Prom 2016: Hair, Awkward Slow Dancing, the Whole Nine Yards

Hello, lovelies!

So, prom was exactly one week ago at my high school, and I figured we might as well go crazy and obsess over dresses and sparkly things in a blog post. I'm not exactly sure why prom is so hyped up in America, since really all it consists of is a bunch of awkward teenagers putting on formalwear and pretending they know how to shimmy. Either way, let's take a little look-see at my ensemble!

Dress/Shoes:

The headless horsewomen?

I know I've shown my dress in a blog post before, but of course we're going to show it off one more time here. The top was a shimmery gold, with really tiny sequins giving it some sparkle. The bottom half of my dress was white, and it was that pretty tulle material layered over more of a silky white fabric. The back also has a white ribbon that loops from the straps, which I tied into a bow above the circular part that's open in the back. (You'll see the back in a moment.)

Feet! (But not hobbit feet.)

For shoes, I actually found them at a secondhand store, which was really nice since you really don't see your shoes anyway with a long dress. They were gold wedges, which, while comfier than stiletto heels, they still made my feet ache by the end of the night. I would've gone with flats, but we just didn't have time to get my dress altered to my height, so it just worked out to slap on a pair of heels to add extra height. You can see almost all of my shoe in the picture, but there was also a strap that went across my ankle for more support and less chance of falling over like the clumsy munchkin I am.

Hair:

See? I promised you I'd show you the back of my dress. The bow's a little smushed since we were trying to be artsy and Pinterest-esque by doing that photo where you all make hearts behind each other's backs. It didn't really work, but hey, it's the thought that counts.

For my hair, I wanted a higher up version of the classic, curly prom look, and my hairstylist did an amazing job in my opinion. Her name was Tabatha, and she was so sweet and funny, and I kept accidentally calling her a hair wizard, which she just laughed off. My hair curls pretty easily, but she made it super curly and took it to the next level of fancy. I've been seriously considering getting highlights in the future though, because I think this updo would look so much prettier if you could see the movement of the hair better.

Jewelry/Makeup:

This was the clearest picture I had of my makeup, and I think it turned out pretty well. I went with something a little darker and smokier than I would do on a daily basis, but I still kept it on a level where it wasn't like I had panda eyes. (If you want a full list of products, feel free to ask in the comments, and I'll definitely be able to tell you what's on my face.) I basically wanted to do an amped-up version of myself that would look nice in pictures.

For jewelry I wanted to keep it simple since the gold top half of my dress was so bling bling, and I ended up wearing my favorite big, faux-diamond studs and a necklace that I bought at a secondhand store. (No. It's not real. I checked.) Secondhand stores are honestly amazing to find things you wouldn't expect, and often times they're just as good as the more expensive counterparts anyway.

* * *

Horrifying Slow Dancing Experience:

And now for the story portion of this post. Our prom this year took place at the Van Andel Museum, which was a pretty cool place to have prom. There were three floors of things to look at, including a carousel on the bottom floor, and a huge whale hanging from the ceiling. There were different food options, and later on an ice cream table was set out, which was hard to resist. My friends and I camped out a table on the second floor near some windows that overlooked the Grand River, which was really pretty when night set in and all the city lights came on.

Dancing didn't really start until later on in the night, so we hit up the photo booth and the carousel for the early part of the night, just drinking in the area. The DJ actually did a pretty good job with picking songs that people didn't hate, although I was so confused when he played "Let It Go" (yes, from Frozen) by request.

Normally with slow dance songs, I run and hide for a little bit, get a drink, stretch out my legs, do a few cartwheels. This time, however, the DJ had decided to play two slow dance songs in a row. So I sighed and resigned myself to doing a few more cartwheels. I was standing in a circle with some of my friends during slow dance song #2 ("Like I'm Gonna Lose You" by Meghan Trainor and John Legend), when a guy, a senior (as in senior grade level) guy, came up to me. (We'll call him . . . Barry?) Now, Barry's one of those guys who's equal parts bad at reading people's thoughts/feelings, and comes on way too strong. He'd been very stalker-ish to one of my friends near the beginning of the year, and though he's one of the nicest people I know, I always get creeper vibes from him since she told me he tried to kiss her during a slow dance at Homecoming.

So Barry grabs my hand and doesn't ask me to dance. He tells me.

It wasn't: "Would you like to dance?"

It was: "Hey. Let's go dance."

I did an awkward little smile and as he dragged me towards the outskirts of the dance floor, I was trying desperately not to trip on the bottom of my slightly-too-long dress. Meghan Trainor is busy wailing in the background, John Legend following suit, and I'm being made to slow dance. Now, I've never slow danced before at this point, but I knew that most people do the classic: girl's hands go around the guy's shoulder/neck area, guy's hands go around the waist.

But no.

Barry decides to throw me in the WALTZING position.

Ew.

This is not how I imagined my first slow dancing experience to go. I'm confused when he grabs my hand and hauls it into the waltz position, and my hand felt so clammy on his shoulder. My heels brought me up to almost exactly eye level, but he was trying so hard to do that sexy, half-closed looking down at me thing. We talked during the whole thing, about this and that, and every time I said something that most people would find only moderately funny, he would physically throw his head back and laugh. Me, being the little conversationalist that I am, I asked if he liked the venue for prom this year better, or last year. He decided to respond that it was different last year since he had a girlfriend. (I cried tears of uncomfortableness inside.)

I'm going to bring to back a little bit further in the night:

Barry had been calling my name all throughout the night, waving at me and basically feeling me up with his eyes. *shudder shudder cringe cringe* My friends also told me that there were even times he'd called out to me, but I had been too busy not paying attention that I had appeared to ignore him. Oops. I felt really bad for Barry, since he'd been so desperate for a prom date this year, but I wanted nothing to do with him. After the song ended, I smiled at Barry and gave him a friendly little pat on the shoulder before trying to nonchalantly scamper back into the fray. The rest of the night consisted of me acting like a little meerkat trying to avoid him and avoid getting my dress stepped on.

(NOTE: I am still trying to avoid Barry at school. I feel bad, but a friend of his told me that you have to be ice cold to him in order to stop him from being obsessed with you, which is so sad.)

* * *

So this was prom. 2k16. Huzzah? Overall, I'd say the night was fun, but I do think that prom is severely overrated. The best part of the night is always getting ready and taking pictures--not trying to run away from the Barry's of the world.

Let me know if your school does prom, and if you've had it already, please let me know in the comments what your dress/hair/etc. looked like. (:

That is all.

Cheers,

Sea