Shannon Martin: Meet West Yorkshire bridal boutique owner with business 'inspired by my wedding' competing on The Apprentice 2023

Shannon Martin is the owner of Dotty Bridal in Holmfirth and will be putting her business acumen to the test as one of the contestants on this year’s show. She will be among those taking on weekly challenges to show Lord Sugar what they have to offer in business. Lord Sugar ‘fires’ those who do not meet expectations and Shannon will be hoping to avoid the dreaded exit and secure a £250,000 investment for her business.

Dotty Bridal is named after Shannon’s late grandmother, Dororthy, and was founded in 2015. Shannon’s boutique boasts four bridal suites, a bar, a retail area showcasing over 170 gowns and a treatment room. The wedding dresses are designed and manufactured solely on home turf in the United Kingdom. She is also the owner of Off The Peg Bridal, a wedding dress outlet in Huddersfield affiliated with Dotty.

In an interview on the Dotty Bridal website, Shannon said: “Inspiration for opening my own bridal shop first arose after my own wedding. I really enjoyed the planning process leading up to the wedding and once it was over I felt at a bit of a loss. I’d been so busy planning and now it was over and I was left with all of this spare time.

"So, I began researching into what brides did with their dresses after the wedding and into the preloved market, to find that there was a gap. This was the start of our first store Evelyn Taylor selling preloved and designer sample dresses, which later evolved into Dotty with the introduction of new designer dresses.”

If Shannon emerges victorious on this year’s show, she will become the first contestant to bring Lord Sugar into the bridal industry. Various contestants on The Apprentice have gone on to be hugely successful after appearing on the show and Shannon will be hoping to be joining the list of success stories. The new series starts tonight (January 5) on BBC One at 9pm. It will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.