’19 Kids And Counting’: Jessa Duggar’s Wedding Dress Causes Controversy

19 Kids and Counting stars Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald found a few ways to break tradition during their wedding, and two of them really have tongues wagging — they opted to skip their wedding kiss, and Jessa decided not to wear white.

According to Starcasm, guests were told that Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald didn’t want to share their first kiss during their wedding ceremony. Everyone was directed to watch Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar share a smooch instead.

It’s possible that Jessa and Ben chose not to kiss in front of their family and friends because they were afraid that their first smooch would look awkward. The 19 Kids and Counting stars previously claimed that they were saving their first kiss for after they were officially married, so they didn’t get to rehearse the big moment.

It was probably a good idea not to kiss for the first time in front of the TLC camera crew — you might recall the disastrous first kiss below.

This cringe-inducing scene from the TLC series Virgin Diaries went viral a few years ago. Jessa probably didn’t see that moment because her family doesn’t watch much TV, but she did witness sister Jill Dillard’s first kiss. Perhaps Jill’s almost-as-awkward wedding day smooch played a part in Jessa’s decision to save hers for a private post-wedding moment.

However, Crushable writer Alexis Rhiannon thinks that Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald weren’t trying to avoid embarrassment — she believes they didn’t want people to find out that they’re already pros at swapping spit. Rhiannon speculates that the 19 Kids and Counting couple has actually shared a lot more than a first kiss, and she points to Jessa’s pale pink wedding dress as evidence that she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding day.

“In her case, the fact that her family is so traditional makes it even more suspicious to me that she didn’t wear a white dress. After all, the whole point of that custom is to show that the bride is pure and virginal, and no one should know that better than the Duggars.”

Rhiannon pointed out that Jessa Duggar’s sisters helped her pick out the blush-colored dress, so perhaps they were privy to some inside information about her sex life.

“For the whole family to steer away from the white dress, maybe they know something we don’t? And they know the Lord knows it too, so they didn’t want to lie to him? I’m not saying that’s definitely the case, just that knowing this family the way I do, if they’re doing something non-traditional and non-conservative, there has to be a reason behind it.”

Stunning! See Jessa Duggar’s wedding dress: http://t.co/4TrT0V8cVu

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) November 4, 2014

Because the movements of the 19 Kids and Counting stars are monitored by other family members and TLC camera crews, it would usually be difficult for a Duggar daughter to sneak off with a guy. Their dates are all chaperoned, and they have a strict curfew. However, Ben Seewald was living in the Duggar family’s guest house before he and Jessa walked down the aisle, so there’s a chance that he and his bride-to-be just couldn’t help themselves.

The lack of a kiss and Jessa Duggar’s scandalous dress wasn’t the only surprise at the latest 19 Kids and Counting wedding. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Ben and Jessa served ice cream sundaes instead of cake. Starcasm also reports that the wedding was “heavily monitored with more than 40 security guards who threatened to eject anyone who tried to film or photograph the event.”

A source said that the preacher couldn’t stop talking about purity, and he delivered a “long, fire-and-brimstone sermon about kissing.” No wonder Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald didn’t want to share their first smooch in front of him.

“Jessa and Ben’s wedding was sweet, friendly and private celebration of love, filled with strong reminders about the importance of purity,” an insider said. “With so much talk of their purity, I actually felt I knew much more about the couple than I should.”

Do you think Jessa Duggar chose the pink dress because she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding day, or was the 19 Kids and Counting star just embracing her newfound freedom by doing something non-traditional?

[Image via Ben Seewald/Instagram]