Prom Recap

As I mentioned in last week's post, our school's prom was this past weekend. I seriously had so much fun, and I couldn't have asked for a better to way to kick off my final weeks of high school.

First things first! The dress reveal! I gave a sneak peek in a previous post, but here is a picture of the entire dress:

The dress is by Lauren Ralph Lauren and I got it at Bloomingdale's. I paired it with a silver necklace and bracelet, both from The Limited. I also wore silver earrings. I wore silver strappy heels from Payless and carried a black velvet clutch with silver embellishment.

I LOVED this dress. It is probably my favorite dress out of all of the ones I have worn during high school. My favorite part is how the dress comes up at the bottom and makes the shoes visible. This allowed the dress to move really beautifully when I walked (not to mention it made walking easier and I didn't worry about tripping!)

I normally don't wear purple. I own almost no purple clothing. However, when my mom and I saw this dress on the mannequin at Bloomie's we just knew it was the one. LOVE!

For flowers, I went with white lilies, some bear grass, and Bells of Ireland. I also added a few silver sparkly embellishments, and finished it off with a big violet satin ribbon. At our school, it is tradition to do corsages for Homecoming, and carries for Prom. 

A somewhat poor close-up photo of my flowers

My date Jake is the nicest guy. We just went as friends and had such a good time. We jammed to "Thrift Shop" in his red Mustang convertible with the roof open all night long. Seriously, so fun! If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw a picture of the way he asked me. If you haven't, check it out here. So clever!

As far as dinner went, my sisters and I hosted our group at our house for pictures and dinner. Somehow we ALWAYS end up having the largest dinner/picture groups in the grade (ie: 32 people!), so it makes it really difficult to make reservations at a restaurant without having to split up. It was our senior year so we all wanted to be together. We also find it more relaxing to eat at someone's house than have to go out to eat and feel rushed.

We kept dinner simple, and my mom made pasta, bread, and salad, and we had a multitude of desserts. We had a lot of fun setting up the tables and picking out spring table decor. (Everything was disposable, so clean up was such a breeze!)

My table setting 

Lots of springy pastels!

Gerber daisies floating in water as centerpieces

The weather on Saturday wasn't ideal, but we made do. It was so so windy! We had planned on doing pictures outside, but the wind kept messing up everybody's hair. We didn't really have a good spot to take lots of pictures inside the house, so most of us were brave enough to venture outside to the deck. We actually managed to get some pretty decent pictures, despite the weather, and the fact that there were 32 of us! The group photo was a struggle!

Here are some of my favorite shots: 

My two sisters and I and our dates 

 All of the girls. Everyone's dresses were so gorgeous!

My Dad and I after Grand March

Trying to get a group shot: the struggle! But I love how candid this photo is!

Queen and King! Two of the most deserving people won. Timmy has been one of my best friends since kindergarten, one of the nicest people you will ever meet. So proud of him!

I am OBSESSED with this picture! All of our faces totally describe us, and it is such a good symbol of the past four years: we aren't afraid to be ourselves!

Since I go to a very small school, all of the prom attendees participate in Grand March. For those of you unfamiliar with the idea, it is when each couple walks across the stage in front of the audience as an MC announces who is escorting who. It is a HUGE deal at Central. Alumni who don't even have any kids going to prom come back to watch. It is more or less like a prom dress fashion show. There are always so many little girls who attend and who "ooh" and "ahh" at the pretty dresses. Adorable!

Each year the junior class officers pick a theme for prom and decorate the stage accordingly for Grand March. This year's theme was "Bon Voyage." The stage was so cute, modeled after the deck of a cruise ship, complete with "captains" opening the doors when each couple walked out. Awesome!

Jake and I walking out the "cruise ship doors" during Grand March.

Our school holds the dance at an indoor pavilion at a local park. The music played was pretty good and we all stayed until the very last song: "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Our group all got a little emotional. This was the LAST SONG of our LAST DANCE as a class ever. It's crazy to think about. 

After the dance, the parents host an After Prom event back at the school. It was carnival themed, featuring a bags tournament, inflatable obstacle course, a green screen, plenty of food, and a hypnotist. So fun!

After Prom ended at 4:00, but our night didn't end there. Our group made it to IHOP to enjoy some pancakes and waffles. 

Jake dropped me at my house at 5:00 and I hopped into bed and slept until 11:00. Perfect!

Prom was a kickoff to the final weeks of high school and life as we know it. It was definitely bittersweet. I have had so so so much fun with all my friends and classmates over the past four years. So many memories have been made, and so many friendships strengthened. Prom 2013 was the perfect ending to a wonderful four years.

On to the last weeks of high school.

Have you had prom yet? Does your school do Grand March? What about After Prom? Let me know all about your prom experiences in the comments.

Stay Stylish, Stay Classy, Be Creative

Emily