PROM!

it was a great success.  today is tuesday and i'm still recovering...  it was so much work but also so much fun.  everything we designed turned out better than we hoped and the kids all enjoyed it which is the ultimate goal.  yay!  i'm so thankful our stake provides this opportunity for our kids.  the dances at school are not the greatest setting for kids trying to stick to their standards.  not only is the music terrible, but the dresses are literally less that 24" from top to bottom.  not the best place for my teenage boys who are trying to keep their thoughts clean.  add those 2 factors to the dancing that goes on and i'd be surprised if there are dances at the high school in 5-10 years.  the junior high already canceled all their dances completely and the high schoolers had to sign a waver agreeing to behave or they'd be banned from all dances.  putting this prom together was SO much work that took months to plan, but it was so worth it when we saw the kids having a great time together.

we started to set up thursday at 2.  we wanted to get all the high stuff done that night so we had men come help at 6.  we also scheduled the genie lift to be there and that is an absolute must!  what a lifesaver.

we started laying out the lights to go across the ceiling, then attaching the silver stars with fishing line.  see hilary back there in the over-flow?  she and bruce  made the palm trees.  they were awesome!!!  i think we had 18 all together.

still getting stuff ready to go up high...  

the red square on the floor is the cinema sign for our theater

kurt figured out how to string the lights up with wire down the middle.  i'm so thankful he took time to help us when he's so busy with work.

 

so pretty!

figuring out how to get the hollywood sign up...

 perfection!

our theater.

tara and i originally wanted to build grauman's chinese theater on hollywood blvd. but eventually changed our plans because it was just way too hard and we thought the kids wouldn't even know what it was.  so...  we designed an old hollywood theater entrance, using the ugly divider wall in the gym, hiding it at the same time.

we used black plastic table cloth rolls for the building.  the men that came to help did a great job putting it up. 

by now it's about 10:30 pm.  everyone left but kurt and another guy, tara and me.  we really wanted the whole theater done so we stayed to finish it.

the cinema sign is up and works!  all the plastic is up!  the windows are up!

next up was the ticket booth, then the marquee sort of rested on that and the red columns on each side.

it turned out better than we dreamed!  i'm so thankful for smart men who figured out how to secure everything to the wall!  we just design and build it...  and hope they can get it up there.  they did a great job - yay!

we left at 11:30 and crashed.  

friday started at 10 am...  we sent sign up sheets around the 10 wards in our stake asking for helpers.  we had no idea how long it would take to get everything up and how many people we'd need...  we were worried we'd have people standing around with nothing to do.  

we did.

everything for friday's adult dance was up and done by about 11:30.  (posters, lights, trees, 9 tables and 30 centerpieces) we were shocked!  but so glad.  we called everyone scheduled to help after 12 letting them know we didn't need them.

the woman who made the posters was absolutely incredible!  we asked her to make 8 big movie posters with silhouettes and well-known old movie titles out of butcher paper.  

i was speechless when i saw them. speechless and thrilled!

i took these 2 home for our theater... 

 we stayed til 5 on friday finishing little stuff.

saturday started at 9.  there was a lot more to get set up for the kids dance.  decorating the foyer, setting up 17 more tables, ironing table cloths, dessert table, photo backdrop, hollywood blvd table for handprints, powder room, setting the tables for 200 kids... so we had more helpers.  

 while they did the tedious jobs tara and i did the foyer.  i was so excited for this.

we were done setting up by 2:30 so we ran home and tried to rest before coming back at 4.  

i was able to see matt before he picked up tiana... so handsome!

 we had to help the food people and ended up having to set up the stage for our performers.  it was hectic and miserable.  our dj's wife had her baby that morning.  what are the odds?  so we had a back-up but he was cranky.  a cranky dj at a prom isn't a great thing.  some of the men meant to "help" us were condescending and rude, and by the night of we were done with them.  we had to run around and find people that were actually willing to help and 1 hour before it started we wanted to be getting ready, not dealing with cranky men!  but it worked out and this was really our only wrinkle the whole time.

here they come!  being harassed by the paparazzi!  so fun!

 here's reece checking in... he's the man in black.  : )

i missed him walking in so i waited and waited so i could see matthew & tiana arrive.

after checking in they were led to our hollywood blvd "sidewalk" to leave their hand print and signature

 when tara and i came in from the foyer and saw the gym full it was so exciting!

 dinner was teriyaki chicken, potatoes, salad and roll.  we had the bishops serve the kids and their wives helped dish it up.  the dessert table had brownie bites, cream puffs, and all kinds of fun movie candy.  after dinner the boys helped us take tables down and the girls freshened up in the powder room.  

it was beautiful!

everyone did such a great job.  i'm so thankful for their help - no WAY could we do it all ourselves!

here's more pics from the night...

we had 2 screens showing "second chorus" (fred astaire) with no sound.  lots of times his dancing matched up with the modern music that was playing.  awesome.

  centerpiece lanterns

 my mom and hilary were the popcorn ladies.  perfection!

"papa"razzi taking a break.

formal photos in the primary room... that backdrop is a canvas - 8'x20'.  another artist painted it and it was outstanding!  we provided hats and boas for the kids to wear.  i didn't know if they would but they all did and it was so much fun!

it was so much fun watching my boys.  i had a blast the whole night... i danced with kurt and reece and loved watching the kids.  

the 3 days of hard work was all down in 1 1/2 hours!  we were exhausted beyond explanation when it was over so going home at 12:30 was nice but all our work!  down so fast!  it was bitter-sweet.

it was a great night!