How planning your high school prom is like (and not like) planning your wedding

I started event planning early. I was constantly on dance and party committees in high school leading naturally into being on two different prom planning committees, the themes of which were "Oriental Dreams" a vintage Chinese village theme and "Silver Screen Glory" an art-deco glamorous old Hollywood theme.

Even then I didn't realize that life would lead me to event planning; however, having this experience behind me sure helps! I mean, think about the similarities between a prom and a wedding reception: formal gowns and tuxedos, fancy décor, music and dancing, drunk people (let's not kid ourselves, we all know those kids had alcohol), and awkward pictures.

Each prom committee I served on needed to find a theme, color scheme, venue, catering, a DJ, a photographer, create fancy decorations, come up with song lists for special dances, create programs, we even had to work and rework the budget over and over until we ran out of money! Sounds similar to a wedding reception to me.

Except, not really. If you make a bad choice for prom a bunch of teenagers are mad at the school and probably the teachers. If you make bad choices for a wedding, especially as a wedding planner, you could potentially ruin the best day in someone's life.

That's a lot more pressure.