Wendy Salerno: From Setback to Success, Building Dreams One Dress at a Time
When doctors gave her a 5% chance of walking again, this Bucks County entrepreneur proved that sometimes the most profound transformations happen when you refuse to give up.
Wendy Salerno’s story reads like a masterclass in turning obstacles into opportunities. As co-founder of Darianna® Bridal & Tuxedo, she has spent over a decade creating magical moments for brides and prom-goers across Bucks County while mentoring countless young women in the process. But it’s her response to a life-altering accident in 2020—breaking her neck just one week before the world shut down from COVID-19—that truly exemplifies her resiliency. Today, she continues to run her thriving business while raising two daughters and proving that resilience, authenticity, and an unwavering commitment to serving others can transform even the most devastating setbacks into stories of triumph.
Wendy Salerno is a 2025 Bucks County Parent Women of Influence Award Winner
Bucks County Parent’s Women of Influence Network and Awards celebrate exceptional women making significant impacts in our community. Wendy was nominated by her entrepreneur mentor and 2024 Bucks County Parent Women of Influence, Michelle El Khoury, and selected based on her achievements and dedication to creating positive change in her community. Each Women of Influence Award Winner has committed to support Family Focus Media’s core values. Together, we are committed to foster a sense of belonging and empowerment for all for all families. All backgrounds, races, genders, and sexual orientations are welcome and safe with us.
Beyond the awards, our Women of Influence Luncheons and Speed Networking Night attendees come together as our Women of Influence Network, a community fostering connections, collaboration, and mutual support.
Building Something from Nothing
In 2013, Wendy and her husband Franco identified a simple need in their community: accessible, honest bridal and prom shopping. With zero experience in retail or formalwear, they took a research-driven approach that would set them apart from established competitors who had been in business for 30 to 40 years.
“I didn’t know what I didn’t know, which was a good thing,” Wendy explains. “I had completely fresh eyes because I didn’t have that perception of ‘we’ve always done it this way, so we can’t change.'”
Before opening, Wendy spent days reading negative reviews of bridal stores across the country, identifying a consistent pattern: customers complained about rude, snobby staff, high-pressure sales tactics, and dirty stores. Her solution was refreshingly simple: “We’ll be nice. We’ll tell the truth and we’ll keep a clean store.”
Named after their daughters Daria and Deanna, Darianna® Bridal & Tuxedo launched with strategic partnerships, including collaborating with a local teen photographer who brought models in during prom season. Wendy worked seven days a week, attending every bridal show she could find to get their name out there.
The dedication paid off spectacularly. Just six months after opening, they won Best Bridal Store in a community competition, beating stores that had been established for decades. “I remember getting the phone call that we won,” Wendy recalls. “We’re only six months old. How did we win this? It was phenomenal.”
When Everything Changed
March 5, 2020, marked a turning point that would test everything Wendy believed about perseverance. After what she now believes was an early case of COVID-19, she fainted in her bathroom and broke her neck at C6. The initial prognosis was devastating: doctors gave her only a 5% chance of walking again.
“In my mind, there was never a question. I would walk again,” she says with characteristic determination. After a week in the ICU and four weeks in rehabilitation, she was discharged to a world that had shut down, including their business. Unable to access professional physical therapy during the lockdown, her husband Franco became her therapist, walking with her as she slowly regained mobility.
The recovery was grueling. “It took me 20 minutes to get to the end of the driveway,” she remembers. But within a couple of months, she was walking on her own, and by June when their business reopened, she was determined to find her new role.
Redefining Purpose
The accident forced a complete reimagining of Wendy’s role at Darianna®. Unable to use her dominant right hand and facing physical limitations that prevented her from doing bridal appointments, she could have easily retreated. Instead, Franco suggested she become the store’s blogger.
“What it did was it kept me from falling into the hole of depression,” she explains. Using voice-to-text technology, Wendy began chronicling everything about the business, from industry insights to personal reflections. What started as therapy became a powerful marketing tool, significantly boosting their website’s domain authority and Google rankings.
Meanwhile, their daughter Daria stepped up as general manager, helping reopen the store alongside Franco. This family partnership demonstrates how crisis can reveal hidden strengths and create new opportunities for growth.
The Power of “Yes to the Dress”
For Wendy, the magic of her work isn’t just about selling dresses—it’s about transforming how women see themselves. She shares the story of a prom customer who came in calling herself “awful,” “fat,” and “ugly.” After trying on numerous dresses with no success, Wendy suggested something completely different: a big, sparkly pink ball gown that was the opposite of everything the girl thought she wanted.
“She puts it on and she comes out and she smiled. She literally smiled,” Wendy recalls. “I thought, I can’t believe I have this kind of opportunity to redirect that and it really made me think differently about my job—that maybe it isn’t just about sales. Maybe it’s also about making women feel confident and feel good.”
Years later, that same girl reached out to share that the experience had changed her entire outlook on herself. She had run for a local pageant with a mental health platform, and part of her story was “the pink poofy dress” moment that transformed her self-perception.
Even more profound was the bride who came from two hours away after finding nothing in countless other stores. After trying dress after dress with no success, Wendy suggested she pick something completely opposite to what she thought she wanted. The bride chose a dress covered in flowers, and when she tried it on, both she and her mother loved it. When Wendy revealed the dress was named “Aster,” both women began crying—the bride’s grandmother, who had recently passed away, loved asters and had them embroidered throughout her home.
“I said, ‘She’s here. She just led you to that dress,'” Wendy remembers. “It was amazing. I get chills every time I tell the story.”
Mentoring the Next Generation
Beyond creating magical dress moments, Wendy takes pride in mentoring the young women who work at Darianna®. Over 12 years, she has watched teenagers transform into confident adults who have gone on to become physicians, scientists, educators, and financial analysts.
Her approach focuses on building confidence through knowledge and boundaries. “I can teach you about the dresses, but I can’t teach you to be nice to people,” she tells new employees. “That’s already your personality.”
When difficult customers become aggressive, she has equipped her young staff with a powerful script: “My boss does not allow me to be spoken to that way.” This approach not only protects them in the moment but teaches a lifelong lesson about commanding respect.
“It teaches them in the future, it’s not just these people that aren’t allowed to speak to you. It’s anybody. No one is allowed to speak to you that way,” she explains.
Taking Scary Opportunities
Wendy’s philosophy of “do it scared” has led to remarkable opportunities, culminating in a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The journey began when Darianna® was recognized as one of the top 100 businesses in the country by the US Chamber of Commerce. When journalists began asking for businesses affected by tariffs, they volunteered to share their story.
What followed was a series of media appearances, including a live ABC News interview that Wendy thought would be taped. “I’m not a speaker. I thought this was taped and they were going to edit it. Oh, they’re like 2 minutes and you’re on,” she laughs. “I was literally scared out of my mind, but that’s what you know—do it scared.”
The Stephen Colbert opportunity came after producers saw their ABC interview. The show borrowed 30 dresses to create a commercial for Darianna®, and the family was invited as VIPs to watch it air live. “Hearing Stephen Colbert 25 feet away from me saying the name of our store—I watched this commercial with tears just running down my face,” she recalls.
Her advice to other business owners is simple: “Don’t say no. There are people who say no when journalists call them. If you have a business, you better get out there. You’re never gonna get anywhere if you say no.”
Daily Resilience
Five years after her accident, Wendy continues to walk without feeling from the chest down and has lost 80% use of her right hand. She maintains her mobility through daily exercise and has adapted to being left-handed, using voice-to-text for all communication.
“I can’t run. I can’t jump. I can’t run upstairs,” she acknowledges. “But you get used to anything. This is my life now, and I’m used to it.”
Her motivation remains her daughters: “I knew I had to succeed in some way to show them as their mother, I can’t shut down. I can’t just give up. That’s their role model.”
Looking Forward
As Darianna® approaches its second decade, Wendy is planning a rebrand that acknowledges how the wedding industry has evolved. With Gen Z shopping differently and many traditional revenue streams moving online, she’s focusing on what can’t be replicated digitally: the transformative “yes to the dress” moment.
“What they can’t replicate is that moment,” she explains. “That’s really what I want to do—keep having the younger girls come in and get introduced to the wedding world and be excited about that part of their future.”
Her advice to women facing devastating news reflects her own journey: “Don’t freak out. Just stay in the moment. What you say to yourself matters. Women can handle a lot more than they think. If you have some type of devastating health news, you need to say ‘I got this. I’m going to do the best thing for me and I got this.'”
Through Darianna® Bridal & Tuxedo, Wendy Salerno continues to prove that with determination, authenticity, and the courage to do scary things scared, it’s possible to transform life’s greatest challenges into opportunities for meaningful impact. Her recognition as a 2025 Women of Influence Award Winner celebrates not just her business success, but her embodiment of resilience and her commitment to lifting up the women and young people around her.
