In Alexandria, prom has an audience. The Alexandria Area High School grand march is held in the school’s Performing Arts Center, with students announced by name from a podium as they walk. About 425 students attended the 2024 prom, which took place Saturday, April 20, with the dance afterward at Carlos Creek Winery. That means a gown is looked at head-on, under stage lighting, by a room of parents and grandparents holding phones. It is a harder test than a dark gym, and it is why hems, straps and how a dress moves on stairs matter more here than they might elsewhere.
The Special Event Boutique & Bridal, at 2715 Highway 29 South, Suite 110, is one of the places those dresses come from. It is a wedding store first. Owner Jackie Lanoue runs it as a family business, and both the store’s site and its Alexandria Lakes Area Chamber profile describe more than 30 years in bridal and formal wear. Wedding gowns, bridesmaids, mother-of-the-bride, first communion dresses, veils and tuxedo rentals all share the floor; prom is one department inside a full-service bridal shop, not a standalone prom superstore. The shop’s own site says there are 450-plus dresses in-house to try on across all of those categories, while the chamber write-up says more than 300. Either way, expect a bridal-store floor with a prom section, and expect a consultant working with you rather than a self-serve rack.
Which prom labels
Four are confirmed through the designers’ own retailer locators: Alyce Paris, Colette, Dave & Johnny and La Femme. The store’s prom page lists Alyce and Colette along with Ellie Wilde, Faviana, Portia & Scarlett and Stella Couture, and describes two-piece styles, fit-and-flare and ballgowns. The two lists do not match exactly, so call and ask what is actually hanging this season before driving in for a specific label.
The other half of the couple
Tuxedos and suits are rented from the same counter, with access to Michael Kors, Allure Men, Ike Behar, Kenneth Cole and Ralph Lauren, plus vests and ties. The store advertises prom tux specials in March and April. For a couple coming in from Osakis or Parkers Prairie, that is one trip instead of two.
Hours, appointments, and the drive
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, with Sunday by appointment. The short Saturday is the thing to plan around if you are coming from an hour out. The online appointment form only offers bridal, bridesmaid and groom/tuxedo categories, so phone the store for a prom fitting; note that appointments booked through the form carry a $50 fee for cancellations inside 24 hours.
The address is on the Highway 29 commercial corridor running south from downtown toward Interstate 94, in a multi-tenant suite building a short distance north of Viking Plaza Mall at 3015 Highway 29 South. That puts it on the same errand as anything else you need at that end of town. Within easy reach of this west-central Minnesota corner are Alexandria Area High School, Osakis, Brandon-Evansville, Parkers Prairie, West Central Area in Barrett, Minnewaska Area in Glenwood and Ashby — the same schools the Echo Press runs prom photo galleries for each spring, with Alexandria’s in late April and the smaller schools’ galleries appearing into early and mid-May.
The alternative is highway time. The next real cluster of prom and formal shops is in St. Cloud, roughly an hour southeast on I-94, with Fargo farther the other direction. For most families in Douglas County and the townships around it, this is the closest storefront where a dress can be tried on before it is bought.