Video: From emergency nurse to entrepreneur, Northern Ireland mum knows how to dress to impress

I have always loved fashion, styling and just admiring all the nice clothes from season to season.

For over a decade I worked as an emergency nurse in the Ulster Hospital and I really loved my job.

I have three children Emelie (8) Callie (6) and Micah (2) and our dog Max. As life got busier, I found it getting harder to juggle the work life balance and knew that I wanted to spend more time with the kids as they grow up.

Leaving nursing, gave me the opportunity to start my dream of a career in fashion that I would be able to work around my young family.

Occasion wear is definitely my favourite, I could spend hours scrolling social media or looking through magazines looking at what people were wearing to weddings, special occasions or glamourous events.

From my experience, I knew there was a gap in the market in Northern Ireland, with so many labels not available here. I knew I wanted to make occasion wear accessible to ladies like myself and that I would be able to do it with a luxury dress hire business.

My husband works in the building and construction trade and he built me a standalone space beside our home where Adorn Dress Hire is now based. It is beautiful and I absolutely love what we have created.

I then started my research and buying dresses. I am a full blown magpie and love anything sparkly and extra, but I had to rein myself in and remind myself that not everyone is like this.

My good friend Kirsty (KM Socials) helped me begin my social media which I was very grateful for as I didn’t know how to go about it at the beginning. We launched in February this year and it has been such a whirlwind few months.

I love meeting everyone who comes through the door and love that everyone has a different style. It really makes my day when you see everyone in the outfits and they are excited for their event.

My main aim is that people leave feeling gorgeous and confident in the piece they have picked. There is also no pressure if you come and there isn’t anything for you.

We work on an appointment only basis so that everyone has their individual time to try on and feel happy in what they pick. I just love getting all the pictures back from the girls wearing their outfits and looking so fab!

I’ve been blown away by the support I’ve received and my mother-in-law Shirley and friend Rosanna are onboard to help with appointments which has been great.

It really feels like I have created my job, the only thing I need to do is control myself, as I can’t stop buying dresses. I keep saying, just one more.

Social media has been fantastic in helping to create awareness of the business.

We’ve just hit over 11k followers and I am so unbelievably grateful to each and every person who has followed and supported my journey.

We hope to continue to pick fab pieces for you all and grow on what we have.

I’ve so many exciting plans for the future of Adorn and hope to hold some events, colour matching and fashion shows to involve the amazing community we have built.

So watch this space!

For more information go to @adorn_dress_hire on Instagram.