Oh, boy. This is going to be a long one. Are you ready for it?

I had been dreaming of the perfect wedding dress since I knew about wedding dresses. It's your once in a lifetime dress! It was very difficult for me to make a choice on the designer as well as the design. At one point, I didn't even know what I wanted. I just wanted to have every gorgeous dress I could find!

The process of searching for the perfect dress started even before we were engaged. I'm a sucker for dresses. Every single day, I would draw a dress different from the ones before because everything was beautiful but you can't have everything in one dress. That's nuts!

The only thing in common that my imaginary dresses had was that I wanted a gown. A mat-salleh long-sleeved long dress, gown.

My problem? Everywhere I turned to didn't feel right. It felt like a Malay-trying-to-be-European kind of design. Please, fashion lovers, tell me you get what I mean. My second problem was, of course, my budget. Which is why I didn't go straight to Rizalman.

So what happened really? After touring the bridal dress shops all over KL that I was sure would be in my budget range, my mother said to me, "Do you want to check out the ones in Bangsar?" And that's when it hit me: Now is my chance!

For what? For Melinda Looi.

The designer that I've dreamt of making my wedding dress since I knew she existed!

I thought to myself, maybe I could at least have a rough idea of what I'd want. So I called John up and he said they were open. 15 minutes later, I was there trying on dresses.

And I fell in love.

With another dress.

It was the most beautiful dress I've ever tried. It was very light bluish-grey with full French lace with one of a kind motif. There was embroidery at the side from the waist. There were studs and chains and feathers. I wore it with a turban veil with gold embroidery. It was AMAZING!

But chains, studs, feathers? A big no from the parents. And I get it too. I mean like I love the dress and I felt gorgeous in it. But for a 20 year old bride, in Ipoh? No.

So while I tried on other dresses, the princess-like, big and puffy dresses, Melinda came and was like, "You can't wear those. You're small." Instead, she showed me a dress which wasn't actually big but the draping of the tulle gave the effect I wanted.


And I bought it. Well, I bought something like it.

It makes me look tall. I felt like a bride. I felt pretty. I felt so me in the dress. And it's a Melinda Looi. My dream wedding dress designer.

I cannot even describe my happiness of getting the dress. It was perfectly made. Subtle but gorgeous. There are lace every few places. Swarovski in front and on the back lace and on the hands. It's so classy! I LOVE IT!

And that's my perfect dress story.