I've had two experiences with Special Occasions and both of them were awful. The first one was when I ordered my prom dress. I ordered it from them several months in advance and was assured that it would come in plenty of time to have it altered. After many phone calls the dress arrived the night before prom. Fortunately, it only needed to be hemmed.
My second experience was for my cousin's wedding. She told me that she had picked out her bridesmaid dresses there and that we were all to go to the store to get measured. I then told her about my prom dress and she said that if she had known that she would have gone elsewhere but she had already paid for all of our dresses. I get measured and they tell me that my dress is going to be a size 2. I spoke up saying that they must have either measured wrong or looked up the chart wrong because I am not a size 2, usually an 8. I was then told that the measurements were correct and that because my hips are larger than my top size and the dress flared out at the hips the size 2 would be okay and would require the least amount of altering. So knowing that the dress was going to be ill-fitting at best, I really kicked up the exercise routine, hoping to lose weight before the wedding. So the dresses arrive and sure enough,that size 2 dress didn't fit. I couldn't get the dress to go completely down over my hips or zip up. It was also too tight over my bust. As another dress couldn't be ordered in time for the wedding, all of the seams were let out. The dress was still so skin tight that any form of underwear was super visible, the seams were really wavy, and any sort of anything extra was showing. The dress made me feel awful and fat. I went home crying to my mom who told my aunt (cousin's mom) what had happened and my aunt and cousin decided to toss my dress. My cousin and I went to the mall and picked out a prom dress that matched her colors and was on sale. It turned out that all of my hard work exercising had paid off because I went down a dress size. In the end, I looked really good in my mall dress, but it was a terrible experience. I would not recommend this store to anyone.
-Elizabeth
All USA
I've had two experiences with Special Occasions and both of them were awful. The first one was when I ordered my prom dress. I ordered it from them several months in advance and was assured that it would come in plenty of time to have it altered. After many phone calls the dress arrived the night before prom. Fortunately, it only needed to be hemmed. My second experience was for my cousin's wedding. She told me that she had picked out her bridesmaid dresses there and that we were all to go to the store to get measured. I then told her about my prom dress and she said that if she had known that she would have gone elsewhere but she had already paid for all of our dresses. I get measured and they tell me that my dress is going to be a size 2. I spoke up saying that they must have either measured wrong or looked up the chart wrong because I am not a size 2, usually an 8. I was then told that the measurements were correct and that because my hips are larger than my top size and the dress flared out at the hips the size 2 would be okay and would require the least amount of altering. So knowing that the dress was going to be ill-fitting at best, I really kicked up the exercise routine, hoping to lose weight before the wedding. So the dresses arrive and sure enough,that size 2 dress didn't fit. I couldn't get the dress to go completely down over my hips or zip up. It was also too tight over my bust. As another dress couldn't be ordered in time for the wedding, all of the seams were let out. The dress was still so skin tight that any form of underwear was super visible, the seams were really wavy, and any sort of anything extra was showing. The dress made me feel awful and fat. I went home crying to my mom who told my aunt (cousin's mom) what had happened and my aunt and cousin decided to toss my dress. My cousin and I went to the mall and picked out a prom dress that matched her colors and was on sale. It turned out that all of my hard work exercising had paid off because I went down a dress size. In the end, I looked really good in my mall dress, but it was a terrible experience. I would not recommend this store to anyone. -Elizabeth