Prom for guys: the untold story

When people imagine prom, they probably think of a guy asking a girl and the terrible stress a girl has to go through to get ready for prom. From the hours spent picking out a dress to the many more pouring over their makeup, girls seem to be the most important in the prom equation.

Many claim that guys have it easy during prom. All they need to do is ask a girl and rent a tux.

While this may be the popular sentiment, gentlemen do struggle with obstacles similar to the challenges faced by their female counterparts.

Before the dress, the pictures and the dance itself, guys have to face the largest obstacle of all — asking a girl to prom.

With every asking comes the fear that the girl will find out the surprise beforehand. 

With the difficulty of this task comes the required creativity, considering the countless cheesy, overdone options, including the old-fashioned poster and flowers combination.

“Thinking of a creative way to ask the girl is pretty difficult, because all guys want to be unique, special and non-cliche from the stereotypical askings,” junior Narain Mandyam said.

Mandyan asked junior Catroina Costello by making a video and showing it in her English class. Just as the video ended with Mandyam walking toward the class, he walked through the door with a bouquet of flowers and a sign saying “Prom?”

Not only is coming up with an original approach difficult but keeping it a surprise is tough as well. The last thing a guy wants to do is to have his possible “date” know about his asking.

“It was tough to keep it all a secret and organizing the asking without hinting anything to the person being asked,” Shreyes Balebail said. “It was hard to keep all the friends involved and informed without many people knowing."

If the way the guy asks is creative and the girl does not find out about the plan, then the asking can be wonderful surprise.

A great example is junior Kushol Bhattarcharjee’s asking to junior Anshika Maheshwari.

Junior Simi Srivastava and Bhattacharjee choreographed a bhangra dance for his asking, which required him to teach his friends to dance. Juniors Jade Bisht and Naveen Kashyap convinced Maheshwari that they were just going to go on a run in the afternoon but then led her to the quad, where we performed the dance for her.”

If the boy is successful in his asking, he faces yet another obstacle — matching his vest to the girl’s dress.

Although this may seem like a petty issue, it causes large problems and headaches for the guys.

“It was definitely hard to match with the girl’s dress, especially when they have a non-typical color,” Bhattarcharjee said. “The tux [store] I went to didn’t have a color vest that matched [Maheshwari’s] dress color, so I wore suspenders and a bowtie instead.”

In addition to this, the colors of the boy’s vest may be different from the girl’s dress due to color change in photos.

“It was really hard matching my date’s dress because I couldn’t see it in person,” junior Vivek Murthy said. “It was tough matching with her but in the end i think we matched well.”

Despite all the worry and hassle prom involves, many of those who go are glad they did.

“Prom was a great experience,” Balebail said. “It was so fun to spend the night with friends, and I think the stress leading up to it was definitely worth it.”