04/01/2011

Review: Wedding Dresses Part 1

I bet by this time, it is no longer a secret and that most of you already knew that my solemnization and reception dresses were made by the most sought after, young and talented Unaisah Azlan.

When the uber talented Shaliza Mokhtar got married and did her review on her wedding dresses by Unaisah back in 2008, I was smitten by her dresses as I share the exact same sentiment with her. In her entry she wrote;

I knew that I wanted to wear something different than those lacey, heavily beaded kebaya or kurung that are so beautiful but let’s face it, every second bride in Malaysia wears almost the same thing.

And I vowed to myself that when my time finally comes, I will look for Unaisah. Years passed by and her name actually slipped from my mind. When I was still planning for my engagement in January, I read in one of the bride-to-be blog with the name Unaisah mentioned. Some how, the name ring a bell but I couldn't grasp where I first heard it. Then I remembered that Shaliza's entry and I immediately emailed Unaisah to book the slot. As I recall, she was quite eager when I mentioned that I first heard about her in Shaliza's blog and even more eager when I mentioned that my dresses (initially) are inspired from the 70's hippy bohemian era.

Well, what can I say, I am a hippy bohemian girl at heart.

Even in January she's already booked until July 2010. I was keeping my fingers crossed for the available slot. Then finally in early July we met up and she's this very friendly and bubbly girl. It was so easy to deal with her and I have only good things to say about her.

When we first met, I showed her all of the pictures that I had compiled as the inspiration for the dresses. I told her that I intended not to have lace, (heavy) beading or anything typical for my dresses. I want to have that minimalist, clean, elegant and sophisticated look that when I am old and fugly, I can look back at my wedding dress and found that it still looks relevant. Wah, berangan nak mampus. Ya ampun, poyonya aku. HAHA.

I also told her that I love pleats so much and wanted to incorporate that into the dress.

Weeks later, Unaisah emailed me her 3 pages full of sketches, each dress so unique and pretty that I have hard time choosing! I chose the simplest design for solemnization dress. The reception dress was a mix and match from 3 different designs then combined into one.

Months passed by and I was anxious about the outcome. I also had a mixed feeling because let's face it, my (reception) dress is not exactly wedding-ly apart from the colour. I know that the design is so me but I am afraid of the perception of others especially the elders. But boy, when I laid down my eyes on the dresses for the first time, I instantly felt in love with them though I had doubt about the solemnization dress at first.

The Solemnization DressIt a kurung moden with (initially) batwing sleeves. At first, I don't like the fact that it overly accentuate the broadness of my shoulder but Unaisah luckily understood and had them altered. It has simple and minimal beading around the waist and sleeves with a flared bottom. The material is french crepe because I wanna run away from the usual flowy chiffon. I love the material because it's heavy that the bottom falls nicely.
I know that for the fact that I didn't want to wear any veil during the nikah ceremony but felt like it's gonna be too bare without any. So I had Unaisah custom made my tudung for nikah. It is a long selendang with patch lace border around the face area and at the corner.

People commented how I "looked" like Hana Tajima during my solemnization. Seriously, I am flattered because Hana is so uberly pretty and stylish and I am not even close. Hehe. The idea of wearing the selendang like that is pretty spontaneous when one day I played with it during fitting session with Unaisah that she commented that I should wear mine exactly like that. So I did. And couldn't be happier especially when H commented how pretty I looked. Trust me, he rarely give such compliments so I was over the moon when he actually said those words. Yeah, I am such a sucker! Hehe


Coming up next, the review on the reception dress that I love to bits!

All photos via Fadza Ishak (official photographer)

19 comments:

missbutterfly said...

yes.mcm hana tajima.

reena said...

Ya ampun keciknyaaa gambar. Tak puas tengok la cik kak. Hahahah. Buh la gambaq besaq skit.

I loveeeee your nikah baju! Love the color & the minimalist of the baju. Love, love, love!

Ahhh we have same taste. Tak suka beading2 also. Ok mau Unaisah jugak. Heeee.

Moose said...

jaja:
tudung je sama. hehe

reena:
haha. btw, you can click the link of my OP to see the rest of the pics. nak besarkan pun boleh.

thank u for finally someone share the same taste as mine! minimalist is the way to go kan? but actually i'm on a budget constraint that i cannot afford to spend much on wed dresses hence the simplicity. tu part of the reason la. another reason memang i rimas baju over2 ni. hehe

Tahirah A. said...

moose..congratulation girl!!..welcome to the club :) are you enjoying it so far? hehehe...

needless to say, your dresses both are very minimal but indeed cantik ok!..i love the color of your nikah dress..and yes, mmg you can pull off that selendand yg belit2 tu...

happy for you!
xoxo

Tahirah A. said...

*selendang

Rai said...

Hi Moose,
Im ur new reader.
Nway u look so pretty on ur wed day.
If possible, may i know who's your MUA?

Tq dear.

Elly Anaille said...

moose! cantik! simple oke, mmg i sgt suke like my baju nikah jugak. no beads plssss... and lace. ahaks!

sumpit said...

cantik babe!

aku pon suka cam simple2 for nikah, konon suci murni gitu la... dah anak dara kan?

weh, color apa tu? it's not white, is it?

btw, kak ram did an awesome job on u. Apsal tah dia buat muka aku jd cam muka org lain pulak... hmmmm ;(

The Spasmodic Scribbler said...

I love the dress!! Ahhhh..I am a big fan of plain and simple dress tapi my mom tak suka :(. To her, a wedding dress should have beads, lace and whatnot. Tak tahu macam mana nak convince dia dah..*sighs*

BTW, congrats! Serius macam Hana Tajima. Hahaha.

AnEs said...

moose!tahniah!cantek pun cam hana tajima..hihi..

Moose said...

tahirah:
marriage life is a bliss. so far. hehe. i love the minimalist concept because honestly i couldn't stand all the blings here, lace there dress. don't get me wrong. it's indeed pretty but it's just not me.

Rai
thank you! i looked pretty because my MUA made me look like one. hehe. his name is Kak Ram, Alor Setar based MUA.

elly:
thank you! yours pun cantik jugak. and yes, blings and lace are so overrated. hehe

Moose said...

sumpit:
betul tu. less is more. anak dara haruslah nampak sweet2, suci murni, tidak tercemar gitu. haha.

the colour is not white. it's in fact brownish champagne. memang kitorang purposely tanak pakai putih since masa reception pakai putih. another reason sebab baju tu boleh recycle balik. haha. budget sungguh disitu.

alhamdullillah, kak ram did an awesome job on my face. aku cam nervous gak but thank god it turned out ok.

Moose said...

TSS:
thank you for loving the dress as i do!

i tell you what, why don't you compromise with your mom. say, you can have your simple wed dress for solemnization and your mom can have her version on wed dress during your reception? in that way it's a win-win situation for both.

Moose said...

anes:
hana tajima lagi cantik!

Xora said...

Moose, tahniah!!

cicayanki said...

hello moose. diyana here :)

big congratulations to you and haikal! cantik sgt your dresses. i especially love your champagne dress and your headscarf!

unaisah is really good :) hopefully she can do some magic for my wedding dresses jugak!

Aida Narina said...

alas, wedding picturesssss :) me likey moose :) love the simplicity on you moose. maybe i can be categorized as the 'typical' malay ladies that like heavy laces and beadings (i truly adore that hehe), but i couldn't help the fact that i'm liking the simple flowy dresses too! i love what unaisah made for you, and the others. more wedding pictures moose!! :)

Moose said...

xora:
thanks!

dena:
thanks and yes, unaisah is very good in making something that is so out of the box. dia pun suka je dapat buat benda lain apart from the typical wedding dress (this is what she told me)

aida:
thank you. every bride is different and i am actually not condemning those who would prefer lace and heavy beading. that's their preference la kan. it's just that, i am not much into that kind of style. i'm born to be different. gituh! HAHA

Nina Isofea said...

hye, u are sweet! folo me back : ninaisofeanina.blogspot.com **hugs**