Tell the staff at Wedding Lace where you go to school. That question has a purpose. The shop tracks one dress per school, so no two girls from the same campus show up to prom in the same look, and your purchase gets logged to yours. In a town the size of Alice, that rule carries weight.
Wedding Lace has been on Main Street in downtown Alice since 1979, when Ali and Dora Raanaei opened it as a small formalwear shop. Alice is the county seat of Jim Wells County, and the shop has grown with it into what its own site calls a South Texas landmark. Today the Raanaeis' daughter Renee and her husband, Omar, run the boutique day to day, and Dora is still part of the shop she helped build.
Prom season on Main Street
The prom floor carries Sherri Hill, Jovani and Mori Lee, among others. The shop's prom page promises sequins, sky-high slits and ballgowns that turn heads, and it covers pageant gowns too.
Prom shoppers can keep the plan loose. Prom is walk-in friendly, so you can stop by after school without calling. You can also book a fitting ahead of time to beat the rush. Pageant fittings are a different story; the shop says those go best by appointment.
Timing is where shoppers slip up. Wedding Lace counts January 15 through May 15 as prom season, and its advice is blunt: don't wait until March. New styles land all season long, and popular sizes go fast. Because of the one-dress-per-school rule, the early shopper also gets first claim on a style at her school. Come in late and the dress you saved on your phone may already be logged to someone else's.
The prom calendar is so busy that it reshapes the store's whole schedule. During prom season, and again during the September and October homecoming rush, Wedding Lace does not book Saturday bridal or quinceañera appointments. Saturdays go to dance shoppers. Homecoming gets its own short, sparkly dresses each fall, so the year has two formal seasons here. This fall the shop's homepage led with its HOCO racks and a nudge to come find yours before they're gone.
Alice High School is the hometown campus, and Orange Grove, San Diego and Kingsville's H.M. King High School round out the nearby map. For many families in this part of the Coastal Bend of Texas, a trip to Main Street is simpler than the roughly 45-mile drive east into Corpus Christi, and the shop's tux service means the whole prom group can be outfitted on Main Street.
A tux for the date, fitted by the same shop
Wedding Lace is a Jim's Formal Wear dealer, and it rents and sells tuxedos and suits for proms, pageants, weddings and quinceañeras. Prom groups are a specialty. The shop lays out the process in three steps:
- Get measured. Come in for a quick fitting, or add yourself to your group's order with the group's code from anywhere.
- Choose your look. Pick the style, color and accessories, and the shop coordinates the whole party so everything matches.
- Pick up and go. Collect the tux pressed and ready a few days before the dance, then return it afterward.
The shop keeps measurements on file, which helps when a prom date turns into a homecoming date the next fall. Like prom dresses, tuxedo fittings are walk-in friendly.
Alterations are handled in-house, so the hem and fit adjustments happen at the same shop where you bought the dress.
Quinceañeras and brides
Quinceañera dresses are a regular part of the floor, from sweeping ballgowns to two-piece styles with detachable skirts for the waltz and the after-party. The shop also coordinates damas and chambelanes, keeping their measurements on file. Brides shop by private appointment, requested through a form on the site, and the shop promises a confirmation within a day.
Since 1979, the family has been the story here, and the founding idea on the shop's About page fits in one sentence.
Ali built the shop on something simple: make everyone who walks in feel welcome, and treat every celebration like it's your own.
Wedding Lace on twin dresses, tailoring and tuxes
Where do Wedding Lace hems get done?
In-house, so the hem and fit work happens at the same Main Street shop where you bought the dress.
Will another girl from my school wear the same dress?
Not one bought at Wedding Lace. The shop tracks one dress per school, so tell the staff your school when you buy.
Can my prom date get a tuxedo here?
Yes. As a Jim's Formal Wear dealer, the shop rents and sells tuxedos and suits, handles whole prom groups and keeps everyone's measurements on file.