Jason Duggar Included One Activity At His Wedding That No One Else In His Family Had At Theirs

Over the years, Duggar fans have witnessed some of the 19 children shared by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar gradually rebelling against their ultra-conservative Christian upbringing and breaking the strict rules they've been raised to follow all their lives. Jinger Duggar defied the long-skirt-only protocol following her 2016 wedding and started rocking pants, inspiring her sisters to follow her lead. And, when Josiah Duggar took his then-fiancée Lauren Swanson on an amusement park date in 2018, he opted not to have a chaperone tag along despite this being a requirement for courtships. Likewise, Jill Duggar even admitted to People in 2020 that she drinks alcohol. 

Taking a cue from his older brothers and sisters, Jason Duggar broke tradition in a major way during his Tennessee wedding to fiancée Maddie Grace (which had tons of strange things about it regardless). Aside from booze and unchaperoned dates, dancing and pop music are frowned upon in the Duggar household, where premarital sex is naturally also a big no-no. Despite all this, Jason and Maddie not only had a first dance at their wedding reception, but they also had a DJ playing popular songs and a dancefloor.

Jinger and her husband Jeremy Vuolo made the revelation on "The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast" shortly after the nuptials took place, in October 2024. Jeremy noted that Jana Duggar and Stephen Wissman's already unusual marriage marked the first time a couple in the family had a first dance at their wedding, but clarified that opening the floor up for guests to take part too had "never happened before at a Duggar wedding."

There have been 13 Duggar weddings in the years since the family first found fame on TLC, and Jason Duggar is hardly the first sibling to stray from tradition when it comes to his nuptials. Big sister Jessa Duggar opted for a light pink gown and ice cream sundaes instead of the traditional white dress and big wedding cake when she tied the knot with Ben Seewald in 2014. But while switching from cake to ice cream was just a matter of changing desserts, dancing was a bit too much to handle for many of Jason and Maddie Grace's super religious guests.

Jinger Duggar and Jeremy Vuolo acknowledged on their podcast that the dancefloor was mostly empty when the DJ spun hits like "Sweet Caroline" and only filled up properly when certain songs like "Cha-Cha Slide" and "Y.M.C.A.," whose lyrics include instructions for their accompanying dance steps, were played. This was because, with the exception of a few Duggar siblings and bridesmaids, "no one knows how to dance," as Jinger confirmed. She elaborated, "It's not part of the culture at all and so it just was interesting. That was an experience."

It's worth noting that, despite the demonstrable awkwardness, dancing appears to have played a key role in Jason and Maddie's relationship from the very beginning. When the couple announced their courtship in May 2024, they posted a photo of Jason sweetly holding Maddie's hand and twirling her around on a beach.