19 Kids and Counting Jessa Duggar’s Wedding

19 Kids and Counting Jessa Duggars Wedding

Alyson Mandato, Writer

“You may now kiss the bride.” Common words that are spoken at every wedding ceremony, except at Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald’s wedding.

On Nov. 2 the 19 Kids and Counting’s reality star 21 year old Jessa Duggar married 19 year old Ben Seewald. It was expected that the happy couple would have their first kiss in front of their 1,000 closest family and friends in Arkansas, but the couple did not want to kiss at their wedding because they wanted to share their first kiss with each other in private.

Since Duggar and Seewald chose not to kiss after they said their “I do’s” Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar kissed instead after they said their “I do’s.” After the parents of the Duggar kissed Pastor Mike Schadt said, “So now you have seen a Duggar kiss.” Even though the bride and groom did not share a kiss at their wedding ceremony, they did reportedly kiss at their reception.

Not only did they skip the kiss at their ceremony but they also did not have a traditional wedding cake at their reception. “I don’t really like cake, Ben and I decided to do ice cream sundaes instead,” Jessa told People Magazine when she was in the process of planning her wedding of 1,000 people. The couple chose their favorite ice cream flavors. Ben chose mint chocolate chip ice cream and Jessa chose chocolate ice cream.

There was nothing original about the blush gown Duggar chose either. The dress was from Tesori Bridal in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She wore an Allure dress from Tesori’s modest collection with a fully beaded bodice of Swarovski crystals and pearls and Duggar had some of the tulle removed so it would fall just the way she wanted it to.

“It was the second dress I tried on and I absolutely fell in love with it as soon as I put it on,” Duggar told People. “It was a perfect fit for the beautiful bride to be,” said Tesori Bridal co-owners Lindsey Stavely and Erin Bridges. “We didn’t know if she would like it because it was not the traditional white wedding dress,” said Stavely. “Jessa kept coming back to the blush colored dress and all her sisters were too,” said Bridges.

Nothing comes cheap for the Duggars especially being a family of 21 people. The couple believes in living a debt free life. Jim Bob is a real estate broker, real estate entrepreneur and author. The Duggars try to stick to a budget of 3,000 dollars per month for food. When they go out to eat the averages each person can spend his $5 dollars. The bulk of their savings goes to buying groceries and used items. They shop at discount grocery stores, co-ops and warehouse clubs. Michelle Duggar nurses all of her babies anywhere from 12-24 months. This does not only create a bond between the baby and the mother but it helps save them money on formula costs too.

“You can make planning a wedding really complicated or you can make it simple, and I chose simple,” Jessa told People. “Ben and I both want to have a big family. We are talking about goals and our future together with our families all the time. Lately we have been talking about adoption and how we both really want to adopt a child,” said Jessa.

“Just because you are young it does not mean you are not ready for life. I want to help encourage people to embrace adulthood. Jessa and I both have the same love for God and we have a lot of similar desires and goals. I just want to let people know that there is responsibility that comes with great reward in life,” Seewald told People.

 

After running through all the details of the wedding with the bride and groom’s families Duggar and Seewald watched videos made by their families and friends, including a special message from Christian comedian Tim Hawkins. Hawkins joked around in the clip with the Duggar family, “Want to see how a Duggar boy rebels? “and then preceded to unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.

Seewald is the oldest of seven kids born from Guinn and Michael Seewald. Duggar and Seewald got heartfelt toasts from Seewald’s parents and siblings. Seewald’s siblings talked about how much of a leader and a great role model he had been in their lives.

Seewald and Duggar met when Seewald’s family came to visit the Duggar’s church. After mass was over the Duggar family invited their family over for fellowship. Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar met Seewald’s parents years ago when they were in Little Rock while Jim Bob was serving in the legislature. The Duggars and Seewalds shared a distant friendship. After church when the Seewalds came over the boys would always sit around the table and talk truths from the scripture. Jim Bob noticed that Seewald took a lot of interest in that topic and he knew so did Duggar. Jim Bob suggested to Seewald that they exchange numbers and they could talk and text about it and from there on out things just clicked between the two of them.

Duggar followed her family’s advice on how to find a perfect husband for her. The Duggar rules for relationships cover how to “court,” not “date.” Courtship is a relationship between a man and a woman in which they try to see if it is God’s will for them to marry each other. Courtship is a choice that helps Christians avoid temptation and stay pure. The Duggars have five main rules about being in a relationship with someone.

Rule one, set boundaries. “Dating with a purposeful mind-set is really such a contrast from what we are used to seeing in our world. Emotions get heated when you are together, so you need boundaries,” Michelle Duggar. Rule two, court, don’t date. “Dating means you are shopping around, courtship is the path toward marriage,” 26 year old Josh Duggar who is has been married now for seven years told People. For Jim Bob Duggar courting is getting to know each other in a group setting with each other’s families and the couple setting goals to determine if they are meant to get married or not.

Rule three, save the physical relationship for marriage. Jill Duggar who recently just married Derick Dillard in June said, “Derick and I wanted to save the physical side of our relationship for our wedding day.” Rule four, ask lots of questions. Before Jill and Derick even began their courtship, she wrote him a three page list of questions. The questions were anywhere from nonsense filled questions to how many kids he wants to have.

Rule five, have a weekly date. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar after being married for 30 years they still have weekly dates. “It is easy to think of the things that are bothering you more often than the things that are wonderful and a blessing in your life. A great rule of thumb is to say 10 nice things to every one critical thing,” Jim Bob told People Magazine. The newest member to the family, Ben Seewald seems to completely understand these rules of engagement, without any problems.

The location of the honeymoon has not been revealed yet. It probably will not be a tropical vacation, Inquisitr reported. Michelle Duggar believes that the beach should be avoided because it is too hard for the guys to try to keep their eyes in their head.

Michelle Duggar told TLC, that she had the greatest time watching Jessa and Ben’s friendship become a loving relationship. “Our entire lives Jim Bob and I have worked toward this day, prayed about it and encouraged our children to really focus on becoming the person that God wants them to be.” They have always told their kids to wait for that one special person that God has for them in mind.

The happy couples wedding will not air on TLC until the next season of 19 Kids and Counting.