A bride found a wedding dress that looked just like the dream gown she sketched before shopping
As part of Insider's wedding series, "The One," we asked Madison Taylor to walk us through her journey of finding her dream wedding dress.
Madison sketched her dream wedding dress before she started shopping.
After months of searching, Madison found a flower-covered Pnina Tornai dress that looked just like the gown she sketched.
Madison and Justin Taylor met through mutual friends in 2017.
Madison's best friend moved in with her boyfriend in 2017, and Justin happened to be their third roommate. The Pennsylvania-based couple met when Madison would visit her friend.
"He decided he was going to convince me to date him," Madison, 25, said of Justin, 26. It worked, and the couple have been together ever since.
They got engaged on Valentine's Day 2019, and they began planning a 2020 wedding.
Madison was focused on her wedding dress as they planned, as she's worked in bridal couture.
Madison works in fashion, loves wedding dresses, and has even sold wedding gowns during her career.
"I am always crazy about wedding dresses, and I also sell vintage clothes," she told Insider. "So I've seen a lot of dresses."
"I used to work at David's Bridal, too," she added. "So I know what I'm looking for."
As she started to shop for a wedding dress of her own, Madison knew she wanted to wear a ball gown, and she was drawn to floral designs.
As she shopped, Madison ended up sketching her dream dress.
Madison wanted her wedding to have a whimsical feel, and her dress needed to match that vibe. Her ideal wedding dress was a ball gown covered in applique flowers.
She also envisioned the gown to be off-the-shoulder and sparkly, and she wanted a stark-white dress rather than ivory or off-white. She hoped to pair the dress with a matching veil.
Madison also wanted to spend around $4,500 on her wedding dress.
With her budget and dream dress in mind, Madison was ready to start looking for the perfect wedding gown.
Madison first went shopping locally in Pennsylvania, heading to David's Bridal to slip into this A-line gown.
Madison, her bridesmaids, and her family members all liked this simple, white gown.
"I think everybody that I know voted pretty much that it was the most flattering for me," Madison said of the dress. "But they knew I wanted something more dramatic."
"I was going for a woodland fairy vibe," she added of her wedding, and the dress just wasn't right for that.
This dress didn't thrill Madison.
The gown had a pretty top, but the simple skirt was a bit lackluster.
"I did like that dress, but it was never a contender," she said.
Madison decided to take multiple trips to Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City as she searched for the perfect dress.
Madison loves Kleinfeld not only for their selection of dresses, but because of the customer service she received there as well.
"I think every bride should go to Kleinfeld if they have the opportunity," she told Insider.
During one visit, she tried on a sparkly ball gown with long sleeves and a dropped waist for her family and friends.
"That was a fan favorite," Madison told Insider, as her entourage were big fans of the gown. But she wasn't sold on it.
"I loved the top and the crystals, but I didn't like the shape," she said.
Madison was drawn to the bodice of this ball gown.
Madison liked the beading on the bodice of this dress, but the skirt didn't wow her.
"I was so sure I was going to love that one when I picked it up, but it was pretty simple once I had it on," Madison said of the gown.
'"It was like a classic princess dress, but once I had it on, it didn't have enough going on for me," she added.
This Pnina Tornai dress was really fun, but it wasn't right for Madison.
The bodice was full of beading, and the skirt made a statement.
"I really loved that dress," she said. But her friends who went shopping with her didn't think it was right for her.
"They were like, 'This is a beautiful dress, but for the type of venue you have, it doesn't really match the energy,'" she told Insider.
Madison agreed, and she decided to keep trying on gowns.
Madison thought this Randy Fenoli dress was the one, but she ended up having second thoughts.
The dress was almost right, as it had the flowers and ball-gown shape Madison had been looking for. But it was ivory instead of white, and she didn't imagine herself wearing an ivory gown.
However, it seemed like Kleinfeld didn't have anything closer to her vision, so she bought the dress — and regretted it.
"I went home, and I cried my eyes out," Madison told Insider. "I didn't really want that dress, but I made everybody drive to New York with me and it was a huge thing."
"I just felt like I had to like pick something," she added.
Madison ended up calling Kleinfeld the following day to cancel her order. She expressed her love for Fenoli's designs but explained that she just didn't feel like it was her dress.
"I can't even express how amazingly nice everybody there was," she said of how the store responded to her change of heart. "They did keep a small percentage of the cost, but it was worth it because I knew I would've been upset."
Madison and Justin decided to go to the Kleinfeld sample sale, hoping they would have more luck.
At a sample sale, dresses brides try on in-store are available for purchase, and they're much more affordable than a wedding dress you have to order.
The Kleinfeld sample sale is a huge event, with brides traveling from all over to attend with the hope of finding their ideal wedding dress at a fraction of the cost.
Justin and Madison traveled to New York together to try to find her dress, and Justin volunteered to line up outside of Kleinfeld in the middle of the night to ensure Madison got to participate in the sale.
Justin started camping out at Kleinfeld around 2 a.m. in the middle of winter, letting Madison sleep. She joined him around 6 a.m., and they were finally able to go inside the store around 10 a.m.
She tried on a few dresses during the sample sale, including this strapless Pnina Tornai gown.
Madison said she almost bought the dress, in large part because it fit her so well. Madison is petite and the dress was a runway size, so it was exciting to try on a dress that fit as it should.
"I rarely get to try on anything that's my size," she said. "I really loved the shape of it, but I wasn't looking for lace."
Madison finally found the dress of her dreams at the sample sale.
The gown was a Kleinfeld-exclusive Pnina Tornai gown that Madison had never seen before.
She and a consultant stumbled on the dress, which looked startlingly like the sketch she had drawn months before. It had everything Madison was looking for: the color, the shape, the flowers, the crystals, and the off-the-shoulder style.
She knew the dress was the one.
The dress normally costs $17,000, but Madison was able to buy it for less than $4,000 because of the sale.
"I was elated," Madison said of how she felt when she finally found the dress. "I'm so glad I waited."
The dress was a size 10, so Madison had to get it heavily altered.
Instead of working with Kleinfeld on her alterations, Madison worked with a local seamstress who had altered her cousin's dress.
She was able to make the dress smaller, shorten the train, and even create a custom veil to match the look.
"It turned out beautifully," Madison said of the alterations. "I didn't even know you could make a dress that much smaller."
The alterations cost around $825, and the veil was $200.
After the alterations, the dress fit Madison like a glove.
The bodice was tight, while the ball-gown skirt flowed out.
Madison's seamstress added many layers of tulle to the skirt to make it fuller, as it originally looked more like an A-line dress.
She also added a bustle to the skirt so Madison could make the train shorter when she was dancing.
Madison's custom-made, floor-length veil added drama to the look.
Hair by Sara Chaali styled her hair, and Madison did her own makeup.
J. Brynnae Photography photographed the event, and Jake Loburak was the videographer.
"It was perfect," Madison said of her wedding dress.
It was exactly what she had envisioned.
"I was so happy," Madison said of how she felt in the dress on her wedding day.
The Taylors' wedding had an ethereal vibe.
The couple got married at Historic Shady Lane. Their ceremony and cocktail hour took place outside, while the reception was in a tent.
Ally Whiteside coordinated the event, while Justin's uncle, Thomas Prader, officiated the event. Petals with Style provided the flowers.
Madison and Justin made sure their wedding was family-focused and intimate.
In fact, Madison said one of the highlights from the day was her father's toast.
"I started crying, and my husband started crying," Madison said. "Then, he came over and gave us a hug. That was just one of my favorite memories."
Jordan Pfautz catered the event, Just Bartending provided bar services, and The Baker's Table made the cake. The Pros was the DJ.
Madison said one of her favorite parts of her wedding day was just talking with Justin during the reception.
She told Insider she intentionally scheduled the wedding events to give her ample time alone with him throughout the day.
They bucked tradition, seeing each other in the morning on the wedding day and taking photos before the ceremony.
"We wanted it to have a lot of private moments, and we got to have that," she said. "It was really lucky."
Madison wishes she had only shopped at Kleinfeld's sample sale.
"I was so panicked trying to find something, and I didn't even consider that I should just be waiting for the sample sale," she said.
"Everybody around me was so panicked that I hadn't decided, so I was panicked," she told Insider. "I should've just trusted that I would find something at the sale."
"It's just the best opportunity for brides who have got big dreams to get what they really want, and it's really fun," she added.
Madison recommends brides buy sample dresses and have them altered rather than spending all their money on a custom dress.
"If you have a good seamstress, there's no reason to get a dress custom-made for you because a good seamstress is essentially doing that already," she said.
"You might as well just buy a sample dress really cheap and have somebody spend a lot of time making it to your specifications," she told Insider. "You'll save money and get the same effect."
Madison told Insider that Justin understands her in a way no one else can.
"It's like we have our own language because we're constantly joking, and it makes no sense to other people," she said of her husband.
Justin is also a big help in making Madison's clothing business run smoothly.
"He really understands how I work, which I think can not be said of most people," she said.
"He is the only reason that I would say my business is successful," she said. "I probably wouldn't even be doing the job that I'm doing that I love so much if I never met him."
"He's really great," Madison said of her husband.
"He's very driven and intelligent," she said. "He knows exactly what to do and how to do it in almost any situation."
You can follow Madison on Instagram, and you can see more of J. Brynnae's work here.
If you are in the process of shopping for your wedding dress or have photos from when you shopped and want to talk to Insider for a story, get in touch at sgrindell@insider.com.
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