Prom season is winding down after another whirlwind year in the books that saw looks and send-offs that rival the Met Gala.

As another prom season winds down and footage of teens dressed in bespoke duds rivaling what celebs wear to the Met Gala, styled among dramatic backdrops, continues to flood our feeds, some parents are admitting to the soaring price tags the rite of passage seems to come with increasingly nowadays. Like one mom who claims she spent nearly $12,000 helping her daughter realize her prom dreams. 

Wanda Matos, a mother in Philadelphia, told ABC News in a recent interview that she spent $12,000 on her daughter’s elaborate Bridgerton-themed prom send-off this season. 

“This is an accomplishment,” Matos told the outlet. “She deserves this, and that’s why we did what we did, and we went out for her.”

Her daughter told ABC News that her send-off, which was attended by 60 of her friends and family, was better than the actual prom. 

“It’s not that we’re showing off, ‘Look at what we got.’ It’s not that,” Matos explained. “It’s just celebrating them, celebrating their life.”

They are far from alone.  

From the dressmakers creating custom handmade fashions to the professional photography and videography capturing send-offs more elaborate than the prom itself, it’s hardly a secret, or even the first time it’s come up this season, that prom send-offs have become the latest occasion to mark with a blow-out bash. 

It’s ironic, really, how some sections of the population have labeled these elaborate experiences as “ghetto” when they are anything but that. Custom gowns starting at roughly $2,000, photography packages ranging from a few hundred an hour to nearly $4,000, event planners charging regular rates for send-offs that double as galas, and the receipts are starting to match those of weddings. And we’re not talking about shabby chic weddings either. 

“They don’t want to do the regular,” Eki Odianosen of Ekimedo Atelier in Capital Heights, Maryland, told theGrio by phone during a recent interview. 

“Maybe four or five years ago, you would see the sequins or like the spandex fabric kind of dresses, but these girls don’t want to wear those styles anymore,” the special event dress designer said, adding, “They want to do luxury, fully be there with all the details, like they want to go like Met Gala style.”

Much like the looks that materialize on the Met Gala steps each May or even large-scale weddings, these looks and send-offs are taking about as much time to plan and pull off.

“We have a lot of parents who reached out in July of last year for this year,” Lan Akinade, who runs TOL Bespoke in Columbia, Maryland, told theGrio by phone during an interview in the midst of prom season.

With a roughly 10 to 12-month timeline, parents can begin paying down the costly expenses of the various components to avoid a major strain on their budget all at once. When asked why parents go to these lengths, both dressmakers attested to the ways social media has been absolutely driving up expectations and thus the cost. 

“I will be real with you, social media is playing a huge part. Because every girl that comes with their parents, I feel like they just want to beat the record of last year,” Akinade said with a chuckle.

But it’s more than kids trying to keep up with the latest trends on social media. 

“It’s just a way of the parents telling their child, ‘this is how much you mean to me,'” Akinade noted.

The dressmaker has heard some mothers say they are showering their daughter with love and support to reward her after a long school year or after she went above and beyond to help with family responsibilities.

“I’ve had a lot of parents say things like, ‘Oh, you know, she takes care of a little one. She’s the reason why I could do two jobs,'” she added.

For others, it’s even deeper.

“Some moms probably didn’t go to prom,” Odianosen said. “I’ve heard a couple [of moms say] ‘Oh, I couldn’t make it for prom,’ and some want to relive their prom through their daughters or their sons, especially for the daughters, like what they couldn’t do.” 

At the end of the day, it really is about making their children happy, whether in ways the children themselves are asking for or in ways the parents may have missed, and the proof is in the pudding. You could hear the smiles on both dressmakers’ faces as they described what a whirlwind the season has become year after year. They enjoy watching how it bonds mothers with their daughters, and how the girls’ faces light up when they try on their dresses, imagining the possibilities of their big night. The creativity and the self-expression of these young fashionistas continue to blow these professionals away.

“When they leave their reviews and they send the picture, the joy on the faces of their children- that’s for me personally the best thing,” Akinade said.

Odianosen added, “I know it’s stressful making the dresses, and you know, trying to meet up with deadlines, but the joy is just seeing them on prom day when the whole look comes together with the hair and all.” 

And to the naysayers, both dressmakers said much the same: the concept of this all being “too much” — no such thing as far as they are concerned. 

“Something being expensive is relative,” Odianosen reminded. 

“Prom is personal,” Akinade said. “Prom means different things to different people. So whatever story they want to bring, either over the top or simple, we are just here to help them express and tell the story.”