Liesel's Prom

 Raising four daughters, I can attest to the extreme rarity of a teenage girl feeling beautiful and happy and comfortable in her skin all at once. Liesel hit the trifecta as she slipped on that stunning gown for Prom. 

But let's back up for a second. Waaaay back in February I asked Liesel if she wanted to go shopping for a Prom dress. I'm sure Prom was the furthest thing from her mind- she didn't even have a date yet, but I like to plan ahead and I wanted to lock down a dress before they were picked over. We went to the Woodfield Mall and perused the selection there. There were a couple of contenders, but nothing that knocked our socks off. 

Liesel was getting tired, most of Saturday was now gone when I begged her to go to one more place- Gipper Prom. I'd driven by lots of times but never gone in. Turns out they have the Prom scene locked down. Whenever a dress is purchased, they write down the name and which Prom the dress will be worn at so no one else buys the same one for the same dance. This is where my early planning came in handy- we still had our pick. This one was beautiful but the beige wasn't quite right.

This one was ok. The color was definitely better.

The beige beaded number did come in blue, but Liesel was told someone at Central had already purchased it. After double-checking, turns out it had been purchased for Prom at Prairie Ridge and they had just 1 dress left in a 0. Another girl was trying on the same dress in the same color and once it was off her body, I practically ran to the register at the front of the store!

If you buy the dress, the Promposal will come...

We had one more shopping trip to get the accessories and then the Saturday before Liesel had her nails done. On the day of Prom, and for the first time in years, she asked me to do her hair!

My gosh she looked statuesque and stunning!

Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa Wuehler were in town so they got to see her all dressed up.

Back in the day when we were looking for a house to buy, I saw this entryway and imagined my girls walking down these stairs in their prom dresses!

We were a little early for the group photos so I took some individuals while we waited.

I took Liesel into this alleyway where it just so happened the sun was shining on the brighter, white side which then bounced off the peachy-beige bricks on the other side which made Liesel absolutely GLOW! I was able to spread out the small train to show off the bead work which from this moment on began to unravel. Those beads were secured with long strands of thread on the underside so if anything caught, the strand broke and the beads went flying. 

At long last everyone arrived and we were finally able to get some photos with Liesel's date Daniel and the group they went with.

In case you can't tell, there's a bit of a height difference already, and Liesel was in very high heels.

By the time we made it back to the alley, the sun had moved so it was no longer awash in light. Still a fun place to take a "broken dolls" photo.

My friend Heather lives along the lake and she invited us back to her place for a few more photos by the water since we still had time. The high schools here do a promenade at the high school and then they all load onto school buses and go to the venue (this year was Stonegate in Hoffman Estates) for the dinner and dance. Then they all come home on school busses which I find so odd but I'm guessing they do it to keep kids from drinking and driving. 

They looked so great and had a fantastic time!

I feel like some disappointment is an intrinsic part of every Prom. The whole event gets built up so much and romanticized in films, there's just no way reality can live up to the hype. Liesel said the food was ok but the music could have been better. They cut off Mr. Brightside but then for some reason let Fe!n play for a really long time.  

I'm really glad she got to participate in this rite of passage!