Xenia
07-05-2018, 02:48 AM
July 4th brought a much-needed holiday from work for me. With nothing else planned, I figured, what better way to celebrate Independence Day than to demonstrate my independence from society's ridiculous gender norms? So I woke up nice and early, painted my face up as prettily as I could, put on my most red-white-and-blue outfit, and headed out for a little retail therapy.
Now, as I've written elsewhere on this forum, getting out and about en femme is still a fairly recent development for me; before last April or so, Xenia was still scared to step out of the house except under cover of darkness....but ever since I managed to break that seal, I've been getting more and more comfortable with being out in public. So as I was driving to my usual destination of the mall, I couldn't help but think, the mall is sort of been-there-done-that at this point. What can I do today that would be REALLY new and exciting and fun? And there was an obvious answer:
Wedding dress shopping.
Like plenty of others around these parts, I've long wanted to have the full bridal experience. Trying on dozens of gorgeous gowns before finally finding THE ONE that makes my mascara run when I look in the mirror and realize what a pretty princess (*coughcough*) I am. I'd bought a couple of gowns on eBay over the years, but found them to be kind of meh, and besides, where's the fun in clicking "Buy it now"? So for the past few months I've been kicking around the idea of actually going to a real live bridal salon the get that ball rolling. I'd even booked appointments through the David's Bridal website a couple of times, before chickening out and cancelling. What if they were expecting a regular ol' GG for the appointment, and then I (6'4" and not remotely passable) showed up? I was quite sure that I'd freak everyone out, and I certainly didn't want some bridal consultant's heart attack on my conscience.
So when I checked and found that there was a David's Bridal near where I was heading, and that it was surprisingly open despite the holiday, I though a better strategy might be to stop by in person and discreetly inquire whether they would be willing to accommodate me, and when might be a good time to come by for a fitting. So I changed the destination on my car's GPS, pulled into the parking lot about half an hour after the store opened, and....promptly lost my nerve. (Did I mention I'm pretty shy? This was going to be hard.) I drove around the block a couple times to re-center my qi, parked the car again, checked my makeup in the vanity mirror, took a few deep breaths, and headed into the store.
Now, what I was planning on saying the to friendly young woman who greeted me at the door was something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm (obviously) a crossdresser, and I'm interested in buying a wedding gown. Do you have anyone here who's willing to work with me? And is there a good time for me to come in later?"
What I actually managed to say was, "Yes, I was hoping to make an appointment to try on a few gowns--" before she cheerily replied with "Great! Come on over here and I'll get you checked in!"
I had already supplied all my contact info for the account I'd created on the DB website, so checking me in was a quick process. Again, what I was intending to say at this point was, "I really just wanted to check to be sure you're OK with working with a crossdresser. I assume you're busy with other folks who actually booked appointments in advance, so I'm fine coming back at a later date." Instead, I didn't have a chance to say any of that before she told me, "OK, follow me, and we'll get you into some dresses!"
Just that easy. No weird looks, no comment on how I'm obviously a man dressed as a woman. Sort of amazing, really.
She led me toward the back of the store, sat me down, and asked me a few questions about what kind of gowns I liked. Yes to big poofy ballgowns, yes to beading and lace, probably no to anything strapless that would accentuate my mannish shoulders. She had me look through THE BOOK of all the gowns they had in the store and pick out some that I particularly liked. I managed to resist the urge to say "OMG ALL OF THEM" (I hear they kinda hate that), and instead narrowed it down to a dozen or so to get started. She ushered me into a changing room, handed me a white bustier to replace the totally inappropriate black bra I had on, and instructed me to strip down to my underthings.
This (https://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_white-by-vera-wang-illusion-floral-wedding-dress-vw351426)is the first dress she brought me to try on. I wish I could say that I burst into tears the first time I looked into the mirror and saw myself in a proper wedding gown, but no. The thought suddenly occurred to me that, not even a year and a half since the first time that I bashfully first stepped out in public en femme, I was standing in the middle of an honest-to-God bridal salon, wearing an honest-to-God Vera-freaking-Wang wedding gown, surrounded by several brides-to-be also trying on gowns, and everyone was acting like this was a completely normal and everyday state of affairs, and it seemed so ridiculous that I had to stifle the urge to break out laughing.
All in all, I tried on four gowns. My consultant said she didn't want to overwhelm me on my first visit, and, yes, four was enough to whelm me to the appropriate degree. None of them actually fit (Xenia's about a size 18 in wedding gowns, apparently, and they don't have many of those in stock), so she had to get creative clipping them in place, but I completely loved every one of them. This will probably be a hard decision.
After I changed back to my regular clothes, we headed back to the front counter, and she added a bunch of info to my file and told me to feel free to book my next appointment whenever I had a good idea of my schedule for the coming months (Holy cow! There's going to be a SECOND appointment! I get to do this again! Yessssssss). I made sure to thank her profusely for being so kind and welcoming, since I had been extremely nervous about coming in, and she really did make me feel right at home. And with that, I was off!
Now, it was only about 3:00 in the afternoon at that point, so I decided I may as well head to the mall after all and do a little bit of shopping. It ended up not being a terribly productive trip--I found two cute dresses at Torrid, and picked up a couple new lipsticks at Sephora, but that's about it--but I find that I'm enjoying the feeling of being out and about more and more, even if it's just to wander aimlessly around a mall for a couple hours. I even felt confident enough to stop by one of the nearby restaurants for a quick dinner afterwards, which is something that I'd previously always been too bashful to do en femme, for whatever reason. While I was eating, one of the women at the next table addressed me as "ma'am" (Yay!) and asked if I'd like to join them singing happy birthday to one of her friends. (I wished her a happy birthday, but politely declined to sing, because no one needs to hear that cacophony. :))
And that's all I have to say about today's adventure. Thanks, as always, for reading!
P.S. Since it'll probably be folks' first question, no, I unfortunately didn't get any pictures at David's, since I'm not really a huge selfie person, and I was sufficiently swept up in the experience that it honestly didn't occur to me to take any. I humbly apologize for such an oversight, and GUARANTEE there will be pictures from the next session. :)
What I did get: This shot, taken in my driveway before I set off in the morning, showing my outfit for the day...
293406
....one low-light selfie from the dimly-lit restaurant (artsy!)....
293410
....and one shot from after I returned home, showing one of my new dresses from Torrid which is totally cute and instantly one of my favorites!
293408
Now, as I've written elsewhere on this forum, getting out and about en femme is still a fairly recent development for me; before last April or so, Xenia was still scared to step out of the house except under cover of darkness....but ever since I managed to break that seal, I've been getting more and more comfortable with being out in public. So as I was driving to my usual destination of the mall, I couldn't help but think, the mall is sort of been-there-done-that at this point. What can I do today that would be REALLY new and exciting and fun? And there was an obvious answer:
Wedding dress shopping.
Like plenty of others around these parts, I've long wanted to have the full bridal experience. Trying on dozens of gorgeous gowns before finally finding THE ONE that makes my mascara run when I look in the mirror and realize what a pretty princess (*coughcough*) I am. I'd bought a couple of gowns on eBay over the years, but found them to be kind of meh, and besides, where's the fun in clicking "Buy it now"? So for the past few months I've been kicking around the idea of actually going to a real live bridal salon the get that ball rolling. I'd even booked appointments through the David's Bridal website a couple of times, before chickening out and cancelling. What if they were expecting a regular ol' GG for the appointment, and then I (6'4" and not remotely passable) showed up? I was quite sure that I'd freak everyone out, and I certainly didn't want some bridal consultant's heart attack on my conscience.
So when I checked and found that there was a David's Bridal near where I was heading, and that it was surprisingly open despite the holiday, I though a better strategy might be to stop by in person and discreetly inquire whether they would be willing to accommodate me, and when might be a good time to come by for a fitting. So I changed the destination on my car's GPS, pulled into the parking lot about half an hour after the store opened, and....promptly lost my nerve. (Did I mention I'm pretty shy? This was going to be hard.) I drove around the block a couple times to re-center my qi, parked the car again, checked my makeup in the vanity mirror, took a few deep breaths, and headed into the store.
Now, what I was planning on saying the to friendly young woman who greeted me at the door was something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm (obviously) a crossdresser, and I'm interested in buying a wedding gown. Do you have anyone here who's willing to work with me? And is there a good time for me to come in later?"
What I actually managed to say was, "Yes, I was hoping to make an appointment to try on a few gowns--" before she cheerily replied with "Great! Come on over here and I'll get you checked in!"
I had already supplied all my contact info for the account I'd created on the DB website, so checking me in was a quick process. Again, what I was intending to say at this point was, "I really just wanted to check to be sure you're OK with working with a crossdresser. I assume you're busy with other folks who actually booked appointments in advance, so I'm fine coming back at a later date." Instead, I didn't have a chance to say any of that before she told me, "OK, follow me, and we'll get you into some dresses!"
Just that easy. No weird looks, no comment on how I'm obviously a man dressed as a woman. Sort of amazing, really.
She led me toward the back of the store, sat me down, and asked me a few questions about what kind of gowns I liked. Yes to big poofy ballgowns, yes to beading and lace, probably no to anything strapless that would accentuate my mannish shoulders. She had me look through THE BOOK of all the gowns they had in the store and pick out some that I particularly liked. I managed to resist the urge to say "OMG ALL OF THEM" (I hear they kinda hate that), and instead narrowed it down to a dozen or so to get started. She ushered me into a changing room, handed me a white bustier to replace the totally inappropriate black bra I had on, and instructed me to strip down to my underthings.
This (https://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_white-by-vera-wang-illusion-floral-wedding-dress-vw351426)is the first dress she brought me to try on. I wish I could say that I burst into tears the first time I looked into the mirror and saw myself in a proper wedding gown, but no. The thought suddenly occurred to me that, not even a year and a half since the first time that I bashfully first stepped out in public en femme, I was standing in the middle of an honest-to-God bridal salon, wearing an honest-to-God Vera-freaking-Wang wedding gown, surrounded by several brides-to-be also trying on gowns, and everyone was acting like this was a completely normal and everyday state of affairs, and it seemed so ridiculous that I had to stifle the urge to break out laughing.
All in all, I tried on four gowns. My consultant said she didn't want to overwhelm me on my first visit, and, yes, four was enough to whelm me to the appropriate degree. None of them actually fit (Xenia's about a size 18 in wedding gowns, apparently, and they don't have many of those in stock), so she had to get creative clipping them in place, but I completely loved every one of them. This will probably be a hard decision.
After I changed back to my regular clothes, we headed back to the front counter, and she added a bunch of info to my file and told me to feel free to book my next appointment whenever I had a good idea of my schedule for the coming months (Holy cow! There's going to be a SECOND appointment! I get to do this again! Yessssssss). I made sure to thank her profusely for being so kind and welcoming, since I had been extremely nervous about coming in, and she really did make me feel right at home. And with that, I was off!
Now, it was only about 3:00 in the afternoon at that point, so I decided I may as well head to the mall after all and do a little bit of shopping. It ended up not being a terribly productive trip--I found two cute dresses at Torrid, and picked up a couple new lipsticks at Sephora, but that's about it--but I find that I'm enjoying the feeling of being out and about more and more, even if it's just to wander aimlessly around a mall for a couple hours. I even felt confident enough to stop by one of the nearby restaurants for a quick dinner afterwards, which is something that I'd previously always been too bashful to do en femme, for whatever reason. While I was eating, one of the women at the next table addressed me as "ma'am" (Yay!) and asked if I'd like to join them singing happy birthday to one of her friends. (I wished her a happy birthday, but politely declined to sing, because no one needs to hear that cacophony. :))
And that's all I have to say about today's adventure. Thanks, as always, for reading!
P.S. Since it'll probably be folks' first question, no, I unfortunately didn't get any pictures at David's, since I'm not really a huge selfie person, and I was sufficiently swept up in the experience that it honestly didn't occur to me to take any. I humbly apologize for such an oversight, and GUARANTEE there will be pictures from the next session. :)
What I did get: This shot, taken in my driveway before I set off in the morning, showing my outfit for the day...
293406
....one low-light selfie from the dimly-lit restaurant (artsy!)....
293410
....and one shot from after I returned home, showing one of my new dresses from Torrid which is totally cute and instantly one of my favorites!
293408