Indian wedding shopping online can be challenging but it should also be fun. It’s hard to know where to shop for everything from hair accessories to non-essential cute touches like signs, guest books, etc. First, start out by making a list of things you want to buy for your wedding – including pre-weekend, during the wedding weekend, and after the weekend (including post-weekend events like brunch and honeymoon).
Now, you’re ready to search. The key here is not to go overboard and spend hours and hours searching online. If you search for a little while and don’t find anything, move on! You’ll find something, you might just have to find another way to buy it.
Why use online shopping when I can find the items in store?
Being an avid Amazon Prime user, I find that it’s easier to order something online instead of spending an hour going to a store, finding the item, buying it, and then driving home. Plus, when you’re tasked with buying multiple items, it’s sometimes easier to order things as you find them online or as you have time to search for them online.
That said, there are many items that you might want to touch and feel especially when it comes to wedding shopping, so going in store for those items makes sense.
Know how to search
When it comes to wedding shopping, many eCommerce shop owners have figured out that there’s a huge market for the products. That’s good and bad for you, the consumer. On one hand, there’s pretty of good selection, but on another hand it might be hard to find what you’re looking for. That’s why you need to know how to search for what you’re looking for. Let’s start with Google.
If you are looking for a silver hairpin, make sure to include relevant phrases and also omit irrelevant phrases (if it makes sense). You can easily omit phrases by adding a minus sign before that term. For example, you can say “silver hairpin, -baby” because you don’t want baby hair pins to show up in your search.
Narrow down the search:
Within most sites, you’ll find filters. You can filter by price, where the product comes from, and many other attributes. I find the filters especially useful when searching on Etsy, and eBay since there are so many vendors (many of which are international and I don’t want to bother with long shipping times).
Know where to search & who you are buying from
eBay and Etsy are good places to start for hair accessories and jewelry. Make sure the site you’re searching through is a legit business (even if they appear on eBay or Etsy). Search for reviews about the vendor on past orders – this is a great place to start since you can see if these vendors are reliable with the quality of their products and with product fulfillment.
Look at the details
Read through return policies – many vendors on Etsy who are selling hair accessories and jewelry have strict no refunds policies while others might have 30-day guarantees. Make sure to read the policies before you order. Don’t hesitate to contact the vendor to ask questions.
Most vendors are happy to answer questions – you might even find that some are open to custom ordering (Etsy). Also, make sure you know when your item will arrive – especially with international vendors. Some vendors keep very loose shipping times like 2-4 weeks. Make sure you factor in addition time beyond this timeframe since some vendors might take longer.
Ideas for items you can easily find online:
- Hair accessories (Ornate Hair Pins, Clips)
- Jewelry (Indian, Non-Indian Earrings/Necklace Sets, Bracelets, Arm Bands, Rings, etc)
- Veils
- Signs (In front of altar, at home, in hotel, etc)
- Favor Bags (Sheer colors bags, paper bags, gift bags in all colors and sizes)
- Favor (Once you’ve narrowed down the type of favor you want, it’s easy to order online especially with big quantities)
- Stationery, etc (Paper straws, Customized napkins)
- Bridesmaid accessories (ex: matching robes to get ready in)
- Guest books
Bottom line: With Indian wedding shopping online, being creative in how you look for items is key!
For more ideas, visit our resources page.