‘Gemma’s wedding dress is a work of art,’ says Coronation Street star Dolly Rose Campbell

It’s the big day for Coronation Street faves Gemma Winter and Chesney Brown. Finally!

And, let’s be honest, it’s going to be Weatherfield’s wedding of the year

Coronation star Dolly Rose Campbell has been sharing all the behind-the-scenes secrets about Gemma’s fabulous frock and the last-minute disasters in the build-up to the big day.

Plus, don’t forget that among all the fun and games, is the shadow of Paul’s tragic MND diagnosis, which will devastate the whole Winter clan when he eventually spills the beans.

Coronation Street: Gemma and Chesney’s wedding of the year!

So, as the wedding day approaches, how is Gemma feeling about her special day?

“Excited!” says Dolly. “She’s getting to have her day and her be the bride and just have a day where she can be herself, not just be a mum or worry about money, or worry about work. This is the day where she can just enjoy her life with Chesney and the quads and Joseph.”

Behind the scenes, though, the money worries are still apparent, as Joseph’s wealthy grandmother, Linda, has offered to put some cash towards the wedding.

“Linda offers to pay for the caterers and things go a bit awry because she books the high-end caterers which isn’t what Gemma and Chesney want,” reveals Dolly. “But she feels grateful that she has got people around her. She’s grateful for the support from Linda and from Paul. Whether Bernie feels the same, mind you…”

Paul’s troubles

And of course, there are other things going on behind the scenes, too. Gemma’s twin brother, Paul, has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, but he hasn’t yet shared the news with his family.

“In the build-up to the wedding, Paul becomes quite distant, quite moody,” Dolly explains. “He blows up at Gemma and tells her nobody cares about the wedding. It really hurts her feelings because it’s something she’s looked forward to for years and years. So she tells him not to bother coming to the wedding.”

Whether Paul and Gemma will put their differences aside ahead of the big day remains to be seen, but Dolly says her alter ego will be “completely devastated” by Paul’s diagnosis.

“They’re not just brother and sister, they’re twins. They’ve been together their whole lives,” she says. “They are a bit of an out-there family but at their heart they love each other and they stick together.”

Dressing for the occasion

Of course, Gemma is known for her – ahem – interesting sense of style so the wedding dress was always going to be a thrill.

Dolly says she was “blown away by the dress”!

“It’s an absolute work of art,” she gushes. “It’s beyond anything I ever imagined.”

She was very involved in coming up with what Gemma would wear on the day.

“I had big ideas for Gemma’s dress,” she tells us. “I knew of this designer Liquorice Black. Liquorice is a Manchester drag queen – John Roberts – who also makes costumes for other drag queens. He works with Drag Race, he’s exhibited in quite a few galleries. So to get him to do it, I was overjoyed.”

“I got inspiration from weddings I had seen as a child, these would have been the kind of weddings Gemma had seen as a child. Then added extra touches such as the fairy lights, which are just very extra. That’s very Gemma.”

Orange is the new white!

The dress is bright orange, which really adds the wow factor!

“The colour was our costume designer Alex. She really wanted it to be orange because it was a Chesney colour which we all found so funny!”

“The dress was 2m wide, and the veil was 7m. The veil actually attached to the back of the dress, one on the head and then the one on the dress could come off.”

But such an enormous frock came with its own problems. “When the director wanted to do a two-shot close-up, he couldn’t do it because there wasn’t enough room for two people,” Dolly explains. “So Liquorice made us a mini dress too for close ups. You never see the little one – I just changed the skirt when they needed me to. Liquorice actually came to set and helped me with costume changes and turning all the lights on.”

Gemma wows the Coronation Street crowd!

And Dolly says the reveal of the dress was quite something!

“None of the cast had seen it in all its orange glory. I didn’t wear it until we were actually inside the church, so nobody had seen it. But Barbara (Knox, who plays Rita) loved it! I was really surprised, I thought she might think it’s a bit silly, but she thought it was perfect for Gemma. She loved it.”

Though the dress was made by a fabulous professional designer in real life, in the world of Weatherfield, it’s a dress Gemma bought from a charity shop, that has been transformed by seamstress Izzy Armstrong.

Viewers who are experts in British Sign Language might want to look out for a secret about the dress in the episode.

There is a sign language interpreter in the scenes, who sharp-eyed viewers might spot signing with Izzy because actress Cherylee Houston can use BSL.

“When I looked over, she was telling the interpreter that she’d been dying the dress and it had stained her bath orange,” Dolly reveals. “Signing in character!”

And the dress will be saved forever because it’s going to be in the Coronation Street museum, becoming part of Cobbles history!

Read more: Complete Coronation Street cast list 2023 – meet them all here!

Coronation Street usually airs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm on ITV.

Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!