Cressida Bonas' 'dusty' midi wedding dress was so unconventional
Cressida Bonas is celebrating four years of marriage with Harry Wentworth-Stanley on 27 July.
In honour of the occasion, we're looking back at the private details they've released about their big day – including the bride's very untraditional wedding midi dress.
The White House Farm actress, who was in a relationship with Prince Harry from 2012 to 2014, married estate agent Harry at the exclusive Cowdray Park, in Midhurst, West Sussex, on 27 July.
Five months later, she dropped hints about her outfit, which she had recycled from her "dusty" cupboard.
Writing in The Spectator about her "lockdown wedding" with the son of the Marchioness of Milford Haven, she revealed: "Four days before the big day I marched up and down Oxford Street on the hunt for a wedding dress.
"Finding nothing, I remembered an old Whistles dress I once wore for a James Arthur music video. I went home and found the dusty frock at the back of my cupboard. After some ironing, it looked good as new."
In James Arthur's music video, Naked, she rocked the 'Guinevere Wedding Dress', which is described as "elegant" and "modern" on the brand's website.
Features included a high neckline with a feminine frill, a cut-out back with a bow, and an embroidered tiered midi skirt. It originally retailed for £599 but the price was dropped to £299 in the sale before it became completely out of stock.
Small lockdown wedding
Cressida described her wedding as: "A 30-person, socially-distanced, sanitised church service" which was "organised in under two weeks."
The couple were forced to cancel their original plans due to the coronavirus pandemic, with Cressida adding: "Not what we’d envisaged, but a more intimate and special day than we could ever have imagined. Imperfect yet perfect - a day we will never forget."
In the lead-up to the big day, she told The Spectator that she had to navigate "strong opinions" about her wedding plans.
"Everyone seems to have very strong opinions about the wedding. I disagree with nearly all of them. I always imagined I’d have a small wedding, until I realised our two families alone come to 120 people," she candidly confessed.
Cressida explained that her father's expectations of a church wedding with the traditional speeches and cake cutting were "not what I had in mind."
She said: "I managed to upset my dad by telling him I wanted to get hitched under a tree," adding that he believed "vows exchanged in a church are more likely to be taken seriously."
Despite the significantly reduced guest list and the lack of hymns in line with the coronavirus restrictions, Cressida seemed to have the nature-filled wedding she wanted.
One photo shared by Cressida's brother Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe on Instagram Stories showed the newlyweds riding on horses as they headed towards the sunset as husband and wife.
"Mr and Mrs My small riding off into her beautiful future with her Harry hat," Jacobi wrote.
The pair are now parents to son Wilbur.
Cressida and Prince Harry
Cressida dated Harry before and after her romance with Prince Harry. Princess Eugenie introduced Cressida to her cousin in May 2012, and they were in a relationship for a couple of years before their split.
They had a long-distance relationship while he was deployed in Afghanistan, but when the Duke returned home one weekend, he recounted there was some "some distance" and "some stiffness" between them.
After a ski trip to Kazakhstan, Harry came to the conclusion that they weren't a match long-term.
"There was massive affection, deep and abiding loyalty – but not love everlasting," he shared in his memoir Spare.
"The day after we got home from Kazakhstan I phoned a mate, who was also close with Cress. I told him about my feelings and asked for advice. Without hesitation the mate said that if it was done it must be done quickly. So I drove straight over to see Cress."
They remained friends, with Cressida among the guests at Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle in Windsor in May 2018.
She went on to find love with Harry, to whom she got engaged in Nantucket in August 2019.
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