It definitely doesn't feel like a year ago since my friends and I were preparing for our Year 11 Prom. For us, this was a huge milestone to reach, as it marked the end of an era. Surviving 5 years of Secondary school was a huge deal and a very exciting (but expensive) day for everyone involved.
We had an eventful night from the moment my friends and their families arrived at my house. I hosted a little pre-prom party in my garden. It was such a lovely way to start the evening, I have a family friend called Chris who kindly took a beautiful selection of photos for us. I'm not too sure how my dress managed to survive the entire night, because I fell over on my lawn as my friends were arriving (I obviously got way too excited). Then, to top things off, I spilt champagne down the front of my dress before we even got to the venue. To my surprise and delight, it dried without a stain! Miracles do happen...
Seeing as Prom season is quickly approaching, here are a selection of tips to help you have a (hopefully) successful prom:
1. Choose how you are having your hair after you have purchased your dress, but way before the day of Prom
A month before Prom, you should hopefully have found your dream dress/suit. By choosing your hair style in advance, you can find a hair stylist or contact your current hairdresser and talk it through with them. They will be able to talk you through the style and see if it will work depending on the length of your hair. Alternatively, you could do it yourself or get a friend/family member to help you if you are opting for a simpler style.
2. Have a trial run with a make-up artist or practice the look yourself
For my Prom, I opted to do my makeup myself. The reason I decided to do this was because at the time, I was still suffering quite badly with my acne, and I knew the best ways to cover my scaring and remaining spots. I felt as though I could avoid the embarrassment of showing my bare face to a make-up artist. I'm sure this was me just over-thinking the whole process and I am sure there are fantastic make-up artists out there, who will do an amazing job of making you look beautiful no matter what state your skin is in. Having said this, by doing your make-up yourself, you should look like you, and not like a completely different person. You know what colours and products work well on you, and it also saves you money. Prom definitely isn't cheap! (Sorry Mum and Dad!!)
3. If you choose to get your nails done, get them done the day before
This way, if you do chose to have acrylic nails you have a day to get used to having them long, if your nails just do not grow and are usually short like mine. You can also make sure the colour matches your dress or accessories, and if not then you could change the colour using a acetone free nail polish remover. However, I would recommend getting the colour right in the first place!
4. Try and leave the entire day free to prepare for Prom
It may sound ridiculous to leave the entire day to prepare, but if you are hosting the pre-Prom party like I did, then you definitely do need the entire day. Not only did I have to get myself ready, but also help my Mum, Dad and Sister with the preparation of our garden. Don't be fooled into thinking that it will only take 10 minutes!! My Dad decided to mow the lawn, and My Mum decided to put bunting and fairy lights in every available space in my garden. It did look very pretty in the photos though! Another tip is to make sure you have enough bunting to cover your garden. I had to call one of my friends, Frankie, and get her Mum to go and get us some more bunting, which was super kind of her! Another friend, Hannah, leant us some beautiful fairy lights and fake candles (I didn't want to light real ones, we all know how clumsy I am!) And so the garden really did look beautiful. We also had a selection of nibbles and champagne, which was a really nice idea for all the guests to snack on, as me and my friends weren't feeling that hungry. Pre-prom nerves do exist, apparently!
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| Just a selection of the bunting in my garden! |
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| The selection of nibbles. |
5. Take some makeup in your clutch bag, to top up if you need to
This was a mistake I made. I had used a beautiful new foundation, which was the Double Wear Estée Lauder in the shade 'Shell' and this was the perfect colour for my extremely pale complexion. But I did find, like with a lot of foundations, that my face did become a little shiny by the end of the night. It wasn't too bad, but I could have done with some powder. As well as this, I had smiled and laughed a lot and so much of my winged eyeliner did smudge slightly too therefore I could have done with taking that with me. But with limited space in a clutch bag, I prioritised the space with my phone and camera to capture all the moments from the evening.
6. Ensure your phone/camera is fully charged with plenty of storage available
You will really regret it if you don't take plenty of photos with your friends at the venue. Some of them may go their separate ways to different colleges, so you will want to keep a selection of photos with the people who hopefully, made your school years some of the best you will ever experience.
7. Try and go to an after Prom party!
This was another mistake my friends and I made, no one had arranged an after Prom party in our group. This was kind of sad, as the evening could have lasted even longer. You need to make the most of the evening! This being said, we definitely made up for this over the extended summer we had before we endeavoured on the next chapter of our lives at college.
8. Set up a Dropbox to share all of your photos with your family and friends
Setting up a Dropbox was something I hadn't thought of, until the photographer suggested the idea to us. Since Prom, I have used Dropbox on a few occasions as it is really great to allow people who were at the event to view them, without having to set up Facebook group chats which we all know, annoy a lot of people!! Dropbox is so easy to download, you can either download it onto your laptop/computer, or alternatively download the app onto your phone or tablet. This was amazing as all of my friends and family could access all the photos from the night in one area. So I would definitely recommend this, especially as it is free!
Most importantly, make sure you enjoy not just Prom itself, but the preparation for the evening too. Getting ready is super exciting, and seeing your friends looking all grown up and beautiful in their dresses is really special.
If you are attending a Prom in the upcoming months, I hope you enjoy it! And if you aren't going to a Prom, I hope you enjoyed reading this anyway.
Emma ♡ x
