a date for the wedding couple pls

[SmallTownGirl]

Dont know if in those days Kedlestone Hall was licensed as a venue for weddings.

There's a church/chapel right next to the Hall (i.e. in the grounds), so my thought was that if we could date the photo, then the first place to start looking would be the marriage register for that church/chapel.

STG

[chinakay]

The meeting of the bodice and the skirt isn't truly 1890s and isn't truly Edwardian either...elements of both but not really definitive either way. If this bride were concerned about being on the cutting edge of fashion, and believe me, she would be, by about 1904 or 1905ish she'd be showing a full pouter-pigeon blouse front I'm pretty sure

What a fabulous dress...and timeless. This dress wouldn't have looked out of place almost a century later.

My guess would be very early 1900s, but we need to see the mount and any printing on the back, as mentioned.

Cheers,
China

[IgorStrav]

Gosh, that's a train and a half 

And I bet she was glad to take that corset off at the end of the day.  Doubtless she was as keen as modern day brides to have the best possible figure - and she will have had a really good corset to assist any dieting!

[chinakay]

She'd have been in that corset all day, every day ...The price of looking good

[IgorStrav]

She'd have been in that corset all day, every day ...The price of looking good

Not all night though.  It must have been a huge relief to take the b----y thing off.

[Gadget]

Sorry Guys,  but I don't see it as a tight corset - well not as tight as some of the ones that I've previously seen. She seems quite relaxed in her dress 

Thanks to Jim for making the whole photo viewable in one look 

[loubags]

Thank you everyone, you've been really helpful and sorry about the download - many thanks Jim! 

I think you might have helped solve the mystery. In answer to a couple of queries, the photograph is actually (unfortunately) stuck to the back of a piece of cardboard - it's extremely thin though and doesn't feel like a 'proper' photograph. The Kedleston link is through my great grandfather who was a blacksmith at Kedleston in the late 1800s / early 1900s. The family story is that all the staff were given copies of the photo.

I found the parish records for Kedleston around 1890. There are three possibilities for Lord Curzon's daughters' marriages - Geraldine (1901), Margaret (1899) but I believe the photo is of Eveline Mary Curzon, who married Sir James Percy Miller, 2nd Baronet Manderston, in the chapel in the grounds that STG mentioned in 1893. I found a photo of the groom online and they look similar and also found a newspaper archive that describes the dress almost exactly. Apparently she was very popular in the village which may explain why the staff were given copies? I'm going to get in touch with the Kedleston archivist to see if any of this fits. If it's not her I'll look into the other daughters.

So many thanks to you all once again for replying and pointing me in the right direction. You've been great 
Lou

[PrueM]

I'm not convinced that it's the 2nd Baronet, looking at his pic online here: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7q8K0WYhKAc/T6DEIyPpESI/AAAAAAAATAE/PfkYARXKBbE/s640/ManderstonGuideP1_124.jpg  To me, they are dissimilar :/

I'm not convinced it's as early as 1893 either, as the photo type indicates a slightly later date - if 1893 I'd expect it to be an albumen print which this is not. 

[chinakay]

the photograph is actually (unfortunately) stuck to the back of a piece of cardboard - it's extremely thin

That's how photos were made. Every one of them. The cardboard backing is deliberate and an integral part of the photo. Don't for heavens sake try to peel it off to see if there's anything written on the back, there won't be, but you will destroy the photo. That's how they were made.

Cheers,
China