In my experience the Purple Fountain Beech tree grows very fast once it's established. Mine was planted in 2013 and each year it grows upwards of a few feet. It was 6 ft tall when I planted it and it's now over 15 ft tall.

Not a plant I would recommend doing much pruning or training with at all. Looks best if left to its natural form and habit.

Christine Plante here again, I am in Eastern Massachusetts zone 5

I was reading up on it and read that it grows very slow so I found it surprising that it grew that fast Stuart. The only reason I was going to to try and shape it is to get a bit more of an arching shape rather than that tall columnar shape in the middle.

Here's a photo of it in 2013

and here's what it looks like now.

fagus is slow in my z5 MI .... perhaps its the shorter growing season ... with ground freeze and all ..

gal .. its not about natural shape.. its about forcing OPs own aesthetic on the plant ... ken

Or you could take it back and look for the 'Purpurea Pendula' your husband wanted in the first place. Instead of planting the tall growing 'Purple Fountain' and then trying to prevent it from doing what it's supposed to.

all great advice, thank you.