The Prom Dress {The Dress Before The Dress}

It is no secret that every girl dreams (at least once) about meeting the love of her life and wearing the dress of her dreams on her wedding day. But there is another very special dress in a girl's life; The Prom Dress. The Prom Dress signifies the end of an era; 12 years of school, the last time to let loose and celebrate with your classmates, a night where she can shine and show her personal style. Of course every girl wants to look beautiful on her memorable night and for her Prom dress to stand out and be unique. With so many choices of dresses to choose from the process could get quite confusing. When choosing a Prom Dress, keep these tips in mind...

1. Begin searching for your dress early. Prom dresses start hitting the stores in mid January early February. If you purchase your dress early, you can assure you will find exactly what you are looking for rather then waiting last minute when there are fewer dressstyles and sizes left. You may also get a great deal on a "holiday" dress that went on sale in January after the holidays, and wear it as aProm dress! Once you have purchased your dress, you will have ample time to figure out everything else, like accessories, shoes, make-up, hair, and a date!

2. Have a budget. You don't want to fall in love with a dress, and then be broken hearted by it's price tag. Keep in mind, that you will also need to consider all other expenses besides just the dress (ex. accessories, shoes, hair, make-up, limo, tickets)

3. Choose an Inspiration and make it your own. You can find some of the best inspiration by browsing celebrity red carpet dresses. You can also pick a theme and choose a prom dress based on that theme (example 1920's flapper dress, old hollywood glamour, boho chic)

4. Don't be afraid to try different dress styles and silhouettes. You may think you want a long strapless dress, but you may fall in love with a short cocktail dress simply by trying it on. Different style dresses look and fit differently on every body shape.

5. Don't bring a big entourage when trying on prom dresses. It is good to get a couple of different opinions when trying on prom dresses, but when you bring to man people you get too many different opinions at once, and it can get very confusing. Just bring two of your best trusted advisors.

6. Color plays a big role when choosing a prom dress. There will always be the prom dress season's "it" color, but before you choose a color of your dress you must consider your skin tone. Typically, skin tone's are divided up in two categories, warm and cool. Once you determine your skin tone, you can choose your prom dress color within that category. People with cool tones have pinkish-blue undertones to their skin and people with warm skin tones have golden undertones.

If you have a cool skin tone, choose colors such as baby blue, rose, lavender, plum, pale yellow navy blue, crimson, hot pink and black.

If you have a advisors, choose a prom dress color such as yellow, ivory, kelly green, coral and sky or aqua blues or olive green, orange, gold, rust red, dark brown or a rich gray.