OK! VINTAGE
ISSUE 754 - 7 DECEMBER 2010
Legend of the Coronation Street cobbles Simon Gregson is no doubt thrilled that filming has resumed on the Weatherfield set after grinding to a halt in lockdown. But back in 2010 the actor had a very different reason to celebrate, as he tied the knot with long-term partner Emma Gleave.
OK! joined the couple for their lavish winter wedding at Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, along with guests including Simon’s co-stars Michelle Keegan and Katherine Kelly.
After exchanging vows, the groom told his bride, “Emma, you look gorgeous, I can’t believe you’re my wife.” Then he jokingly added, “If I’d known you’d scrub up this well I’d have married you years ago!”
The couple’s sons Alfie, then three, and 16-month-old Harry were there, too. “Emma’s given me love, trust, happiness and friendship,” Simon said. “But, more importantly, she has given me the two best things I could ever wish for – my two boys.”
Simon and Emma pulled out all the stops for their big day with a five-tier cake and a performance from Britain’s Got Talent finalists Stavros Flatley. Guests filled the dance floor, sipping bubbly and Jägerbombs, before a fish and chip van pulled up at midnight.
Recalling how they met, via his on-screen mum, Simon said, “We met in Beverley Callard’s pub. Emma chased me! We just clicked.”
Six months later they were engaged, after an unconventional proposal in the bath. “We had a really long engagement – with two children. We did it all the wrong way round, but it’s worked,” Emma said. “I just love him more every day. It gets better and better.”
In 2015, the couple welcomed a third son, Henry. They had hoped for more children, but sadly in 2017, after a heartbreaking 12 miscarriages, Emma suffered a near-fatal ectopic pregnancy.
“Emma was close to death,” Simon later told OK!. “But we’re a strong couple and have come out the other side.”
Speaking recently during lockdown about feeling “blessed” to spend quality time with his family, he said, “I class myself as a very lucky man.”