When Jana Duggar tied the knot with Stephen Wissmann in Arkansas earlier this month, there was one notable person missing from her wedding party — her sister Jill Duggar Dillard.
After a fan questioned Jill why she didn’t make the cut via Instagram on Thursday, August 22, the reality star admitted she wasn’t quite sure.
“I don’t know, but it should always be the bride’s decision,” Jill wrote.
Although Jill wasn’t one of Jana’s bridesmaids, that wasn’t the case for the Counting On star’s other sisters.
Jessa Duggar Seewald was Jana’s maid of honor; while Jana’s sister-in-law, Abbie Duggar, and sisters Joy-Anna Forsyth, Johannah Duggar, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Jordyn Duggar were all bridesmaids.
When Jill married her husband Derick Dillard in 2014, Jana, 34, was part of her sister’s wedding party.
Although Jill still attends family events, she has been open in the past about her strained relationship with her parents, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, and her 18 siblings.
“There’s been some distancing there,” Jill explained in a YouTube Q&A in 2020. “We’re not on the best terms with some of my family. We’ve had some disagreements and stuff, but we’re working towards healing, definitely, and restoration. We’re having to kind of just take some time and heal and just doing what’s best for our family right now.”
Appearing on “The Unplanned Podcast” in January, Jill further explained that she could still “get together” and “have a great time” with her family but there are moments that are “still hard.”
“If I’m getting together with one of my siblings and things aren’t like they used to be, there’s a part of me that’s like sad about that,” Jill said. “I wish things could be like they were before. But at the time, kind of like I talk about in the book [Counting The Cost], it’s like, ‘Would I trade just ignorance is bliss and this pseudo bliss for where we’re at? No.”
While Jana has not spoken about her sister’s absence from her bridesmaid line-up, the 19 Kids and Counting star opened up to People about her “classic” and “elegant” wedding in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, which took place in front of 500 guests.
“I think it is one of those things that all girls envision someday,” Jana told the outlet.
“For me, it felt like, ‘Okay, it’s never coming.’ But now it’s starting to sink in,’” she continued. “Reality is starting to set in. And I’m like, ‘Wow, this truly is something that I’ve dreamed of.’ And just to see it coming about is incredible and kind of hard to believe. It’s a dream come true.”
