Monday, July 14, 2014

Exclusive Duggar Wedding Details Part 1


To plan her wedding, Jill Duggar (now Jill Dillard) enlisted the help of her mom and sisters and three wedding planners, who also happened to be close friends. What is it like to plan a Duggar wedding? Ellie got the exclusive, inside scoop from Sierra, one of the wedding planners who we had the pleasure of spending time with when we visited the Duggars in March.

Although Sierra is not a professional wedding planner, she has coordinated the weddings of a few of her friends, so she offered her services to Jill and Derick when they got engaged. Here's what Sierra has to say about planning Duggar wedding. 
At the very beginning, we had talked about it, and I told her, 'If you want help with it, I would love to help you.' And she's like, 'Perfect, yes! Okay!'

From the day Jill and Derick got engaged, Sierra and her assistants had roughly three months to work out the details of the wedding. They were told to plan for 3,000 people, although only between 1,000 and 1,500 attended.

I encouraged there to not be a whole lot of Duggar helpers. It's such a special time that if you're not careful, you can forget that it's a special time, and you miss out on the fun joy of being a family when your daughter's getting married. So if we had any questions, we really deferred to the oldest sisters or to Michelle.

[Jill and Derick] were a dynamic team. I just love watching a bride and groom know what they want and just needing to translate that to a wedding coordinator and then have the wedding coordinator execute it. They really were that awesome team that said, 'Here's what we want. Can we do it?' So we did it.

The wedding was very much a Pinterest-inspired event. By browsing Pinterest, Jill came up with the idea of displaying Grandma Duggar's wedding dress, which was also worn by Michelle Duggar, and Derick's late father's police uniform shirt.

It was such a unique touch to the whole wedding. If you could stamp a word on the entire wedding, it would probably be 'honor.'

Jill and Derick made an effort to honor their separate families, as well as their guests.

That's the Duggars. That's how they roll. They just make you feel like it is an honor for them to be with you. 

Stay tuned! More exclusive Duggar wedding details coming soon

Image Credits: TLC/David Welker, Duggar Family Blog

30 comments:

  1. Love this blog- I think it's awesome that you've created a relationship with them as well!\ I would love to be able to do the same :D

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  2. who were these 1,000 people that came to this wedding? how do they know all these people. I personally could not see how they did it? did tlc help them pay for this wedding?

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  3. Three months? Wow... They were in a hurry to get married

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  4. Why do you guys not allow people to link to your blog?

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  5. I would guess they knew those people from all their home school conferences and such. I remember they had almost that many come to I believe it was Josiah's graduation and the Bates said they had 800 for Alyssa's wedding. I believe

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  6. @Anonymous
    A
    @Anony. 4----If you were denied being allowed to kiss or frontal hug the person you love; you'd be in a "hurry" to marry, too -just for those reasons, maybe, alone!!!

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  7. I don't think I even know 1000 people LOL

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  8. I know it must have been a beautiful wedding love and much happiness to jill & derick dillard

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  9. Did they have a professional wedding photographer or are there only the pic's from PEOPLE magazine?

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  10. Jill and Derrick are the perfect couple, both committed to serving God through ministry to others. They are sure to continue to help others less fortunate and I know God will shine his light on their family. Such a beautiful, respectful, couple, Sue

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  11. How can you be "dear friends" with 1,000 people you meet and see once a year at this homeschool conference they attend? I think it was more like fans showed up at the church, which is an open venue for all to watch, and they expected to attend the reception too,, which, btw, is supposed to be invitation only for the attendees.

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  12. Cute Pictures! can not wait for part 2

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  13. More wedding pics more wedding pics!!!!!

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  14. Do you know when the fall season of 19 Kids and Counting will premiere?

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  15. How did John and Alyssa meet if they lived so far apart? The Bates seem to be more laxed with courting and dress now, Micheala and Brandon were linking arms, oh my! (just joking)

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  16. Thanks for posting all these pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cant wait to see more!!!

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  17. did they no every indivual who came to there wedding on a personal basis? if not why invite people you dont know? never ONCE heard mention of jimbobs siblings or michelle as a matter of fact since they are suppose to be a loving christian family not 1 of there cousins in weddingg i find that strange cousin amy even suppose to be so close to could you respond please thank you kindy shelia bird in hand pa

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  18. I bet that a lot of these guests are people they know from the homeschooling conference and from trips around the states. Plus probably from the trips to Europe and Asia too. As well as the "camera crew's" family's and reporters from magazines (such as People magazine) and TV (such as ABC's Good Morning America). Keep up the details Lily and Ellie. But when will part two come out?

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  19. Hi Ellie and Lily! I was just wondering if you could tell me if Ben was at Jill and Dericks wedding? It would be gratefully appreciated, Thanks!

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  20. Once you know you've found the right one and you're ready to get married, there's no reason for a long engagement! That they were able to pull this off in three months is fabulous. Less waiting for that special day!

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  21. I agree with what was said earlier. Jill and Derick showed honor to family and friends. Even if it was there own day.
    I really love that.

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  22. Thank you for keeping us posted! :)

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  23. @The World Is Roses

    Hi The World Is Roses,

    A few years ago, Facebook wrongly marked our blog as spam, and we are still unable to post the direct link to Facebook.

    ~Lily and Ellie

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  24. @Anonymous

    Hi Anonymous 10,

    The Duggars hired a private photographer to take pictures for their personal family album.

    Blessings,
    Lily and Ellie

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  25. @Anonymous

    Hi Anonymous 20,

    Ben was at the wedding. :)

    Blessings,
    Lily and Ellie

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  26. I was reading Chad and Erin Paine's blog the other day and Chad said he was Jill and Derick's second photographer and was hoping to be able to put up some photo's up on his blog.

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  27. I think some people are being Silly of course Amy wouldn't be in the wedding party it was already huge with just the siblings niece and nephew. as for Michelle's siblings remember that one episode where they went to the family reunion most of Michelle's siblings are a lot older meaning their kids are a lot older then her kids. and they don't seem to be comfortable with a lot of exposure so it's not odd that they wouldn't be mentioned.

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  28. when it coming on tlc

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  29. @Anonymous

    Hi Anonymous 29,

    The wedding episode will air on TLC this fall. More details coming soon. :)

    ~Lily and Ellie

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