This Nontraditional Bridal Designer Created a Green Gown (and a Hot Pink Mini) for Her Own Wedding

“The crazy colorfulness was always there and wanting to come out,” shares bridal designer Madison Chamberlain. “I just had to find the correct path for it.” Madison began her fashion career in occasionwear, often crafting designs with over-the-top embellishment, color, and texture. While she got into a groove in the party dress department of Free People, the designer always found herself being asked to pare down her creations to make them more palatable for the brand’s aesthetic and price point. It was only when a bride came to her looking to create a rainbow disco ball dress for her New Orleans wedding that Madison found her niche. “She was so moved and blown away, which in turn made me so moved and blown away,” the designer remembers. Her new business was born, and she began creating bold veils and dresses for to-be-weds that were drawn to her multi-hued aesthetic.

While Madison admits she never pictured her own wedding day, she knew one thing for certain: “I never envisioned myself in white.” She first met her fiancé Jonáš Toupal in the summer of 2020. “He was getting his PhD in geochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. I was in the midst of building my business,” she says. The couple’s relationship moved quickly, with the pair moving in together soon afterwards and co-parenting a dog and cat. By September 2023, Jonáš proposed while the couple were visiting Madison’s hometown of Cape May, New Jersey.

Madison explains she couldn’t start crafting the wedding until they settled on a venue. At first, the pair considered a celebration in Jonáš’s home country of the Czech Republic. Then, they tried to find a location in between their two families. Finally, the couple settled somewhere closer to their Philadelphia home: The Inn at Barley Sheaf Farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania. “It felt very folky Czech in a way, which is why we liked it,” shares Madison. “There were miniature horses, goats, and pigs, which sold it for me.” With the venue in place, the celebration would embrace the whimsical and vintage feel of the destination.

While the couple had help crafting the design for the party itself with their wedding planner, Madison tasked herself with designing her own wedding dress. This included a second look for later in the night. “I had a lot of friends whose weddings I’ve been in where they come up to me at midnight and say, ‘I have to get the hell out of this dress,’” she says. “I wanted to feel free.” A trip to Mood Fabrics with her mom helped her decide on the direction she would take. “I found this green, tattered, destroyed, embellished fabric in a bin,” she recalls. “I took it all apart and put it back into the dress.” The result was a sleeveless green gown with a beaded sweetheart neckline, a basque waist, and a full skirt complete with padded hips and a hoop.