Detail in Katie Boulter's wedding dress that puts critics of Alex de Minaur move to shame

OPINION

Critics of Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter getting married on the same day as the Wimbledon men's final have been firmly put in their place after the tennis couple held a much larger celebration in Tuscany this week. De Minaur and Boulter tied the knot on July 12 in a small ceremony in her home village in Leicestershire.

The timing sparked some nasty responses due to the fact the wedding occurred on the same day as the men's final at Wimbledon. Some suggested it showed de Minaur had no faith in himself to make the final if he had booked his wedding on the same day.

But those claims have now been put to shame after it emerged it was only the first of two celebrations and didn't need to be booked in advance. The date for the first celebration was only locked in after de Minaur and Boulter had both been eliminated from Wimbledon.

It's since come to light that de Minaur and Boulter held a much larger celebration in Tuscany this week - one that would have needed to be booked in advance in didn't clash with Wimbledon. What's more, Boulter's ill grandfather was able to attend the ceremony in Leicestershire but unable to travel to Italy for the second celebration.

Boulter was wearing a completely different dress in the second ceremony, which shows it would have all been planned months in advance. The second dress included a hand-stitched piece of fabric from her late grandmother's wedding dress.

"I wanted to feel like she was with me in Italy," Boulter told British Vogue, who published photos of the Tuscany celebrations. "And it was my grandmother who taught me how to sew."

Fellow tennis players Laura Robson, Freya Christie and Jodie Burrage were all part of Boulter's bridal party. While Olivia Nicholls, Katie Swan, Heather Watson and Australia's Olivia Gadecki were all in attendance.

Critics of Alex de Minaur's first wedding slammed

'The First Serve' tennis podcast was among the many to slam the ugly commentary around de Minaur and Boulter's first wedding on Wimbledon final day. "There has been a lot of negative discourse around Alex de Minaur deciding to marry Katie Boulter on the same day as the men's Wimbledon final, with many arguing that he doesn't have the belief to reach a slam final," they wrote. "That couldn't be further from the truth.

"The first wedding was planned once both players knew they were eliminated from Wimbledon. We all saw how deflated Alex was after exiting the fourth round last week. He is the ultimate competitor, and anyone who argues otherwise doesn't know him."

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