Fancy girls as far as the eye could see
I met some of the fanniest fans today. Really, I’ve never seen devotion quite like it.
Five hundred girls at Stephenie Meyer’s Eclipse Prom this afternoon. And that was just the first prom. Because all the tickets had sold out within the first few hours they went on sale last month, Stephenie added a second prom tonight for the next 500 girls. And there were still thousands of girls who couldn’t get tickets. I heard the $8 tickets were being scalped on-line last night for up to $130. Yeesh.
Get this: girls came from as far as LONDON. That’s an eleven-hour direct flight. And other girls came from Ireland and Canada. You see what I mean? Extreme devotion. Then there were the in-country travelers–the group of eight teens and two moms I met who’d driven ten hours from Utah. The two girls who’d flown in this morning from Tennessee. The two girls who raced in late and near tears because they had to take their SATs this morning, and the test had started late, so even though they left immediately afterward and sped on the highway for three hours, they only made the last hour of the first prom. (Don’t worry, they got to exchange their tickets for the night prom. Poor girls–I thought they were going to stroke out.)
SO many fancy dresses. Ball gowns, slinky floor-lengths, hoop skirts (dang it! I could have worn mine!), cocktail dresses, chiffons and taffeta–not a single slutty, trashy outfit in the bunch. You tell someone it’s black tie, and really, people rise to the occasion. Even I bowed to the severe pressure of this blog and bought myself a very fancy black dress that showed actual cleavage. No, there will not be pictures.
In between the two proms I had a chance to talk to Stephenie while she refueled with water and chocolate. That woman had been on for three hours straight–first giving a reading, then signing books for what might have been all 500 girls–and some of them bought multiple copies. That takes a lot of energy, people, but Stephenie truly seemed to love every minute. I’ve heard it before, and I saw it myself today: she really enjoys her fans. She had smiles and conversation for all of them. And even though in between proms you’d expect her to be collapsed in sweaty heap on the floor of the women’s bathroom, there she was all upright and fresh and willing to chat it up with a newcomer like me. She set a nice example for me of how to handle myself if I’m ever so fortunate as to have a turnout like that. Memo to self: water and chocolate.
One of the really cool things Stephenie did for her fans was hire some great-looking actors to pose as Edward and Jacob, the lead guys from her books. Then any girl who wanted to could have her prom picture taken with the hot character of her choice. What a great idea. The girls ATE IT UP.
There was also a lookalike contest for people to dress like their favorite character. Even those people wore fancy clothes, including the young woman in a ball gown who’d painted scars all over her face and arms to portray Emily, the woman nearly mauled to death by her werewolf lover. Don’t see that at too many proms.
My favorite image of the whole prom, though, was toward the end. I was sitting at the book sale table, just sort of eyeing the crowd, when I noticed a strange phenomenon over in the corner. One of the gruff looking security guards–a guy in his late fifties, maybe, who looked like he’d come straight off some street beat in Philly–was secretly reading the first few chapters of New Moon. Who can blame him? Those books just suck you in.
But it’s late now, and I’m really thrashed. Promming can take a lot of out you. Time to take off the makeup and go back to life as we know it.
But it was fun being so girly for a day. I might just do that more often.
Technorati Tags: Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse, Eclipse Prom, New Moon, Twilight, Young Adult Ficiton, Young Adult Novels
500 girls!?! Wow, what a prom! After reading your description, I am even more jealous than before! And what class and grace Stephenie showed-that’s the kind of show a mom would and should drive or fly her daughter hours to see. Please put up a photo-I’m sure in your fancy dress, you were just as classy and we all want to see. And certainly better looking than Patrick’s butt, I mean, come on, Dockers???
Shoot. I knew I was going to have to confess this. I searched high and low for the camera yesterday, but it turned out to have gone on a hike with a certain husband and dogs. So while I don’t have any photos from the prom, I do have pictures of Bear and the neighbor dog swimming in brackish ponds. Interested?
That sounds so freaking awesome! I would have loved to have taken my picture with Edward.
What a cool idea.
Sorry, the no camera excuse doesn’t work for me. You WILL wear that dress again, and there WILL be a picture posted. Perhaps at a Printz ceremony?
Didn’t the fact that the security guard was reading and not vigilantly protecting those gathered make your kicking foot start twitching?
Sara, good catch on that. Luckily the guy had backup–another former beat cop who was eyeing the caterers suspiciously. But I was ready, just in case. My shoes were stylish, yet sensible.
Heather, I can totally see that. I hope you’ll get your chance some day!
Again… It was a before picture and those aren’t Dockers…
Robin, thank you for keeping me company at the will-call table. It was so awesome to meet you after hearing so much about you from Faith and Jon! You definitely exceeded my expectations of your awesomeness. And a note to your faithful blog readers: Robin did look quite fabulous in her gorgeous dress, especially with her classy cleavage.
Bethany, the pleasure was mine. Thanks for keeping me company. Your dress was awfully fab, too–plus you got yours on sale, so you know you win.
Hey I stumbled across your site by total accident. Anywho I was one of the fan girls at the prom… It was an amazing time
Georgi, wasn’t it? Stephenie Meyer really knows how to treat girls in general and her readers in particular right.