Prom for a high school senior is no longer just a dance. It is an event that some say can rival a wedding in cost.

With the dress or tuxedo, shoes and other accessories, hair and makeup, a limo, dinner before prom and post-prom activities, the costs can quickly roll into four figures, which is aggravating some parents of the young prima donnas. After discovering the dress she wanted was sold out, Carleshia Kidwell, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in the District’s Ward 3, got a dress custom-made for $323 and spent another $150 on the shoes. She and her date may rent a car to drive to prom together on June 1, and they plan to split a hotel suite, she said. She didn’t know how much either would cost since her parents are picking up the tab. Mattie Mickum, who graduated last year from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, plans to go with Will Hedberg, a Whitman senior, to his prom May 10. Even though it will be her fourth prom, she still spent $250 on a dress and $150 on shoes.