In a family known for short engagements, the announcement that Josiah Duggar and Lauren Swanson were engaged last month was bound to set off speculation about wedding dates. Now, followers of the Duggars, famous for their reality shows about their large family size, think they’ve pinned down the date. Thanks to posts from a close friend of the Duggar family, fans believe Josiah and Lauren will wed next month — in plenty of time for their wedding to be featured when Counting On returns this summer.
Specifically, viewers think Krista Gay, a longtime friend of the Duggar family, revealed Josiah’s wedding date when her Instagram story mentioned an upcoming visit to Arkansas. Posting to the Keeping Up with Fundies blog, a viewer pointed out that this could be meaningful.
“Krista Gay posted on her story that she’ll be in Arkansas May 15-20. She always goes to Duggar weddings so I think the wedding could be May 18 or 19.”
Another viewer came to the same conclusion .
“Krista Gay is just giving away facts for us. Calling it now. SiRen wedding will be either May 19th or 20th.”
What’s the typical length of a Duggar engagement? Recently, it’s been quite short. Joy-Anna Duggar Forsyth, for instance, officially entered into engagement March 2, 2017, according to TLC. Their wedding was May 26, less than two months later.
Joe Duggar and Kendra Caldwell became engaged the same day — at Joy’s wedding celebration. They were married on September 8, with just over a four-month engagement , according to People .
What about Josiah Duggar? He announced his engagement on March 5, so May 18 would make this an even shorter engagement than Joy and Austin’s.
In fact, Josiah’s courtship was only announced in January, meaning that if he does wed on May 18, the combined time from his courtship announcement to his wedding would be less than four months total.
Josiah also has a somewhat different courtship history than most of the Duggar siblings. Their beliefs about courtship, dating, and marriage are strong enough that entering into a courtship, and especially announcing it publicly, isn’t something done lightly, and it’s even rarer for the public to know of broken courtships. However, Josiah previously announced a courtship with another family friend, Marjorie Jackson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae2zZLwJEXo
Since breaking off the courtship, Marjorie has gone on to publish her second book , and Josiah has deleted her photos from his Instagram account, though he told People that the two are still good friends .
The Duggar family doesn’t usually announce wedding dates publicly beforehand, due to the risk of gate-crashers, but viewers who follow social media accounts of Duggar family friends often have fairly accurate guesses. Josiah Duggar’s wedding could be just around the corner.