Utah couple holds 'Adult Prom' for couples seeking glamorous night out

ST. GEORGE — Cortney Gutierrez found herself wanting a place where she could dress up and go dancing with her partner — that "wasn't a club." On Friday night, she will host an Adult Prom in St. George, giving hundreds of people the chance to experience a night they will remember.

"My partner, Ryan, and I started hosting these adult proms a few years ago," Gutierrez told KSL. "We were dating and were trying to figure out what there was to do for mid-30s couples who had kids and wanted to dress up and go dance, but we didn't want to go to a club with a bunch of 21-year-olds. We wanted to have a night for us, and we didn't have anything in Utah that had fancier, nicer night outs for older couples."

In September of 2022, the couple, who live in Utah County, decided to host an adult prom but admitted that the title felt "cringey."

"We actually didn't love the word prom because people are like, 'Oh, you peaked in high school,'" she said. "It was a little bit cringy, but people will know what it is. They'll know to dress up. They will know it's a formal. They will know it's mostly geared toward date nights."

Their first event was held in Provo, and it sold out. Gutierrez recalled that night as a "pinch me" moment. Since then, she and her partner have hosted 16 events, with tonight's being the 17th.

The event in St. George will start at 8 p.m. and will be held at Black Hill Event Center, with tickets available for purchase online. She said the age range is generally 30 to 50 years old, adding that some will treat it as a girls' night or come as singles, but most are couples with children who want a nice night out.

"So many couples have come up to us saying they hadn't been on a date since they had their baby, or they had never been to prom before and they got to come with their spouse and how special it was," she said. "We've seen people come in limos and boutonnieres and corsages and go all out and come to our dances and have fun.

"We go all out," she added. "We do a red carpet. We get a professional photographer. We get photo booths ... we have a lot of fun."

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