Amanda's Collection — Local services in Conway

As my very first experience wedding dress shopping, I was completely surprised and turned off by Amanda's and, to be totally honest, appalled at the attitude and skill level of the sales associate who helped me. My mother-in-law-to-be was with me (visiting from way out of town) as well as my mother (who is a local). It was also the first time my moms met one another, and so we were all looking forward to having the rare opportunity of this special occasion together. We went to Amanda's because of the great reviews, but if I'm honest I left with a very bad impression. I won't go into detail, but the main sales associate who was helping that day berated my mother-in-law-to-be almost immediately and offended her personal mores as well as her overall competence. Extremely rude and completely disrespectful - I've never witnessed such bad decorum anywhere in my life and to top it off, it was directed toward a woman who means the world to me. This was about 5 minutes after arriving at Amanda's - needless to say I was more than upset, and I was ready to walk out right then and there but it was the only opportunity that all three of us would have to go dress shopping together, so my moms talked me into staying. When we re-entered the store, a lady who I'm assuming is the general manager or owner came out to speak with us and amend the situation, directing us back to that rude sales associate to continue with our appointment. Their selection is good, but I was under the impression that whoever was going to be helping us would intimately know the inventory and bring out a selection of dresses that tailored to what I was looking for. This was not the case. The store is organized by size and so I was sort of left to filter through the racks and pick out some things to try on. This is very hard to do as many of the gowns have multiple layers of tulle and tightly hung together. Again, this was my very first time dress shopping, so I felt lost without much direction or guidance from the sales associate. I wasn't looking for a ball gown shape but decided to tried on a few just to see if my mind changed. It did not, and as I was explaining to my moms the reasons why I was interested in other dress shapes, the sales associate kept talking about how the dress was not even fully fluffed out, that we can make the skirt even larger, that layers can be added - all the things I was telling her I did not like about the dress. She was helpful in the fitting room but didn't seem to know sizes - I'm normally a size 6 but did some research on their website prior to arriving and saw that their size chart said I would be a 10 or 12 in wedding dresses - so when we decided to look at some of their sale dresses she directed me over to racks that would be too small. I know that the dresses I was trying on were only floor models and that she would clip the backs of them to give a better idea of fit, but she would leave the dresses sort of strewn about, on the floor or thrown over a chair, kicking one or two out of the way before hanging them back up. And although they have several designers in their inventory, they did not have anything from the designer's website that I had viewed online and was interested in trying on. The overall experience ended up being fine, and I'm sure they deserve the great reputation they have, but I can't get past how we were initially treated and the anxiety it caused me. I'm very thankful for the help of the general manager/owner and the two very sweet junior sales associates, but we will not be back. It was a terrible first impression not the afternoon...

I’m editing to add this at the beginning because if you don’t wanna waste the time reading through all the bad reviews, just know this go over to fair fashion and formal wear in downtown. It is absolutely amazing and you will not get mistreated the way that you do here

We had a pretty terrible experience here and will never go back. As soon as we walked in the first thing out of this lady‘s mouth, which I believe to be Amanda I could be wrong is what is your budget and when my daughter answered her, she said well I have one cart that you can look at. Then she continuously berated her for this that and the other made her feel like crap for how soon the wedding was when my daughter described what dress she wanted she said well you’re not gonna get what you want unless you’re willing to spend at least $1500. She was extremely rude in her dealings with us. At the end of it, she was sending us to a couple different places and was like you might be able to get a dress at a place going out of business and then she looked me up and down and said “what are you, her sister Or something ,trying to help her?” My daughter said no that’s my mama and she goes. Oh my gosh you’re her mom and her behavior Completely changed. She send us over to fair Fashion and formal wear. We almost didn’t go because we didn’t want to deal with the same kind of rude disrespect at another place with one of her friends or something. But we decided to give it a shot and honestly if these nasty people send you over there just go because fair fashion is a totally different experience. They are so respectful so kind so loving so helpful. Stay away from these people and just head right over to fair fashion. Either way, the wedding that y’all were putting down for my daughter is gonna be beautiful and it’s gonna be beautiful because another company was helping us and not treating us like we’re broke poor...

I went to Amanda’s because this is where my parents went for their wedding and it literally was the worst experience ever ! When I went to find my dress it was a 600$ dress (which I later found in fair fashions for 315$) was quoted 100 alterations and they wanted me to pay 80$ for just a basic veil which I asked them not to add to my bag because I was unsure when I went to have my alterations she tried to add another 100$ to the price she originally quoted me on top of adding the veil to my bag . I found a veil for 8$ in hobby lobby which looked better than the 80$ veil they added to my bag when I called and asked about the the veil Dawn told me if it was a communication the veil could simply be removed from my bag and I would be issued a refund . So I never saw the refund for the veil and when I called that time I was told by sue it was issued to me as store credit which frustrated me because after this experience why would I ever want to come here again and all the miscommunications So I used the 80 towards the alterations and still had to pay cash out of pocket. They were NOT clear on when rentals needed to be turned back in so we were charged late fees due to their miscommunication and had nasty attitudes when we went to turn suit rentals back in . Weddings are supposed to be minimal stress for brides and you would think Amanda would try to emphasize as she too was a bride but I will never step foot Back in this place . Thanks...