Prom is the one night of the year that a girl’s childhood wishes come true, being a princess. In fairy tales, the princesses always looked so effortlessly pretty for the big ball spending little to no time getting ready. With just a snap on their fingers or a fairy godmother, their rags turned into beautiful gowns. However, in reality getting ready for prom is no bibbity bobbity boo, it is stressful, money draining and incredibly time consuming.

I have always looked forward to prom ever since I was little, but I never realized how stressful the month leading up to it is. I bought my dress a month before the event, and even that felt too late. I could never find a day to go with my mom because either I was busy or she was and dress shopping requires a whole day. I drove about an hour to Gippers, a prom dress store in Crystal Lake. As we walked in, it felt like something out of a ‘girlhood,’ movie. There were dresses and teenage girls everywhere. By the time I picked out the dresses that I wanted to try on, it took about two hours until they finally called me up to try on my dresses. By the end of this four-hour process, I finally found my dress. I got lucky that I found my dress after only visiting one store as many others struggled and bounced around from store to store to find their perfect match.

After dress shopping, I was free for about two weeks, having no stress or having to think about prom. Then the week leading up to prom came by, the most stressful part about it all. I had to balance school, my appointments and work. Thankfully, I had no school on Monday and Tuesday so I had two days of preparing, fitting in my facial, eyebrow appointment, and nail appointment those days. Then, for my spray tan, I did not know when to do it. I work in a pool Tuesday and Wednesday so I couldn’t have done it those days as it would’ve washed off. I finally chose Thursday as my day. Friday I made sure I had nothing booked so that I can relax and make a flower bouquet after such a hectic week.

Then, the most magical day, besides my wedding day, prom. The morning of prom I have a hair and makeup appointment. I have to be ready in time for pictures and then the event. Hopefully, a fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a carriage for me so I have a speedy way to get all this done before prom night.