In Champaign-Urbana, prom shopping at Michelle's goes by a shorter name: M2. That is the prom side of Michelle's Bridal & Tuxedo, which goes by M2 The Place for Prom and, per the store, is the largest prom store in Champaign-Urbana. It shares the Willow Road building with the family's bridal salon and its Black Tie Tuxedo department, but for a high school junior the prom floor is the draw, and there are more than 1,000 dresses on it.
No appointment is needed to shop prom or homecoming. Walk-ins welcomed, as the store puts it. That makes M2 an easy after-school stop rather than a weekend project.
The PROMise, and what it means across Champaign-Urbana
When one store dresses several high schools in the same twin-city market, the fear of showing up in the same gown as a classmate is real. M2 answers it with a registry-style rule.
It's easy to be unique with over 1,000 dresses to choose from, but just in case someone else has the same awesome taste as you remember our PROMise: We won’t sell the same dress in the same color to your school!
In practice, that means telling the stylist your school and dance when you buy. For students at Urbana High School, University Laboratory High School, Champaign Central, Centennial and St. Thomas More, all in the twin cities, it is a real reason to shop here.
The labels at M2 are the ones prom shoppers ask for by name. The prom lineup includes Sherri Hill, Amarra, Ashley Lauren, Johnathan Kayne and Primavera Couture, and the homecoming lineup adds Alyce Paris and Ava Presley.
Price tiers, pageant and tuxedos
Two price tiers split the prom floor. Luxe for Less is M2's discount line, which the store pitches as all the M2 service at a lower price; the M2 Collection is the main designer collection.
- $100 Luxe for Less starts
- $300 Luxe tops out, M2 Collection starts
- $850 Top of the M2 Collection
Pageant
Evening gowns in sizes 000 to 28, interview pantsuits, short appearance gowns, capes and overskirts
Prom tuxedos
Jim's Formal Wear partnership and in-store tuxedo stylists
Bridal
The family's salon, with a Take it Today rack
A standard pageant appointment is free. The two-hour Crowned & Confident appointment costs $150, and $50 of that goes toward your dress if you buy it there. The store does not have an alteration department. It keeps a list of area seamstresses and refers customers to them.
Homecoming gets real attention here, too. M2 claims the largest selection of short and long designer gowns in central Illinois for homecoming season, in all sizes, colors and price ranges, and the same one-dress-per-school promise applies. Pageant shoppers can walk in as well, though the store recommends booking so a stylist's time is reserved for you.
A family business since 1983
Michelle Schweighart founded the store in 1983 and ran it until 2024, when she passed it to her daughter, Morgan Stone, exactly 20 years after the ribbon cutting at the current Willow Road location; the store's earlier home was on Vine Street. The willow tree in the new branding is a nod to that history. Willow Run, the subdivision built by Morgan's grandfather, is home to three generations of the family, and the store's mantra is "Growing Together." Morgan describes her goal as keeping the boutique experience the store is known for while evolving with modern brides and trendsetting prom-goers.
The location works well for the wider east central Illinois area. Shoppers from Bloomington, Peoria and Effingham come in by the Cunningham Avenue exit off the interstate, and families from Mahomet-Seymour, St. Joseph-Ogden, Rantoul and Unity can follow the same route, as do girls coming farther for the selection.
One dress per school, tux reservations and M2 price tiers
Can my date reserve a prom tux at M2?
Yes. Prom tuxes come through the store's Jim's Formal Wear partnership, and dates can work with the tuxedo stylists in person.
Will anyone at my school have the same dress?
Not from M2 in the same color. Once a style sells to a student at your school, M2 keeps that color off-limits to classmates, so tell your stylist where you go.
How much do prom dresses cost at M2?
The Luxe for Less line runs $100 to $300, and the M2 Collection runs $300 to $850.