Duggar Shortest Courtship: John David and Abbie Break Record

Welp, that was fast: before I even got my coffee today, John David Duggar and Abbie Grace Burnett announced their engagement after…wait, has it even been a month? Clearly, the couple isn’t just breaking courtship rules (ahem, that unsupervised Walmart trip) they’re breaking records: as of today, John David has had the shortest courtship of all his siblings. Yes, I stood in line at Starbucks and did the math. Despite the Duggar siblings’ reputation to run to the altar, John David has his siblings beat by a long shot.

Or, you know, maybe not. It’s been suspected for a while that the Duggars court longer than we think, and we know that John David and Abbie knew each other for “several years” before making it official. But if we’re judging by courtship announcements, then the two have definitely earned this title, which marks a sort of trend in shorter and shorter courtships. Like really, they’ve become more and more condensed in a chronological…or quasi-chronological basis. Because, chronologically speaking — or at least quasi-chronologically — the Duggars are putting a ring on it faster than we can count to 19. And in case you need a refresher, here’s the line up of Duggar courtships from longest to shortest.

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So first, a note about Josh (ugh) and Anna:

Because they courted before the Duggars became an institution — or OK, they’re by nature an institution, but before it was publically known —we don’t have an exact timeframe for how long their courtship was. What we know is that they began a courtship shortly after meeting in 2006, and waited until Anna’s 20th birthday to get engaged (idk, that’s what she wanted). So they were together for about two years before getting engaged. Which is unprecedented by Duggar standards, despite 20 still being way young to get married.

Ben and Jessa

Courtship: September 16, 2013
Engagement: August 15, 2014
Total Length: 10 months and 30 days.
Jessa was the first Duggar girl to court, and looking back, she was actually in her courtship for a reasonable amount of time…maybe because Ben was dragging his feet. The two were together for nearly a year before getting married, which is too quick for my tastes but pretty typical of those “When you know, you know” kind of couples in my Facebook feed.

Jill and Derick

Courtship: November 2013
Engagement: March 29, 2014
Total Length: At most, 4 months and 28 days.
Jill’s courtship was really documented on 19 Kids and Counting versus given a formal announcement. If you’re going to go by the Jill-Derick timeline, and they had been talking online for a while (like literally praying over Skype, it’s weird) and met in Nepal circa November 2013. So we’ll be generous and round up to the beginning of November, even though that’s not necessarily what happened. Even still, the couple was engaged in less than half a year, probably to spite Jessa Blessa. Amazing, TBH.

Joy-Anna and Austin

Courtship: November 15, 2016
Engagement: March 3, 2017
Total Length: 3 months and 20 days.
You know what? I honestly thought that Joy’s courtship was waaaaaay quicker, like rapid-fire level. What I’m mistaking is the length of time between her engagement and her rushed up may-or-may-not-have-been shotgun wedding. Re: the courtship, Joy-Anna and Austin were allegedly longtime friends before dating for a bit over three months. It is what it is.

Joe and Kendra

Courtship: June 20, 2016
Engaged: July 26, 2016
Total Length: 2 months and 18 days
Once more for the people in the back row: JOE PROPOSED TO KENDRA AT HIS SISTER’S WEDDING. Moreover, he did it after, I don’t know. Being together not long enough for me to earn a free drink at Starbucks with my member card, probably. And I get a latte EVERY DAY. EVERY DAY, Joseph. Anyway, Kendra is a small baby person so clearly she was down with this whirlwind “romance.”

Josiah and Lauren

Courtship: January 23, 2018
Engaged: March 5, 2018
Length: 41 days.
As in, they made it a full month, although just barely. Josiah already had a failed courtship re: Marjorie Jackson so this time it seems he wanted to leave no room for error. And as for Lauren? Like her Cabbage Patch Kid sister-in-law, she’s literally a teenager and quick to jump on the child bride bandwagon without questioning it. Young love, indeed.

Jeremy and Jinger

Courtship: June 20, 2016
Engaged: July 26, 2016
Total Length: 36 Days
Or what, basically a month and nearly a week? Jinger and Jeremy pretty much hit the ground running when it came to a quickie engagement. Jim Bob disdainfully noted during their big Laredo trip that they were “in the fast lane.” Uh, yeah! Jing wanted to get out of Arkansas! I actually wasn’t expecting this to take the silver medal for short courtship, and thinking it over, it was definitely about making a getaway. I mean, Texas is no New York, but she was willing to take what she can get.

John David Duggar and Abbie

Courtship: June 26, 2018
Engaged: July 25, 2018
Total Length: 29 days
You guys, 29 days. They couldn’t even break 30, that’s legit bonkers. This could’ve been an age thing too; in contrast to the “teenagers blindly signing up for marriage,” JD is nearly archaic in Duggar years, and as such, maybe they sped the process up. Like, they may have been, you know…impatient regarding the wedding night. Or maybe they’re legitimate adults who felt really secure in this decision. Or, maybe, just maybe, the Duggars always need a wedding on deck to keep the family in business.
Motives asides, congratulations are in order for the happy couple, you’ve found love, and at Sonic the Hedgehog speed. Might want to watch your back, though — all bets are off now that Jason is of age.

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