After a lot of preparation, time, and money spent through the process, prom finally arrived on April 29th. I think it is a universally stressful experience for all people who attend; buying dresses, suits, shoes, and makeup, and paying for services like hair and nails for the day is not fun or cheap. The process, which lasts some people months, was finally over and now it could all come together.

I woke up around 7 that morning accidentally and when I couldn’t fall back asleep I started my day. My hair was in rollers that I had put in the night before and I couldn’t take them out until I started my makeup. I had some toast and orange juice for breakfast, wrote a practice FRQ, and then laid around before I went over to my friend’s house to drop off bean bags we could use in her basement for the after prom hangout. The basement had really come together and it was set to be a great night. Not soon after, I went to my friend Sophie’s house so I could do her makeup. 2 weeks prior I had taken her Sephora to help her pick out makeup since she had nearly none, and the weekend before we went out to dinner with our friends and I did her makeup as a test run before prom. Also using some products of my own, her makeup turned out great and I made sure to use an ample amount of setting spray so it would last for the 2 hours we had left before pictures. And yes, at this point the rollers were still in and a lot of awkward eye contact was made with people when I was out driving on the road. Once I got home I did my makeup, finally took out the rollers, and put on my dress. This was the first time I had tried it since I got it tailored shorter and I was relieved to see it was the perfect length. I put on the same stilettos I had worn for every high school dance yet and walked down the stairs where I was immediately doted on by my parents who insisted on pictures inside and outside before I got picked up. 

My group went to the Columbus Park of Roses for pictures and we luckily finished up right before it started raining. My favorite photos were the ones taken with the Canon cameras and the ones taken in front of a big tree with really pretty purple flowers. All of the girls’ dresses looked great together and it looked like an intentional earth/jewel tone color palette even though it had just worked out accidentally. Our reservation at Martini was at 5:15 so we headed out around 5. Our tables were 6 and 6 (significantly better than the 10 and 2 option one of the other places we had gotten a reservation at offered) and the service was amazing. The most notable part of the meal in my opinion was the bread which was served with pesto and olive oil with balsamic glaze. Honestly some of the best pesto I have ever eaten. I also got a mocktail which I wasn’t the biggest fan of but the rest of the table finished it for me. As the main course I, along with all of the other girls, got the vodka pasta. It was delicious and thanks to our server I know the fun fact that the pasta they have is made fresh in-house every day. My total meal cost around 41 dollars since I didn’t get a dessert. The restaurant was the perfect choice for the night and I will definitely consider returning next year. 

There was a lot of time to burn before the actual dance started and annoying but conveniently we couldn’t find the car and the search and trek to get to it ended up taking nearly an hour. Once we did find the car we drove to the location of the dance and soon after entered. Since it was so early the place was almost empty, completely lit, and awkward. It didn’t take long for people to start arriving and it became pretty fun. We tried on the masks that were supplied because of the Masquerade theme and danced, but I and a lot of people agree the music played could have been a lot better. The best part was probably seeing my friends from outside of my prom group at the dance since everyone looked so happy and good in their dresses. There was a photo booth that we were able to use and get more fun photos with props. After staying for around an hour and a half we headed back home to change before hanging out for the rest of that night. 

Overall it was a fun night and day, the only drawbacks being it was the weekend before AP exam week and I had to study the next day (which was almost impossible because I couldn’t get off of Instagram). The dance itself was a lot less chaotic than homecoming since it had a lot less moshing but it did also have a lot more crowd surfing, one of my friends was even kicked in the face after a guy got dropped. And he was wearing Jordans.