Rhinestone and Vows

Prom & Special Occasion Dresses = Walk-ins Welcome! No Appointment Needed

That line sits in the banner at the top of every page of the Rhinestone & Vows website, just below a line saying bridal and bridesmaid visits need an appointment. The split explains how the shop runs.

For Lake Charles families that is a real convenience in late winter, when the same teenager may need a ball gown for a krewe event and then a prom dress a few weeks later. The FAQ puts the formal and semi-formal range at $40 up to $800, a span that puts a first homecoming dress and a senior prom gown on the same rack.

Labels on the prom floor

The homepage features Sherri Hill, Jovani, Portia & Scarlett, Ava Presley, Ashley Lauren, Rachel Allan and Sydney's Closet, a plus-size line. A separate prom designers page adds Ladivine by Cinderella Divine and Primavera Couture. Sherri Hill gets top billing in the site banner, and when this was written the store was promoting the new Sherri Hill homecoming collection.

Beyond prom, the menus branch into pageant, kids pageant, semi-formals and even women's suits. Pageant runs deep in Calcasieu Parish, where fair and festival queens are crowned most of the year. A girl shopping for a prom dress may well be standing next to someone choosing an evening gown for a title walk.

The shop's online collections include an in-store filter, and the FAQ confirms that shoppers can check whether a gown on the site is actually hanging in Lake Charles before driving over. That saves a wasted trip from Sulphur or Moss Bluff.

Size range is part of the draw as well. Sydney's Closet, featured right on the homepage, is built around plus sizes, and one testimonial from a mother who shops there for herself and her daughters says that no matter the size, the store has them covered. A couple of other reviews on the site come from families who had been shopping around Louisiana and Texas, one of them expecting to end up in Houston, before finding the right dress here. That tracks for a shop in the last big Louisiana city before I-10 crosses into Texas.

Planning a prom trip

A visit tends to go best in a set order, starting at home on the website.

Online orders are handled differently from in-store sales. The policy page rules out returns or exchanges on online orders, one more reason to try gowns on in person.

Customers mention the layaway plan in the testimonials too, including one longtime shopper who buys for Mardi Gras balls, prom and homecoming for herself and her daughters. Shoes and jewelry are sold in the store as well, so accessories can be chosen with the dress in hand.

West Prien Lake Road is the same road that carries traffic to Prien Lake Mall, so the store is easy to reach from I-210 and from most of south Lake Charles. Its prom customers come from Barbe, LaGrange, Washington-Marion, Sam Houston in Moss Bluff and St. Louis Catholic. Sulphur, Westlake and Iowa students make the drive too.

Many local families still know the prom and pageant floor by its older name. Rhinestone Runway, the formalwear name that runs back through the store's history, is still on many shoppers' lips around southwest Louisiana.

Rhinestone & Vows prom FAQ

What does a prom dress cost at Rhinestone & Vows?

The store's FAQ gives a range of $40 to $800 for formal and semi-formal gowns.

Can a prom gown be put on layaway?

Layaway is offered with a 20 percent deposit and monthly payments, according to the FAQ, and a customer testimonial on the site mentions leaning on it for prom and homecoming purchases.

How do I know a dress from the website is in the store?

Turn on the in-store option in the online collections, or call the shop. The FAQ suggests both.