It's prom season and that either means you are stoked for the one weekend to come or you are absolutely petrified of what's to come. Maybe you're both! I'll start with my background of prom experiences and what I learned from them.

Last year around this same time I was in a wonderful relationship with a boy from a different school. Not only a different school, but a completely different city two hours away. We ended up asking each other to our own proms on the same night and as nervous as I was to "break the traditions" of a girl asking a boy, it went smoothly. Our proms ended up being three weeks apart so it provided plenty of time to recover from the weekend of packed activities. I ended up buying two dresses but used the same jewelry and shoes between the two (great idea). Both of the events went better than could have been planned and once all the logistics of things was worked out, the stress was off.

This year has not been the easiest of things to get planned and as much stressing as I have been doing its just a dance and just one night.

Finding a Date

When planning for this year's prom, my obvious go-to for first thing's first was a date. I would consider myself an outgoing person and talking to people isn't something I struggle with. Though I talk with a lot of people, I don't necessarily talk to boys enough where I would consider going to prom with them. I went back and forth with the idea of not going and ended up deciding to give it a go and try to find someone I would have a good time with. When deciding on a date, it was important to me that I needed to choose someone that

1. I wasn't going to expect anything more than just going as friends

2. I would feel comfortable around them and it wouldn't be awkward

3. I didn't feel like I was going to be using them just for a date to prom

After all of that was taken into consideration, and I had already had to eliminate someone because of option one from above, I found someone that I know I would have a decent senior prom with.

Dress Shopping

So a date was chosen the next step was finding a dress. Last year when buying two dresses, I didn't spend more than $200 for them combined. If I could advise any girl going prom dress shopping, it would be not to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a dress. A couple classmates and I were talking and no one even remembers the dresses that we wore last year! Honestly, anyone is going to look beautiful with a pretty dress and nice hair, so don't worry too much about the dress and its price. Find something that will flatter your body type and all will be well. (This can be quite hard, I am a swimmer and the size of my shoulders can be QUITE problematic. I have learned what looks the best on me by trying different things. Do the same!) I went ahead and ordered a dress offline this year and the first one that came in was a disaster. If your school is like mine and has very strict rules of what can and cannot be worn, ordering offline might be tricky. The first dress didn't zip and the type of dress looked like it would fly in the online picture but if I would have worn that to my school, it would not have gone over well.

I ended up returning the first dress and had to wait a little bit in order to purchase the second one. Since I had problems with having to send one back and waiting for it to be returned, I strongly suggest that if you are going to order offline, do it super far in advance! I have never actually tried on dresses in the store, but from my friends telling me, it sounds like if you go in there with an open mind, things will work out well and of course the assistants are very friendly.

Hair, Makeup, and Nails

This is somewhat like the dress and money situation, do not spend an extreme amount of money for something that is going to wash out and nails that are going to chip off. For hair, I most likely will have a family friend do it. Last year, I had a friend that was applying to beauty school do my hair and makeup and she did an awesome job. I also gave her the opportunity to practice and she didn't expect much pay. For the second prom I ended up getting my hair done at the salon and looking back I probably won't do that again. I feel as if it was a waste of money and it is something that my friend could have done easily. My friend also did my makeup, and this time for free! Regarding nails, also don't go over the top. The best way to save $50 out of this whole process would just to have your mom or a friend do them. This may allow for you to spend a little extra on hair or makeup as well.

Flowers

This part of the process is actually one of the easiest. I usually use the local grocery store or even a little flower shop would work well too. It was important to me last year that I found flowers that was going to match with the color scheme and the different shops usually have a large array of colors. It is easiest for either you or your date just to get the flowers together so you don't have to worry about them matching if that is what you want. I did such a terrible job of pinning the flower to my date's tux last year it fell off before dinner so don't stress too much. Also the flowers also are probably the cheapest part of this process as well!

Groups and Rides

Finding a group can either be one of the easiest things or one of the hardest. If you are on a team or out of school activity it may be easy to just go with them. The most important thing about groups is making sure they don't get too big. When adding in a lot of people, it then becomes harder for people to all make sure the plans work. With all the girls having different hair/makeup schedules, it needs to be a group that is close enough to make sure everyone is good with the times that are set for dinner and pictures. When figuring out your group, also think about how everyone is going to get there. For my first prom the group that I went with took a huge party bus which required everyone to pitch in a bit of money. I will admit it was cool but when you show up at the dance, the only people that know you took a limo or such are the people that you are walking in with. The second prom my date and I drove together and it was just as fun as riding in a bus with other people.

Pictures

Not going to lie, this has to be one of the most exciting parts of the whole day. Pictures allow us to remember the experience (and of course how good you looked). When choosing a location and time, remember to make sure that everyone agrees with the plans. Usually someone's house looks great, or even a local park. I do not feel as if a professional photographer is required at all and a digital camera or even an iPhone camera can work just fine. Last year, my pictures could not have been more perfect! The ones I chose to post were even taken with my phone.

Dinner

When choosing a place for dinner, it is obvious that it needs to be a place that is going to accommodate everyone in your group. Is it big enough? Do you have reservations? Is it too expensive? It wasn't the most difficult thing to choose a place for dinner, as long as someone in your group is responsible enough to make the reservations and let everyone know the set plans. If your city is big with multiple high schools, remember that there might be other proms going on (I think there are five in my city this year on the same day, two at the same venue) so make sure your reservations are set as soon as possible!

After Prom

The whole dance is over and now what? I know some schools put on certain events to keep kids out of trouble which is wonderful. I personally thought that my plans after prom last year were awesome. I had my parents order a pizza and went out to a hill in my neighborhood and had a simple picnic. It kept my date and I out of trouble and we still had a great time spending time with each other. I can't speak from experience with drinking after prom, but remember that your school will expect that parties will happen and getting caught doing something you shouldn't would not be the ideal way to end the night, in my opinion.

Overall prom is such a wonderful thing. It gives the opportunity to have a great time with school friends. Remember that, yes, it can be stressful with all the planning that goes into it, but when it all comes together it can be one of the best nights of high school!