eBay Mobile Challenge: A Hard-Working Bride-to-Be Finds 7 Wedding Essentials in Under An Hour

By Reena Jana
March 30, 2011

Planning a wedding, as any bride-to-be knows, can feel like a full-time job, and planning a wedding is especially challenging if you’ve got a more-than-full-time job. Take the case of Cristina Miller, a very busy (and may we add very stylish) e-commerce merchandising executive who is getting married in July. With only a few months to go before the big day, she hasn’t yet bought a gown, veil, or finalized wedding décor. Why? Because she is often in the office past midnight.

But as the clock ticks away and her wedding approaches, the Vice President of Merchandising Strategy at Group Commerce, a Manhattan-based group buying platform, is looking for efficient ways to plan and purchase items for her nuptial celebration, which she envisions as having a “sort of Great Gatsby-era feel,” she told us, referring to the romantic elegance of the 1920s. “It’s not a formal theme—just an ambience.”

Oh, and on top of the short deadline she has to pick up crucial items for her wedding, Cristina Miller has another— enviable—challenge: she’s getting married abroad, in France, at a chateau owned by her fiancé’s cousin. While the event is sure to be a fairy-tale gathering, the logistics of finding and transporting decorations and guest favors, not to mention packing a wedding gown and bridal accessories, are likely to be a hassle.

Christina Miller

Cristina Miller and her fiancé, Philip Hall, got engaged in Paris at the Place du Pantheon. A cousin secretly snapped photos from a distance.

So we decided to help this bride to be out, by suggesting she try the new wedding planning category on eBay’s recently expanded Fashion app for the iPhone. Her goal was to check off at least seven items from her wedding shopping list using only the app. And she had to do it all in under an hour.

While it sounded like a crazy task, especially given that Cristina Miller was under a pressing work deadline that had her browsing eBay’s fashion app on her iPhone at nearly 1am on a work night, we’re happy to report that she checked a number of key wedding purchases off of her list. Veil? Check. Tiara? Check. (And while she’s still searching for her wedding dress, Miller says she’s confident she’s going to find a charming vintage-look wedding dress on eBay for around $500, using the app.)

Take a look at the collage we created of Cristina Miller’s wedding picks using the “closet” function on the eBay fashion app. This allows you to save photos of clothing items and accessories for sale on eBay auctions and drag, re-size, and arrange them with your fingers to create what look like fashion-magazine layouts.

Shopping The Wedding Category on the eBay Fashion App

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The eBay Fashion app's text-recognition software makes searching from an iPhone super-fast. A search for the word "wedding" pulls up a list of not only wedding-related clothing and accessories, but also unexpected paraphernalia like cake toppers.
You can refine your search by category, including "Wedding Apparel & Accessories"--so a search for a tiara for that big day won't leave you with a princess costume.
Here's how searches pull up using the eBay Fashion app. Here, the results of a search for "vintage wedding veil."
The "closet" function on the eBay fashion app allows you to create fashion-magazine-style layouts using items available for purchase.

To begin her wedding planning challenge, Cristina Miller decided to first search on the eBay fashion app for a tiara. The app allows you to refine your search by category, among other factors, such as buying format (a “buy it now” fixed price or auction). By refining her search by choosing the “wedding” category, Bride to be Cristina Miller could quickly pull up tiaras that are tailored specifically for brides. There was no need to scroll through pages of headpieces that might be more appropriate for a beauty pageant and not for a wedding. In seconds, she found a lovely beaded tiara with delicate floral details that will complement, but not upstage, other wedding dress accessories she plans on wearing, including a medallion-like necklace that belonged to her grandmother—a treasured family heirloom that she’ll be donning as her “something borrowed” element.

Cristina Miller went on to type in “wedding veil,” and discovered that the eBay Fashion app’s text-recognition software quickly pulled up a list of not only wedding-related clothing and accessories, but also unexpected wedding paraphernalia as well. While she was easily able to locate an ivory lace veil with a vintage look and a sweet price of only $19.99 in only a matter of minutes, Miller also stumbled upon a bunch of unusual finds that will add some memorable flair to her event. “For guests, I picked out some white paper parasols, and for me, something really fun: a hand-held fan embellished with white feathers,” Miller said. The parasols will help shade guests from the mid-summer sun as well as make for some unique and beautiful photos of the crowd, dotted with the sight of paper umbrellas. And the feathered fan will provide a sense of mystery and glamour to the bride’s outfit—not to mention a sophisticated way for Cristina Miller to stay cool on a July afternoon! Who would ever guess that these items would be categorized under weddings on eBay’s fashion app? They are.

This sense of serendipity while shopping for wedding clothing and supplies is one reason the eBay Fashion app is a handy tool for brides to be. “It can be a huge boon for do-it-yourselfers looking to buy materials, people on a budget looking for items in a wide range of price points, and indecisive people who need to look at a lot of choices,” says Elise Mac Adam, author of the book Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers (Simon and Schuster, 2008) “It can be a great way to find odd items that you may suddenly decide you need to have—like a full crinoline petticoat, dozens of paper lanterns, table confetti, et cetera. And of course, eBay is great for people seeking wedding inspiration.”

Below, check out Cristina Miller’s inspired wedding finds, which she picked up within a mere hour of shopping via the new wedding category on the eBay Fashion app for the iPhone.

Roll over items for details

Beaded Wedding Tiara

(buy it now price, $ 55.99)

Travelpro Carry-On Luggage

(buy it now price, $169.99)

White Lace Veil

(buy it now price, $19.99)

Crystal Brooch

(buy it now price, $22.99)

White-Feather Hand-Held Fan

(buy it now price, $6)

Beaded Sash

(buy it now price, $135)

Ivory Paper Wedding Parasol

(buy it now price, $7.50)

Vintage-Style Feather Bridal Hair Accessory

eBay Mobile Challenge: A Hard-Working Bride-to-Be Finds 7 Wedding Essentials in Under An Hour

1. Beaded Wedding Tiara: This beautiful headpiece, featuring pretty beads in white and clear crystals and floral shapes, is both eye-catching and subtle.

2. Travelpro Carry-On Luggage: When jetting off to a destination wedding—like our featured bride, Cristina Miller—having essentials in a rugged carry-on bag like this Travelpro wheeled suitcase is a must, especially if you’re the one with the wedding dress and accessories!

3. White Lace Veil: Feminine and timeless, this short veil is unfussy yet elegant.

4. Crystal Brooch: Customize a wedding dress by adding a show-stopping broach encrusted with light-catching crystals.

5. White-Feather Hand-Held Fan: Brides can stay cool (and look cool) during a summer wedding by carrying a hand-held fan adorned with white feathers.

6. Beaded Sash: Add flair to even the most simple of wedding dresses with a festive, waist-cinching belt.

7. Ivory Paper Wedding Parasol: Create memorable party scenes that will make for unique wedding photos by offering guests paper umbrellas. They’ll also shade guests from summer sun during an outdoor ceremony.

8. Vintage-Style Feather Bridal Hair Accessory: For the reception, remove the veil and tiara and don this chic hair comb for a stylish way to keep an updo in place.

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