Most expensive wedding dress in Vietnam: $117,000

$117,000 wedding dress is most expensive in Vietnam
The wedding gown is made of white silk and satin, and laviously highlighted with a big gemstone-made flower. The wedding dress flower consists of 22 big rubies and eight big diamonds. The pistil is a huge water drop-shaped ruby, symbolising love.

The gown was presented a certificate for being the most expensive bridal gown in Vietnam from the Vietnam Record Book Centre on the day of introduction.

Hours and hours of handwork make the most expensive wedding dress
The most expensive wedding dress in Vietnam took 40 days of hand sewing, idea creation, choosing and processing gems and 24 hours alone for attaching the gemstones.

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How to buy fabric for ao dai

Check the materials carefully for holes, cuts, rips, etc. before you ask them to cut. Once, we asked to check the material before the woman cut the fabric and they all said we were worrying for nothing; however, upon close inspection, there was a thumb-size hole in the yard that they cut for us so they had to cut us another yard.

There are always a lot of customers and not enough sales associates so you have to hunt them down to get them to cut the fabric for you.

After selecting the fabric that you like (such as for the pants of the ao dai), ask them to recommend alternative materials. They might be able to recommend something in stock that is similar in quality but more reasonably priced.

How Partners are selected in Vietnamese Wedding Traditions?

You will find that the marriage proposals in the past used to be made between families who were equal economically and socially. The purpose of the marriage was establishment of a social alliance between the two families. Hence, the groom’s family approached the bride’s family through an agent. These agents could be relatives of the groom or an official matchmaker. The matchmaker collected the horoscope of the bride and the groom respectively and made the bride’s horoscope available to the groom and vice versa. The families then consulted fortune tellers to see if the horoscopes were compatible and also used their services to select auspicious days for performing the ceremonies for the bride and groom, on the basis of the horoscopes. Hence in the past, the couple had almost no say in the matter.

However, the modern Vietnamese wedding traditions allow the girl and the boy to choose their partners. They need to obtain formal permission from the families to their marriage. The groom has to visit the house of the bride with a group of friends or relatives and formally request the parents of the girl for her hand in marriage. You will be told by the natives that this Vietnamese marriage custom is known as Nap thai or cham ngo. This is a speech given by the groom or his family elders requesting the bride’s family for her hand in marriage. The groom then presents the wife with beetal nuts and leaves symbolizing the unbreakable bond of marriage. The family of the bride then makes a formal request with betel leaves and areca nuts to their ancestors at their family altar.


Every family member (including members of the extended family) is expected to participate in the organization and arrangement of the wedding. The van danh or an hoi is the formal introduction of the bride and groom to each other and the future relatives on both sides. This is followed by nap cat, which is an elaboration of the wedding plans by the groom’s family to the bride’s family. The thinh ky is the announcement of the final decisions taken by the bride’s family about the wedding.

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Betrothal ceremony in vietnamese wedding

This procedure takes place before the wedding day. During this time the groom and his family show the tendency to visit the bride and her family with round lacquered boxes. Traditionally, the boxes as composed of gifts of areca nuts and betel leaves, tea, cake, fruits, wines and other delicacies. The delicacies are covered with red cloth that is carried by unmarried girls or boys. The wedding day is carefully chosen by the members of both families.

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European-style gowns

French and general Western media influence, many Vietnamese like to wear white or other color European-style gowns for at least some events in their multi-part marriage ceremonies. Unlike in the U.S., Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians usually participate in a sequence of ceremonies to complete their transition to married status. This provides them with the opportunity to wear several kinds of costumes during their wedding events.

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History of Vietnamese wedding dress

The Vietnamese wedding dress history can be traced back to the early 1700’s, when Vietnamese clothing was greatly influenced by the imperial Chinese garment during the Qing dynasty called the qipao.

Compared to the qipao, the áo dài is a bit looser, with a wide and flowing skirt. Another distinct difference between the two garments includes the length of the áo dài’s slits. Unlike the qipao, the áo dài had slits that extended to the wearer’s waist, showing a part of the wearer’s sides.

Since its inception, the áo dài has had numerous alterations and modifications designed to make the outfit more appealing and practical for the succeeding Vietnamese generations. Today, shorter, more revealing and more form-fitting versions of the áo dài are available to Vietnamese women.