This week on Counting On, Kendra Caldwell headed to Kentucky to pick out her wedding dress in anticipation of her special day.
She and her husband-to-be were also focused on other aspects of tying the knot, though … specifically what comes after that.
As Joseph Duggar and Kendra’s wedding day quickly approached on Counting On Season 6 Episode 3, the anticipation began to build.
Sexually. We’re talking about temptation.
Yes, the couple’s sexual desires were running ever so high as they geared up for their impending nuptials, but this is par for the course.
In this family, patience is a virtue.
Joe’s sister Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth, her husband, interestingly talked about getting through the challenges of waiting.
It was this couple that allegedly engaged in massive amounts of courtship rule-breaking and didn’t delay physical intimacy until marriage.
Of course, a lot of that speculation was just that – speculation. Talk of Joy-Anna having premarital sex made for great gossip, but that’s it.
The birth of Joy and Austin’s son Gideon did nothing to disprove her consistent claim that the couple got pregnant on their honeymoon.
In any case, Joe confessed to Austin that as he gets closer and closer to his wedding day, it’s impossible not to think about Kendra.
He means in a sexual manner.
“I spend the evenings with Kendra and then during the day I’m just working. It keeps me busy and not thinking about it,” Joe admitted.
The 23-year-old Joseph later added that “Joy and Austin have been a great example for us as far as relationships.”
“They say when you get closer to the wedding it’s always so much harder,” he said, and in his estimation, “it’s true.”
For her part, Kendra chimed in:
“You just start loving each other more and more and you just get excited about the wedding but I think having chaperones allows us not to fall.”
Joe spoke about the “physical boundaries” he and Kendra set, and they are strict … think side hugs and not a whole lot else.
“We’re not kissing before we get married, we’re just saving ourselves for each other,” he explained, and that’s not out of the ordinary.
The Duggars’ upbringing basically forbids all types of contact pre-engagement and marriage, even unsupervised alone time.
Of course, without a lot of practice beforehand, there’s going to be a learning curve of sorts after they do finally get married.
Not that he’s not up for the challenge.
Challenges and lessons don’t get much more entertaining than this one, and besides, his siblings seem to have figured it out.
Still, a Counting On producer continued to press them on the subject, probing for cringe-worthy details and asking awkwardly:
“What have you guys done to prepare yourselves for the physical side of marriage, as far as education on such things?”
Joe’s response?
“At this point, we figure that we don’t have to educate ourselves completely … if we had questions we can ask people who we trust.”
“I know there’s a lot of books out there, a lot of things you can read,” he said, though it’s unclear what things he meant.
Given the family’s limits on media consumption (see below), we’d be interested to see the reading material in question.
It’s a moot point anyway.
“We don’t want to make it harder on ourselves thinking about all the things we can’t actually carry out,” Duggar added.
“Also, I think that in marriage, I think it’ll be fun understanding more as we go along and just learn together.”
Clearly it worked out in the end.
Soon after their wedding – VERY soon after their wedding – we learned that Kendra Caldwell is pregnant with their first child.
Who needs books anyway?!