for a few hours is not worth it.”
Brides nationwide agree.
With the world at their manicured fingertips — thanks to AI and country-to-country mobile messaging technologies, such as WhatsApp — frugal fashionistas like Deaza are saying “No” to nauseatingly expensive bridal garb and “Yes” to dressmakers abroad.
It’s a buzzy, money-saving movement among millennial and Gen Z gals preparing to take the plunge as wedding costs in major cities, from NYC to Honolulu, can exceed $70,000, including the venue, the grub and, of course, the gear.
From coast-to-coast, couples spend between $2,500 to $4,000 on wedding day wear, per a 2026 Zola survey, adding that pairs with deep pockets can shell out upwards of $10,000 for designer styles. Fine fabrics, such as imported silk, as well as posh detailing like hand-embroidered lace, beading and bejeweled accents often send sticker prices soaring.
The more elaborate the look, the more exorbitant the loot.
While North America reigned as the largest region in the wedding dress market in 2025, Asia-Pacific — comprised of countries including China, India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam — is now rising as the fastest-growing region in the world, according to trending data.
As the global wedding-wear market booms, projected to reach $109 billion by 2030, Asia Pacific has dominated the global industry with the largest revenue share of 27% in recent years, according to experts for Grand View Research in a new report. The insiders attribute the success of the Far East to an abundance of local designers with direct access to high-quality materials, as well as top-tier tech like 3D printers for customized ensembles.
Nations outside of Asia, such as Turkey, France, Spain and Italy, are also buzzing as popular wedding dress shopping destinations this year.
But Deaza’s forthcoming frock — a strapless, fitted number made of lace and twinkling embellishments — is being stitched by the master craftsmen of Pretty Little Shop in Ho Chi Minh City.
She discovered the haute hotspot while scrolling social media after getting engaged in February. Following a virtual consultation in late March, the future missus paid a roughly $1,000 deposit, setting her economic mission in motion.
“Traveling to Vietnam would have added to my wedding costs, so I’m doing this entire process online, sight unseen,” said Deaza, who’s set to swap vows to her fiancé, Chris, before 300 loved ones next year.
She’s scheduled for a virtual tailoring appointment, to be conducted through a WhatsApp video call, in several weeks. The dress is expected to be completed and shipped — for an additional $100 to $300 fee — to her doorstep this fall.
“The boutique reps speak English, and I send a lot of reference pictures to minimize any confusion, and that’s helped tremendously,” she added, noting that shopping outside the US borders has been a tremendous help to her wallet, too.
“I’m super excited. I know the dress is going to be beautiful because I’m customizing every aspect of it,” Deaza raved to The Post. “I appreciate the look of a wedding dress made available in America, but I’d rather invest my money elsewhere — like a two-month honeymoon or purchasing a vacation home in the Dominican Republic.”
Tiffany Nguyen, a nearly-wed from Austin, Texas, is also using the $7,000 she saved buying her dress internationally to enjoy an extended honeymoon abroad.
But unlike Deaza, she laid out a cool $2,100 on a four-night vacation to Vietnam, spending $1,330 on a round-trip flight, $580 for a stay in an upscale AirBnB and $200 on gourmet meals, to score custom wedding couture for just $550.
“I traveled to Vietnam last August to shop and get my measurements done for my custom dress, and in November I got the message that it was actually finished,” Nguyen, a lifestyle content creator and matcha café owner, told The Post.
“The whole trip was not even the cost of what the dress would have been if I decided [to buy it from a bridal shop] here in Austin,” added the budgeting belle, 29, who’s eloping for less than $20,000 with fiancé Aaron in September.
“I don’t believe anyone should be subjected to paying more, or that prices should be hiked up, for anything wedding-related,” Nguyen said. “We should be focused on what’s important, and that’s celebrating love.”
Vi Luong echoed similar sentiments.
“Us Gen Z brides aren’t doing these big over-the-top weddings, we prefer intimate and intentional celebrations of love, and the same goes for our dresses,” the 28-year-old Los Angeles-based influencer, boasting over 1.4 million digital followers, told The Post.
“I wanted to be economical, but still have like a very champagne style look,” said Luong of the bespoke, structural gown she’s receiving from Lecia Bridal — a Vietnamese fashion house she calls the “Oscar de la Renta of Asia.”
“My dress will be a very contoured, structural piece, almost like a Roman goddess statue you’d see in a museum,” Luong rhapsodized of the piece, coming in luxury Duchess satin and organza. “When I went dress-shopping in LA, the look I’m going for cost $15,000, and I said, ‘Absolutely f–king not.’”
Instead, Luong’s ceremonial attire will be made to her exact liking, with a veil to match, for under $3,000. The over $10,000 she saved is being allocated toward her swank wedding venue in Joshua Tree, California, where she and her fiancé, Erick, will say “I do” at their micro-“Crazy Rich Asians”-inspired to-do this summer.
Ashley Monroe, however, joined in holy matrimony with her hubby, Brandon, in the spring of 2025.
For their destination fête in Guatemala, the 36-year-old hairdresser, from Houston, Texas, secured a corseted, bead-embellished bridal gown and hand-sewn, pearl-spangled reception dress from a Vietnamese boutique for $2,500.
But when Monroe first received the made-to-order masterpieces in the mail, she immediately regretted her virtual shopping venture.
“I tried on the wedding dress and hated it,” she confessed to The Post. “It didn’t fit right, and I couldn’t get the corset to close properly.”
But after a friend stepped in to help adjust the corset, Monroe said the $1,250 number “looked like a dream come true.”
“I would never, in a million years, recommend people to pay the prices they’re charging for the dresses in America,” she said.
“Save that money and invest in something beautiful in honor of your marriage.”
