Dress, shoes, transport, makeup, hair - there's a lot to be done to prepare for a school formal.
Melba-Copland Senior Secondary School year 12 students will be scrubbing up for their big event on December 5.
The school locked in the Yarralumla Yacht Club at the beginning of the year. Students held bake sales and sausage sizzles throughout the year to make the ticket prices as affordable as possible.
Now the formal organising committee is pulling together the final touches, including decorations, speeches and awards.
"For some people this is like in their brain at the moment ... as big as a wedding," Heli Laajoki, 18, said.
"In year 10 it was a very big deal and I think in year 12 there's much more of that sentimental nostalgia to it as well, just using the night to be dressed up with your friends."
But going to the formal isn't cheap. An analysis of a young woman getting ready for the event - complete with eyelash extensions, fake tan and nail art - found it cost $1540 in total.
The Melba-Copland students have some clever ways to keep costs down. Samara Doherty, 17, has been scouting for dresses online.
"It's definitely cheaper online as well. I've been to some places in Fyshwick. It's like $600 and the same dress is $250 on JJs house."
Heli is going to wear one of her sister's dresses.
"I tried on all her different dresses and saw what I liked most. That was pretty fun," she said.
Some friendship circles get ready together and do their own hair and makeup to save on a professional appointment.
Some students spend more than a year "curating the 'fit", pulling together Pinterest boards and scouring social media for the latest trends.
The long satin dress with a cowl neck in a solid colour was a firm favourite with the year 10 formal attendees. But for year 12, students opt to show their personality in their look.
For the guys, many go for ankle-length chinos or suit pants, no jacket and no visible socks with their shoes. Instead of days of beauty appointments, the blokes get a nice hair cut and leave it at that.
Year groups share their dresses on group chats before the day to make sure nobody is wearing the same thing.
"Everyone wants to be a standout," Samara said.
Another way to standout is in the arrivals. Students call in favours from parents, brothers, sisters and friends to either have the fanciest or silliest vehicle to arrive at the formal venue.
Siobhan Wann, 18, has watched her siblings have their red-carpet arrival moment in their school formals.
"Some people do limousines. It's literally whatever moves they will try and incorporate it in arrivals. People have done buses. People have done bikes ... People have done scooters."
Despite all the glitz and glam, the formal is about having a good time with their school friends dancing to some 2000s classic hits as a world of possibilities open up before them.
"Year 11 and 12, it's no joke. It's pretty daunting and relentless and exhausting. It's good to be done," Siobhan said.
