The 2026 Fall Formal will take place on Saturday, Nov. 7, in the Luce Auditorium in the CLC from 8-11 p.m.
The Student Activities Cabinet has organized Fall Formal for the past six years. SAC members Rebekah Guy and Braedon Greenleaf are in charge of planning this year’s Fall Formal. Elizabeth Louden, Director of Community Life, also contributed to the event’s vision and planning.
Guy and Greenleaf came up with the theme for this year’s formal, The Wonderland Waltz, after searching for inspiration online and combining various concepts.
“We wanted it to be like a garden, but very magical and fun, just something you wouldn’t see in the ordinary,” said Guy. “We wanted to make sure it was different from what was done in the past… the challenge of it was we have multiple different dance events on campus and how can we make this one stand out against those.”
While certain dances are organized for specific classes, such as Freshman Spring Formal, Fall Formal is open to all students, providing a chance for campus-wide participation.
“A lot of SAC events are a great opportunity for different groups to get together that may not otherwise be at the same event,” said Guy.
The decorations for the event display an “exotic garden” incorporating colors such as green, purple, yellow and pink. Items including picture frames, clocks and teacups will be used as decoration to highlight the Wonderland theme while not taking away from a strong floral garden theme.
“Braedon and I and Liz Louden work really closely together to come up with the story we want to tell… we really try to decorate to the theme that we chose and that we advertise,” said Guy.
“The evening before and then the day of the event, the whole team, which is 12 of us, come together… we decorate as much as we can and as fast as we can to get it elegant before the event happens,” said Guy.
The music for the event is selected by the SAC team and will contain a variety of different genres.
“The SAC team puts together a lot of great music and will be DJing the event,” said Guy. “A lot of it is fun music that you can really dance to, and then we squeeze in some slow songs to level it all out—have some balance. A lot of popular hits, some throwbacks too; there’s a big variety.”
The event is funded through the student fee that all students pay to go towards events and through the sale of tickets. Tickets are $5 and are for sale this week at the dining hall kiosk from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day through Friday, or tickets can be purchased at the door on Saturday night.
“We are really excited for a fun night of dancing and music, and we’re excited for [students] to see what we’ve put together,” said Guy.
