Credit: Molly Bergeron

WSPN’s Molly Bergeron talked to juniors at WHS about their stressful experiences finding their prom dresses.

For some, prom is the night they look forward to their whole lives. In photos and movies, prom looks like a fun, spectacular night for everyone, especially when you have a dress you will never forget. As the Wayland High School junior prom approaches, some students attending find themselves in a constant struggle when it comes to shopping for their prom dress.

This year the junior prom is on May 17, which may seem like enough time to find a dress, but to make sure that girls get the dress they want, shopping usually starts well in advance. Some students tend to begin looking for their dresses early in the school year.

“My friends started talking about what prom dresses they wanted and dresses that other people were buying during the summer,” junior Vanessa Ponce said. “This made me really nervous because I hadn’t even started looking, and I was scared that there weren’t going to be a lot of options.”

Occasionally, when someone finally finds their “perfect dress,” one of the first things that comes to mind is if someone already has the same dress as them. If someone else does have the same dress, their search begins back at square one.

To help prevent this, a Facebook group was created about six months ago by junior Bella Ulep for students to post their dresses for fellow classmates to see.

“I started the Facebook page to give girls a space to share their dresses, help each other avoid duplicates and get an idea of what others are planning to wear,” junior Bella Ulep said.

Additionally, the price of a prom dress can range from $60 to $600. On top of that, a large number of students often get their hair and nails done in preparation for the big day. When adding up the price of a dress, shoes, hair and nails, the final cost is an outrageous number.

“I am buying my dress from a friend who graduated a few years ago, and still had to pay upwards of $400 for it,” junior Abby Peredna said. “Before this, when I was looking online for dresses, most of them were over $100 or $200.”

When it comes to ordering dresses online, some struggle with finding popular styles and colors that are in their size or price range. Several trending styles or patterns of dresses usually go out of stock in all sizes very quickly as well. Even so, sometimes the sizing is not always the same as what it says on the website, and some end up with a dress that doesn’t fit. Even when they find a dress in the right size and color, the shipping of the dress might take too long and won’t come in time for prom.

“It’s really annoying because some of the websites that I want to order dresses from are non-refundable or shipping takes forever,” junior Saisha Oliphant said.

Often when a dress doesn’t fit, but is in the style and color the customer wanted, they go to tailors who alter it to fit them correctly. If the length of the dress is too long or too short, or tight or baggy, it may need to be altered. However, getting alterations done takes more time and money, making yet another hassle that comes with having the perfect dress.

“Sending my dress in to get it altered at a tailor is risky,” junior Ava Knourenko said. “I spent a long time looking for my dresses, and I don’t want the tailor to make any mistakes or have the dress turn out differently then how I expected it too”

In an interview with Fox News, NYC Glamour Couture owner Matilda Ndrecka said that a lot of the stress people experience when shopping for prom dresses has to do with social media. Ndrecka talked about how it’s become more of a competition.

Since many girls expect prom to be “one of the best nights of your life,” the simple task of finding a dress should not be as difficult as it is. Prom should be a fun, exciting event for juniors, that they will remember forever, it should not be filled with stress and anxiety.

“Wayland only has a junior prom, so there’s a lot of pressure in finding the perfect dress,” junior Stephine Chen said. “I’ve been looking forward to prom since I was in middle school, so I really want it to count.”