Prom is scary. Prom is exciting. Prom is a memory you will have for the rest of your life. Because of that, you’re going to have to make it an awesome one.

Everyone will agree that getting ready for prom is hectic, especially if you’ve never done it before. So let’s go over some basics.

1. Order your dress/tux WEEKS before the dance. If you don’t, disaster will strike.
2. Girls – Don’t tweeze your eyebrows or dye/cut your hair the night before Prom. If you mess up, you will not have time to fix it.
3. Make sure your date knows what they’re doing when they plan the day date. If the plan is, “we’ll figure it out the day of the dance,” you’re going to have a bad time.
4. Wear your dress/tux a few times before the big day. You’ll learn how it feels and how it moves with your body.
5. Wear your heels several times before the dance. Break them in. There is nothing worse than having to walk around the Capitol building feeling like your feet are about to fall off.
6. Communicate with your date about the color of your outfit, and the accessories they should have to match so that you can coordinate. Clashing colors isn’t something you want to see in your Prom pictures 10 years later.
7. Don’t let someone you don’t trust do your hair or makeup. They don’t know what you want. They don’t understand. They don’t know who you are.
8. Ladies, make sure you feel like an absolute princess in your dress. Make sure you feel comfortable. Don’t worry about whether or not your date will like it, as that doesn’t matter as much as how you feel in it. When you finish getting ready, you want to be able to look in the mirror and feel amazing.
9. Gentlemen, you should feel like a majestic monarch in your overly expensive tuxedo. Work it.
10. Take way too many pictures. Have an amazing time. Thank your date for everything.

Prom will be as wonderful as you make it.