SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A Surfside Beach woman won top prize in the 15th Annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest that’s presented by Charm Weddings and Quilted Northern.

It’s been a long journey becoming both the winner of the contest and an up and coming business owner in Surfside Beach. Mimoza Haska won $10,000 creating the wedding dress that won the contest, and that’s not all she creates. She also makes headpieces that match the wedding dresses out of toilet paper.

“People around me were like surprised,” said Haska. “They were like, wow, that is toilet paper?”

Mimoza Haska’s story is the epitome of the American Dream.

“It was quite exciting because I’m like, okay, I’m not a designer, actually my background where I come from is Albania, a country who was completely isolated from the world, so that means we didn’t have fashion.”

She emigrated from Albania with her parents when she was 21 and has lived all over the U.S., but Surfside Beach is where she calls home now, and soon to be home of her new beauty shop, Picture Perfect Hair Salon.

“Surfside Beach is heaven,” she said.

The path to winning the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest all started because she wanted unusual dresses to combine with the hairdos she creates in her day job as a beautician.

Beating more than 1,500 entries, judges from Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta and other fashion experts chose her dress, named “Celestial Rose”.

“The technique I use is very strong because the strips of toilet paper are created a little harder by glue, so they actually are as strong, if not stronger than a regular thread,” said Haska.

Haska crocheted the dress using 48 double rolls of ultra plush Quilted Northern toilet paper, and used hot glue and school glue to decorate.

She says even though she used a material that’s not exactly meant for making clothes, the process took 400 hours and was much like making regular clothes from scratch.

“You just got to think of everything,” she said. “It’s not just the design, just the you know, the material, it’s not just bringing it all together, it’s a lot of things that combine to create that little piece of art.”

Haska’s winning wedding dress will travel to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums across the country.