From Teen Princess to Promzilla

I must say that I am not sad that prom has come and gone for my daughter because it was such a stressful and emotional situation for BOTH of us. My daughter was the source of my stress! You always want things to be perfect and when they are not, you panic and try to figure out how to fix it or make it better. Well my daughter was VERY particular when it came to her prom dress. She had specific preferences that had to be met. She wanted a long gown, fitted, with a slit, open back, lace, with a train and champagne in color. There was some compromise because she didn’t get EVERYTHING on her list. We searched high and low on every prom and formal gown website you can think of. We went to David’s Bridal, The Formal Warehouse and Local Boutiques. One important thing was that she didn’t want to end up in the same dress as another student at the prom. There were three dresses that made the final cut. We almost spent spring break in New York City so we could shop but, after searching for a long time… She fell in love with a dress she saw online. My first impression was that it was beautiful however, I hesitated on purchasing the dress because it had to be custom made and shipped from China. We did have a small window period where we would be able to get it altered if necessary.

I ordered the dress and we received it in about two weeks. When my daughter opened the package and tried on her dress she was practically in tears. The dress looked NOTHING like it did online when she put it on. She is a size 2 petite. The dress was a “standard size 2” according to customer service agent after I immediately emailed about the issue. They suggested that we take it to a local seamstress to be altered. The dress was $150.00 plus tax and $25.00 for shipping. I honestly was hoping the alterations weren’t going to be too expensive. We had already spent money on the prom ticket and still needed to factor in hair and nail expenses for the event. I was able to gift my daughter a pair of Steve Madden heels that I had bought and wore once, it matched her dress perfectly. At this point we were a week away from prom and my daughter was in a panic. Her dress didn’t fit! She was unhappy and as if it wasn’t enough she was stressing about school in general. Graduation is in June and we’ve been waiting on specific college acceptance letters and following up on college applications. My daughter turned into Promzilla! She was super EMOTIONAL and all I wanted to do was try my best to make everything better.

We took the dress to a local tailor shop and they quoted me $185.00, excuse me while I clutch my pearls! First Thoughts: I can buy another dress for all of this and return the one we ordered. HOWEVER… We didn’t have enough time and all the department stores, formal warehouses and boutiques we visited were a bust! I was determined to shop around to get a better quote but, I didn’t have too much time. My daughter was concerned that even with the alterations she wouldn’t like it if they didn’t get it right! So, it’s crunch time and I’m trying to be Olivia Pope and my daughter is having major melt downs and panic attacks. I swear…. If she was like this for prom I’m really not looking forward to her wedding! I didn’t like Promzilla and I’m sure I won’t want to tolerate a Bridezilla. Geez! Okay, so we decided to see if she could find a dress she’d fall in love with one last time. We went to Macy’s, Dillards, JC Penney, Belk, Bridal & Prom Boutiques and came up with NOTHING! I was going to have to fork over more cash to have this dress altered. I went to another local tailor shop and explained our situation, they were confident they could get the dress exactly how she wanted it AND… In just a couple of days! Prom was three days away at this point. We went back a day later and had a fitting and it was good but, we needed it to be perfect!

Here it is Friday, the day before prom and we have another fitting AND… praise GOD! The gown fits perfectly! In that moment all is right in the world again. Oh… this bill was a little less than what I was quoted from the first tailor shop. It was $113.00 for the alterations. I was unhappy at the fact that when we considered returning the dress we would only receive 40% of the dress value and NOT a full refund. I don’t think I’ll be going this route again, it was insane! Looking on the brighter side of things, my princess is back and there are happy endings to hectic journeys! This momma is also back to happy! For the record, I didn’t attend my senior High School Prom. I was nine months pregnant with said Princess and refused to go. I did go into false labor on prom night and she came a week later. I guess it was a good idea that I sat that one out. So, have you ever had any crazy Promzilla experiences with your teenager?