(Photo credit: @MelissaEGilbert/Twitter)

When Melissa Gilbert tied the knot with "Thirtysomething" star Timothy Busfield, she eschewed the traditional white wedding dress in favor of a red one - and now, she's explaining why.

"The color spoke volumes," she told People magazine. "Passion, fire, love: Red says all of those things to me."

Still, the "Little House on the Prairie" star, 48, admitted that dress shopping was not an easy process.

"It was quite a search," she said. "[But] the moment I saw it, I knew."

And now, it's something that she and Busfield, 55, will treasure forever.

"The dress will always hold our precious, precious memories," she said.