Ridge senior spends eight months making her own prom dress

Veronica Marrinan and date Max Crean glided across the dance floor at Giorgio’s in Baiting Hollow Wednesday night, laughing, smiling and playfully making fun of each other’s moves.

It was a proud night for Marrinan, because her dress didn’t come from a fancy boutique. She spent almost the entire school year making it herself before debuting it to 140 students at the Bishop McGann-Mercy High School prom.

“I had been working on it since October, and this was the first time my boyfriend got to see it,” said Marrinan, 17, of Ridge. “It has personality, but it’s still conservative like I am.”

The champagne-colored, flowing gown was such a labor of love for Marrinan that she worked on it up until the night before the prom.

“The only way I could make a dress like this and not spend a ton was to make it myself,” said Marrinan, who will be studying fashion design at Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology in the fall. “Someday, I want to design evening wear that the everyday girl can afford.”