Two high schools share one district in South Lyon, and that single fact shapes how prom shopping works at Color It In Boutique. South Lyon High and South Lyon East send their juniors and seniors to separate dances, so a gown that shows up at one prom may never be seen at the other. The boutique built its dress registry around exactly that split, logging each formal sale against a grade and a school instead of a single town-wide list.
The shop sits in a beige brick building on a downtown corner along Lafayette Street, the main north-south street through the middle of town. South Lyon High is on the same street, north of downtown. It is a small-town storefront in southeast Michigan, with Milford, Brighton and Novi all nearby, so students from Milford High, Brighton High and Novi High have it within reach as well.
How the South Lyon registry is set up
The registry is free with any formalwear purchase and covers prom and homecoming dresses only. One color of each style is logged per grade, per school. A second shopper can still buy the same style in another color, or buy the identical gown if she is in a different grade or goes to a different school.
Once a dress has been registered, that exact style and color combination will no longer be sold to another student in the same grade at the same school.
That line sits on the boutique's policies page, followed by the fine print a parent should know: the registry cannot account for dresses bought from other boutiques, online retailers or resale marketplaces. It narrows the odds of a twin at the dance rather than ruling one out. For homecoming the shop adds its own limit, carrying no more than two of the same style and putting each in a different color.
Designers, special orders and the payment schedule
The prom wall runs from sleek and simple to glitzy and bold, in silhouettes from fit-and-flare to full ballgown. The labels listed on the prom page are Ashley Lauren, Ellie Wilde, Jessica Angel, Jovani, Portia and Scarlett, Primavera and Sophia Thomas. Homecoming draws on the same group minus Ellie Wilde, and homecoming stock starts loading in mid-July, well before the fall dance calendar fills up.
When the right style is on the floor in the wrong size or color, the boutique will special order it from the designer if the designer still has it. Most of those orders arrive in seven to ten business days, though some take longer at peak season. A $15 shipping and processing fee applies, and the order is placed only after full payment or the first installment of the payment plan. Special orders are final.
The payment plan is the part many families ask about first, and it is laid out in three pieces.
At purchase
First installment, 35% of the price
Three weeks later
Second installment, another 35%
Three weeks after that
Third installment, the last 30%
Balance paid, the gown leaves the boutique
The buyer signs a layaway agreement with the full schedule on it. The shop sends text reminders before each due date and allows a three-day grace period. Payments can be made in person or by phone. Cards, Apple Pay, gift cards and cash are accepted; personal checks are not. Every formalwear sale, including gowns on layaway, is final, so the try-on appointment is where decisions get made.
Appointments are required for formalwear. Walk-ins are welcome only in the casual collection at the front of the store, which is where the everyday dresses and sets live.
A family shop with a ledger in its name
Color It In is run by Sarah and her two daughters. Their first business was a home-based children's clothing boutique that the girls helped unpack and model for more than fifteen years. The family moved north from West Virginia, and when homecoming season arrived they kept driving back south to find the sparkle they wanted. They closed the children's shop in 2022 and opened Color It In the following year, so the boutique has been part of downtown South Lyon since 2023.
The name comes from the younger daughter's fourth-grade venture. She talked her mother into a set of fancy colored pens, then kept a handwritten ledger renting them to classmates at ten cents apiece. That notebook is the reason the store has a coloring metaphor on its sign.
School groups get their own program. Dance, cheer and pom teams, pageant groups and student councils can book a private shopping night, and the team earns a donation tied to dresses bought that evening.
5% to the team
Five to nine dresses bought that night
10% to the team
Ten to fourteen dresses
15% to the team
Fifteen or more
Questions South Lyon shoppers ask Color It In
Does the registry cover both South Lyon high schools?
Yes. Gowns are logged by grade and by school, so a junior at South Lyon East and a junior at South Lyon High are tracked separately.
How fast can a special-order prom gown arrive?
Most arrive in seven to ten business days once paid for or started on the payment plan, though timing depends on the designer and the time of year.