Jana Duggar is getting candid about watching her siblings walk down the aisle before her.
As the eldest Duggar daughter, Jana, 34, witnessed 11 of her 18 siblings get married before she did. Jana said “I do” to fiancé Stephen Wissman, 31, in a small ceremony in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, on Thursday, August 15.
“I’m just like, ‘What is it? Is it me? Do I have a problem?’ I know I’ve prayed for this for years and years and definitely been like, ‘What’s the matter? Why can’t I just …’” Jana opened up to People magazine in an interview published on Thursday.
“All of my siblings, most of them have been married in their early 20s. By far, I am the oldest. So it has been disheartening at times,” added the 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On alum.
Jana’s siblings who wed before her include her older brother, Josh, 36, who married wife Anna Duggar in 2008, Jana’s twin brother, John-David, who wed Abbie Duggar in 2018, and nine younger siblings, including Jinger Duggar Vuolo, 30. (Josh is currently serving a prison sentence on child pornography charges.)
Jana married Stephen on Thursday just two months after the couple got engaged. “I think it is one of those things that all girls envision someday,” Jana told People ahead of her big day.
“For me, it felt like, ‘OK, it’s never coming.’ But now it’s starting to sink in,” the former reality TV personality 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.”
According to People, Jana and Stephen wed in a “classic, elegant” ceremony with Jana’s sister Jessa Duggar Seewald, 31, serving as her maid of honor. Jana’s sisters Jinger, Joy-Anna Forsyth, 26, Johannah Duggar, 18, and Jordyn Duggar, 15, were bridesmaids, as was her sister-in-law, Abbie.
Jana’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, 59, gave her away, while Stephen’s family prepared dinner for the 500 guests who attended the reception.
“The Wissmanns are incredible cooks. They’re going to do a full spread and they’ve been working on it,” Jana told People before the ceremony. “ I’m like, ‘Just do it. I trust y’all. Y’all making amazing food.’”
It was truly a family affair as Stephen’s sister Hannah is married to Jana’s brother Jeremiah. The duo wed in March 2022.
