I enjoyed visiting this place with my maid of honor 12/29/15.they were nice caring very helpful theu were a little busy and theu still took the time to talk to every customer and they were still nice when i told them i was just looking for my wedding dress and that i just wanted to try a few on. I had ended up finding the dress i wanted and they had even cut me a deal and they have layaway . The peoole were very involved in what their customers were doing and searching for. Absolutely enjoyed my experience and definitely would recommend to another person and they have beautiful dresses and are very helpful.

To say I had a bad experiece with this business is an understatement. I was fitted for a bridesmaid's dress and put half of the cost down. Then, the wedding was changed, and we didn't need to purchase the dress after all. The dress was never ordered. In fact, the other girls never even went in to be measured. They refused to give my money back and I ended up having to go to court to get them to finally give it to me. Save yourself a lot of trouble and shop somewhere else!

I had to take the owners to small claims court in order to get them to agree to give me a refund. I put half of the cost of a bridesmaid's dress down. Before the order was placed, (not everyone had even been measured) the wedding was changed and we didn't need to order the dress after all. They simply refused to give my money back.



Don't waste your time or money, just go to another dress shop and save yourself a lot of hassle.

It's hard to describe my feelings for this place. The prices are insane, and the people are downright hateful. My sister took her homecoming dress there to get altered, 2 months ago, just wanting it let out a little and a seam that was put in by the girl who owned it before her taken out (which they said would be very easy and quick), expecting it to be done before she left for college. She has called multiple times and the first time they said she had to wait because it "wasn't homecoming season yet". Okay, so because she said it was for homecoming, they couldn't do it yet? Bull. The second time she asked if it would be done by the time she moved into college, they said yes. She called a couple days before she moved in and they hadn't even touched it. Homecoming is in less than a month and I guarantee they have done absolutely nothing with it. If someone takes their dress into get alterations, you shouldn't skip around it and ignore it because it's "not the season". If they weren't going to work on it for 2 months, they shouldn't have accepted it then in the first place. We called today and the woman kept insisting, very hatefully, that they have been super busy with weddings and whatnot. It's not my sister's fault these brides are unprepared. There is no excuse for this. If a dress comes in, you work on that one first, not skip it and go work on others just because it's early. We know they skipped it because we didn't buy it from them. I don't advise going here to buy a dress or alter one. We will not be going back.

This place is a joke. No assistance until she thought we were going to spend money. This was our first trip to look at dresses. We explaine that. We were forced to use a tiny dressing room with no help from any worker. Once we started asking questions we were talked into a dress way out of our price range. We went home and found the exact same dress for 500 dollars cheaper and arriving month and a half faster. She made comments on our body sizes and told my mother she was too skinny for the kind of dress she wanted that people dont want to look at peoples bones. Informed me that my boobs were too small for basically any dress they had in store. And after my friend repeatedly told her what size she was tried to convince her to try on dresses 4 sizes too small. If you want an enjoyable fun dress shopping experience do NOT go to this place.

As a few of the other ladies have mentioned, the service was really quite wonderful until i paid for the dress . I spent over $200 and then paid extra for expedited shipping ! the younger lady had stated that it would be no problem for me to come back in or call to get a tracking number for my purchase but after stopping back in 5 weeks later expecting a dress I was rudely reminded, with rolling eyes i might add, that NO my dress was not in. this lady is one of the rudest people in southern Illinois. When I asked if i could track it to make sure that it had shipped out. . I was told we just don't do that sort of thing. Low and behold my dress was in the back but they just didn't call me . LOL they did the same thing to my mother 3 weeks before for an alteration- she was told I'll have it done today ... 3 weeks later she had to call because it was hanging in the back without a name on it. oh and the alterations made the dress not fit right. there is now a large bubble above the lower back that won't go down. Thinking twice about not going to this store next year!! will drive to St. Louis or Kentucky.

This store is awesome!! They have a huge selection of dresses to choose from. The clerks were so nice and so helpful. I was really stressed out preparing for my wedding. They acted as excited about the wedding as I was! I got everything I needed there in a timely manner! This is the place to shop!!

I was very dissatisfied with the service I received. They lied to each bridesmaid and the bride about the dresses. Two of the three bridesmaids dresses were two sizes too small. They refused to talk to the bridesmaids when we went into the store inquiring about the whereabouts of the dresses. They were not helpful or professional. I could not believe the lack of service we received.

This store makes you think you are getting it all at a great deal. It would have been worth the drive to go to St. Louis or Paducah to provide for my wedding party rather than deal with these ladies. They seem nice at first, but have no concept of what customer service is. I went to the store practically every week, sometimes twice a week for two months before my wedding. Every single time I went in, they had no idea who I was. They refused to steam my bridesmaids dresses if they didn't get alterations done there. They measured half of the boys of my wedding wrong, including my nephew who was crying because his tie was choking him. The flower girl dress that was altered at the store was never really altered and had to be fixed on the day of my wedding, and they actually expected us to pay for extra alterations! And by the end of my 15 minute ceremony, both flower girl dresses were falling apart at the waist. They had to put a bustle in my dress for the train. They charged me $25 for 2 tiny pieces of string, that broke 30 minutes into my reception. And, of course, they don't tell you that alterations are not included with the price of your gown, until they do the alterations. After spending $120 to make my dress fit, I still had to hold it up to walk without stepping on it. If I had it to do all over again, I would never ever go to these people again. They have no idea how to treat customers and don't care. They charge ignorant prices for the alterations that they say they do and then screw you when you have a problem. At the rate this place is going, they'll be out of business by next wedding season. I just want to know how they can actually sleep at night.

CAN WE SAY AWESOME I LOVE THIS STORE...THE OWNERS OF THIS STORE KAY AND LESLIE ARE THE GREATEST LADIES WHOM COULDNT OPEN A BETTER STORE LIKE A SPCAIL OCCASSION...I LOVE MODELING IN BRIDAL SHOWS FOR THEM. MAINLY EVERY DRESS I OWN FOR BIG OCCASION LIKE PROM AND PAGEANTS SO FAR HAS COME FROM THERE...IM NOT MARRIED YET BUT WHEN THAT TIME COMES S SPECAIL OCCASSION WILL BE THE BRIDAL STORE I'LL BUY IT FROM CUZ YOU CANT GET FRIENDLIER PEOPLE FROM SOUTHERN ILLINOIS TO HAVE PATIENCE AND LOTS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER AND THE OWNERS..THANK YOU SO MUCH KAY AND LESLIE !!

I'm from Benton IL but I now live in Seattle Washington. I bought my wedding dress at A Special occasion in July of 2007 when I was home visiting relatives. After I was back in Seattle I received notice that my dress was in, so I asked a relative to pick it up for me and send it to me. When she went to pick up the dress from the store she bought me a veil as a gift. Making sure with the ladies that the veil was the right color and if I didn't like it I could return it, she sent it to me. When I received the package the veil was not only the right color, but something I would never wear. I called the store immediately telling them what had happen. I talked to the owner, she said told me all I had to do was send a picture of the veil that I would like to exchange it for. Because I didn't have a printer at the time, I sent a detailed letter of a veil in the same price range ($68.00) that I wanted along with the veil. When I received the package 3 and 1/2 weeks later it was the exact same veil in a different color. I couldn't believe it. I sent the veil back to IL asking my sister to return it for a different one (one that I would wear) I email her a picture of a veil they had that I would like instead. When she took it back they refused to exchange it. We reminded them about our situation and they basically called us liars(their customers that had just spent $700.00 on a dress, and 68.00 on a veil in their store) I called them and asked them very kindly to please give me something in return or any store credit , even half of the price so we could get a new veil. The owner called me a liar saying she never received a letter, and she would definitely not return it because there policy is sold as is (even though she told my relative I could because it was a gift). As a person that works in customer service and just as a person I could not believe what I was hearing! I couldn't believe how rude and inconsiderate these ladies were, and how they were talking to me over the phone and to my sister. Later I talked to another bride telling her my story, to my surprise she bought her dress at the same store and had the same problem with them. When she received her dress the seam was not sewn all the way. when she noticed it, she called the ladies about it and they didn't help her either. Don't get me wrong these ladies seemed very nice at first, but after you spend your money, they could careless about their costumers. I would NEVER in my wildest dreams recommend A Special Occasion to anyone, even my worst enemy!