Josiah and Lauren Part 8: One Week to the Wedding (Now Married)

[Ilovebrownies]

Those cupcakes look awful, like they were made by little kids in the TTH kitchen.  

I like the dress except for the top.  Def could have been more elegant there.

I predict not a lot of babies for these two because Si will check out and not want to do the deed.

Looking forward to JD and Abbie’s wedding.  

[SadieJane]

If Josiah really wanted to get back at his family and friends, exlax meet reception cupcakes. He wouldn't be so not into it when the mad dash to the church potties began. 

 

Or maybe that could be JD's wedding prank at his own wedding...

[LilMissMetaphor]

Guys, you really can't tell whether or not someone's happy from a video or a picture.  It's not a thing.  People have nerves, resting bitch face, sleeping disorders, introversion, stress, exhaustion, excitement and anxiety.  Or any combination of the above.  You can't win with diagnosing body language and levels of eye-deadness.  (Either Lauren's clingy because she's hugging his arm or she hates him because she's not touching him.  Which is it? Who knows.)    

[SassyPants]

13 hours ago, Greendoor said:

SIren: Two deers in headlights

2 deers in a headlight, hope Jinger is not behind the wheel. Praise Rufus.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I'm undecided on the dress. Like someone above said, it would be nice without the sleeves. The skirt looks kind of constraining or stiff but it might just be wrapped around her oddly in the photo. However, I like that it doesn't have a ton of rhinestones or ruching! And it seems decently fitted, compared to other Duggar dresses.

Also, why are they standing in front of a gigantic donut while cutting the cake?

[SadieJane]

The dress, honestly the first thing I think of when I saw it was temple dress. I mean, it's cute and I'd wear it, but probably not to my own wedding.

[Quiver Full of Kittens]

17 minutes ago, LilMissMetaphor said:

Guys, you really can't tell whether or not someone's happy from a video or a picture.  It's not a thing.  People have nerves, resting bitch face, sleeping disorders, introversion, stress, exhaustion, excitement and anxiety.  Or any combination of the above.  You can't win with diagnosing body language and levels of eye-deadness.  (Either Lauren's clingy because she's hugging his arm or she hates him because she's not touching him.  Which is it? Who knows.)    

This is why I’m not inclined to comment too much on Si’s look in the staged pictures. My RBF and being self-conscious was more than evident in my own wedding pictures. I look varying levels of awkward in about 90% of the pictures. Which is to be expected, honestly. I don’t take good pictures. I never have. So, I guess I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, and hope that he is as thrilled as I was, but it just didn’t translate well. 

[just_ordinary]

53 minutes ago, freethemall said:

I find gun fetishism very strange, doesn't fit with the festivity of what they claim is a God and family centered affair. That plus the fact that it's placed next to a picture of a President whose head was blown off by a gun.

No offense to your family and hunting culture, these people have an unabashed hard-on for guns that I just can't accept as normal or fitting with the rest of their views. But then again, this whole wedding is strange.

I agree and seriously guys this is not a hunting gun. This is a fucking rifle!

I am from Europe so my take on private gun ownership is obviously different but I question the stable mentality of everyone who feels the need to display weapons in their house and more so if it is clearly military gear. I would probably loose my shit and leave- those people scare me. And no thanks I don’t want to hear about all those nice, responsible gun owners. That is not the point. Glorifying weapons in that way is a huge indicator that this person should rather not be around me and I am biased and snob enough to not want to change my mind. 

Sorry for this outburst. Back to the wedding. 

[Greendoor]

I've had a chance to ruminate on this.

Josiah, in the couch vid, say he wants to take the first year to get to know her.  This must mean he realizes he has married a virtual stranger.  Lauren seems oblivious, marriage is the goal.  Perhaps he realizes this is a life you build together with someone so who that is matters.  He has the examples of his oldest brother and Jill to look at for people who made such unsuitable alliances.  Who knows the truth of the feeling around Ben's decision not to support Trump in the election.  That may be fine by all of them or none.  

This is really tragic; worse than the other marriages because he realizes.

 

[WiseGirl]

3 minutes ago, Greendoor said:

Josiah, in the couch vid, say he wants to take the first year to get to know her. 

Maybe he is taking a page from, or advice from, Jinger and Jeremy? Too bad he can't do the whole no visitors stay away from us for 6 months like they did (unless he can, but I'm assuming they will stay in Arkansas).

It's too bad they can't actually spend time you know dating courting for a year and getting to know each other before rushing into marriage. 

[SamiKatz]

12 hours ago, singsingsing said:

This is how uptight we always are, yes.

Something else to regret on our deathbeds!  

[Greendoor]

@WiseGirl  It is my ferevent hope that John and Abby decamp to Oklahoma.

 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

12 hours ago, VBOY9977 said:

Lauren is the one that was born in 1999. Josiah was born in 1996.

agree though 1999 sounds (well, is) extremely young! And it’s crazy to think soon enough people born in this century could be getting married 

Kids born in late 99 and in 2000 graduated from high school this year and will be starting college in the fall.  And they will be old enough to vote in November.  I'm the mom of a 2000 baby, it makes me feel SO SUPER OLD.

[VBOY9977]

Krista just clarified the gun + Kennedy picture. They were on a Cold War themed escape room, probably a few days before the wedding

[FluffySnowball]

I get that it isn’t conclusive to judge Josiah’s happiness from the few wedding photos and clips we’ve seen so far. However, the whole discussion made me wonder... Assuming that he’s not over the moon happy with how his life is going, maybe it’s because things aren’t turning out how he has hoped. I wonder if Josiah might have seen something in religious yet also ambitious, self-assured (at least that is my impression of her), lively and energetic Marjorie (sorry if I misspelled her name, I tried various ways right now and this seems the most likely to me) that he liked and desired. But for whatever reason - the Josh scandals, and possibly other factors - it didn’t work out as planned and he now has to settle and compromise. 

Importabt to add: This is not to say his marriage to Marjorie would have worked out well, we simply don’t know and they both were soooo young (and still are). But now he never knows for sure and just faces his shattered hopes. 

And... that obviously is just speculation on my part. 

[just_ordinary]

5 minutes ago, VBOY9977 said:

Krista just clarified the gun + Kennedy picture. They were on a Cold War themed escape room, probably a few days before the wedding

Thanks for the info. That is reassuring.

[nickelodeon]

9 minutes ago, VBOY9977 said:

Krista just clarified the gun + Kennedy picture. They were on a Cold War themed escape room, probably a few days before the wedding

That makes sense, I was thinking there was NO WAY the Duggars would have a photo of JFK on their wall - Reagan, for sure, but not JFK! They also probably wouldn't need a poster of a gun because there are plenty of real guns lying on the floor for people to look at.

[Four is Enough]

I think Josiah looks sad and defeated... 

[Palimpsest]

12 hours ago, singsingsing said:

She seems really excited and happy to be married! Josiah? No comment...

When Josiah started talking about how he was making a commitment to 'slow down' during the first year of marriage, I couldn't help but immediately think, "YOU MEAN LIKE SLOWING DOWN IN TERMS OF NOT GETTING HER PREGNANT RIGHT AWAY, RIGHT???" But then he started talking about work stuff and I was like... damn. We'll probably have a special announcement from these two by American Thanksgiving.

Do we have any idea what kind of work Josiah is doing that he can "slow down" from it without coming to a dead stop.  Other than JD and Joe, who seems to work with JD, the work ethic in the Duggar family has always seemed ... lacking.

3 hours ago, Lurky said:

Do we know where they are going to live?  Or what Josiah does for a living?

I am always confused about the way the Duggar kids get treated in terms of being given houses (I know, it's weird they are given houses at all!) but it feels like Josh and Jill were given bigger houses, and the younger sons get less good deals than the daughters....  except remember that circular house that was bought in one of the Lost Boys' names - James?  But Joe now lives in his grandmother's relocated house on the family property...   I'm wondering if JB is aiming for a Morton-style compound, with his (non-Josh) sons and their wives all living on his property?   JD will most likely live in his own house, but JD has also been allowed more freedom.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Josiah and Lauren start married life in a trailer on the property, as JB has never seemed to like him.

And Joe and speculative other sons want to live Morton-style, that's fine, but I don't really understand how the sons are kept on tight leashes by JB, where they work for him and live in houses he provides - of course it's about control, but it seems antithetical to the cult teachings, where men are supposed to be the heads of the households, the providers, the ones holding the umbrella of protection etc etc.   It must be completely bizarre, being brought up being expected to be the one with all the power, but also knowing that daddy controls the purse strings.

I know, I'm probably reaching, and I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like although eg Jinger and Jill are only allowed to move away if their husbands want to, and their lives are controlled by the whims of their headships, the daughters at least have *some* opportunity to live somewhere else.

To the bolded:

Josh (and Anna)were originally allowed to "rent" Grandma's little 2 bedroom house.  The moldy one that was cleaned up and then sold to Jessa for $1.  When Josh hit the big time with his job with the FRC in DC he rented a house there and bought a fixer-upper back in AR.  I can't remember what happened to that house.  I think Jill was only given a loaner house.  Her Headship is supposed to provide for her.  (Stop laughing!)

JB in an early show stated that he had enough land to build houses for all the progeny there.   I think that has always been his goal to have a Morton-style compound.  This goes  along with helping the boys initially by setting up them up in small businesses, that JB co-owns.  As in Josh with the used car business and JD with the towing business.

And look what happened when he let Josh off the leash and let him go to DC!  He's probably keeping a firm hand on all the others.

I'm sure JB would rather keep all his daughters close to home, but the "transfer of authority" means just that.  They have to follow their headships.  He can't openly challenge Derick and Jeremy moving away without losing face big time within his Fundie community.

On a different subject, I also note that People Mag describes Josiah's tie as a "black bow tie."  Tut, tut.

First, that is not a bow tie, whoever wrote that article, and second that sort of black tie is only suitable for wearing to a funeral or as a sign of mourning.  Not that we should read anything into that other than a lack of knowledge of sartorial etiquette in a Duggar male.  They wear their ball caps indoors and while eating, after all! 

 

 

[Mama Mia]

1 hour ago, LilMissMetaphor said:

Guys, you really can't tell whether or not someone's happy from a video or a picture.  It's not a thing.  People have nerves, resting bitch face, sleeping disorders, introversion, stress, exhaustion, excitement and anxiety.  Or any combination of the above.  You can't win with diagnosing body language and levels of eye-deadness.  (Either Lauren's clingy because she's hugging his arm or she hates him because she's not touching him.  Which is it? Who knows.)    

Usually I absolutely, 100% agree. And it’s one of my pet peeves as an awkward introvert with RBF who take AWFUL photos. 

BUT - Josiah had always been one of the most talkative, outgoing, smiley, charismatic Duggar’s. - at least on 19 Kids. IIRC he even invited a bazillion people to a big high school graduation party. If it was one of the new Spouses, who weren’t used to the camera, or a quieter brother - sure. Absolutely that video and still would just seem stiff but no big deal. 

Maybe he had the flu, or they wouldn’t give him time to pee before doing the video - or - something. But it’s the difference from his normal on-camera persona that’s striking.

 

 

[SapphireSlytherin]

Rifles ARE hunting guns. Lol

[Coconut Flan]

18 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

When Josh hit the big time with his job with the FRC in DC he rented a house there and bought a fixer-upper back in AR.  I can't remember what happened to that house. 

They live in it now. 

 

[PennySycamore]

8 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Rifles ARE hunting guns. Lol

Not assault rifles -which this appears to be.

[Alice in Fundieland]

16 minutes ago, Mama Mia said:

Usually I absolutely, 100% agree. And it’s one of my pet peeves as an awkward introvert with RBF who take AWFUL photos. 

BUT - Josiah had always been one of the most talkative, outgoing, smiley, charismatic Duggar’s. - at least on 19 Kids. IIRC he even invited a bazillion people to a big high school graduation party. If it was one of the new Spouses, who weren’t used to the camera, or a quieter brother - sure. Absolutely that video and still would just seem stiff but no big deal. 

Maybe he had the flu, or they wouldn’t give him time to pee before doing the video - or - something. But it’s the difference from his normal on-camera persona that’s striking.

 

 

I agree that the Josiah in this video seems quite different from the Josiah we’ve seen on camera in the past. I’d like to think it’s just the stress of the day or the pressure of having to perform on his wedding night with nothing to refer to but Jim Bob’s LEGO talk and “Intended for Pleasure” by Ed Wheat.

It could also be that now that he’s married and a headship, he thinks has to be more serious. Maybe he saw his old personality as childish and immature and now that he’s a family man he feels he needs to put on a more serious persona. There are so many things it could be that we may never know for sure. I hope it was just nerves/wedding jitters and he isn’t miserable as many have speculated.

[tabitha2]

If you feel the need to take out Thumper with an AK 47 you certainly don’t need a gun at all.