A Boho student has been selected from hundreds of entries as a finalist in a prestigious wedding dress design competition.

Annmarie McLoughlin first decided to enter the competition after her tutor in the Art department at South West College recommended it as a way to showcase her creativity. The young student hasn’t looked back, making the final seven with her impressive dress design.

“ I didn’t get my hopes up because 100s had entered,” she explained.

“I had to send away an A3 wedding mood board with the final design sketch included to enter and then waited to hear if I’d got through or not.

“I didn’t expect to make it to the finals at all. I couldn’t believe it when I got the e-mail from the Senior Editorial Assistant saying, ‘Congratulations, you’ve been selected as a finalist’. I really wasn’t expecting it and it’s quite over-whelming the amount of support my friends and family have already shown so far, voting for me. I can’t thank them enough.”

As part of the competition run by the Wedding Journal Annmarie had to design a dress for the catwalk.

“I based the dress on nature, specifically caterpillars and flowers. Your typical wedding dress is white and I kept that tradition in mind. I found it difficult not to use any other colour but white alone, so I included flower headpiece that has little tones of pink from the flower I was studying. The dress itself is based on the shape and form of a caterpillar with a ribbed skirt and caterpillar embroidery on the bodice. I also included a scarf/veil to create a flowing shape to the whole piece.”

The former Mount Lourdes pupil has had an interest in fashion design from an early age and in September starts a BA Hons Textile Art, Design and Fashion course at the University of Ulster.

As for now Annmarie must have her finished dress completed by August 15 for the competition. The dress will then be shown on several catwalks in Belfast and Dublin at the Wedding Journal fashion shows. Can she go all the way and win it?

“Well I’m keeping positive for now. The real challenge will be making the actual dress. The other finalists have some great designs too and I believe everyone has an equal shot at winning. However the more votes I get, the closer I will be to winning.”

To help the Boho student win the competition you can vote for her by visiting the link: http://weddingjournalshow.com/wj-young-designer-year/