\In honor of Josie and Kelton's engagement, we wrote out some information about each Bates couple's courtship and engagement timeline. What similarities and differences do you see?
Zach and Whitney Bates
Met in 2012 at Whitney's then-place of employment (Sonic)
Began courting: July 1, 2013
Engaged: September 12, 2013Married: December 14, 2013
Michael and Brandon Keilen
Met in spring 2009 at a ministry in Chicago where Brandon was serving
Began courting: December 30, 2013
Engaged: April 13, 2015
Married: August 15, 2015
Erin and Chad Paine
Met at a Valentine's banquet in 2011
Began courting: December 4, 2012
Engaged: August 5, 2013
Married: November 2, 2013
Alyssa and John Webster
Met in 2012, while Alyssa was helping John's father, Congressman Daniel Webster, with his campaign
Began courting: November 6, 2013
Engaged: January 16, 2014
Married: May 24, 2014
Tori and Bobby Smith
Met through mutual friend Kelton Balka during fall break October 2015 in Pensacola, Florida
Began courting: October 2016
Engaged: September 2017
Married: December 16, 2017
Carlin Bates and Evan Stewart
Met at a women's conference at Evan's church around September 2016
Began courting: August 2017
Engaged: Soon
Josie Bates and Kelton Balka
Long-time friends who announced an official courtship in January 2018
Had been talking for three years but had put the breaks on the relationship early on due to Josie's age
Engaged: June 2018
Photos courtesy of UP
Why did you put a pic of Brandon and Michael in the middle of Zach and Whitney’s explanation???
ReplyDeleteAmen! Was wondering the same thing!!
DeleteThe picture is properly placed when you look at this post on a computer, rather than on a phone.
DeleteI wonder when another one of the boys will get married. The Duggar boys are catching up with the girls(3-4 ratio). Meanwhile the Bates are at a (6-1) ratio in favor of the girls!
ReplyDeleteCarlin's courtship is similar in length to Tori, Erin, and Alyssa. Each of these previously mentioned married women had between two and almost three years from when they met and married their husband (though Alyssa had to wait until she was 18 to officially start her relationship with John).
ReplyDeleteEllie, do you know how Kelton and Josie met? Also, when did Michael and Brandon start officially talking? They met in 2009, but I remember Michael saying that it took Brandon a while to let it be known he had a romantic interest in her.
I'm surprised at how fast Zach and Whitney got married in contrast to his sisters. They knew they were right for each other, but their courtship length sticks out from the rest of the marrieds/soon-to-be marrieds.
Considering Zach and Whitney kissed before marriage I think that might have been a "better to marry than burn" situation, that they were concerned that if they didn't marry soon they'd be tempted to go even further.
DeleteAlyssa also had a short courtship but I assume that if she'd been, say, a year older when she met John they'd have started officially courting earlier than they did, similar to Josie and Kelton's situation.
How do we know that Carlin and Evan will be engaged soon? Everyone seems to be pushing for engagement announcements. Maybe these two need a little more time to make sure they are right for each other. They're still young, what's the rush? I feel better about Kelton and Josie getting engaged. They both have known each other a long time, they have jobs, and they seem very mature and responsible. Carlin needs time to settle down from what I've seen on the show. And with time, I think she will.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Ellie knows something you don’t know. Although I do agree that Carlin doesn’t seem ready for marriage.
DeleteCarlin is the older one of the two girls.
DeletePeople have even stated "I feel sorry for Carlin that she didn't get engaged first" as if it's some kind of race. Carlin herself predicted Josie would get engaged before her.
DeleteMichaela and Brandon courted well over a year waiting for him to finish school. That may be the case for Carlin and Evan as well -- he is in electrician school now, they may be waiting until he graduates.
I bet they’re waiting until both Carlin and Evan graduate, so my guess for their wedding is between dec 2018-jun 2019
DeleteI believe Carlin is trying to finish her school before they het engaged/married.
DeleteEngagements to weddings occur in 3-4 months period. Which means Josie and Kelton will marry in September. For Carlin and Evan estimate an engagement for September which falls for a January wedding that keeps being mention in BUB.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome Ellie! Would you be able to do the same for the duggars?
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Becky 🙂
That would be interesting, especially since the Duggars tend to keep their romantic interests hush-hush UNTIL they start officially courting. (Most recent example: John-David and his GF Abbie, just announced a courtship but mentioned spending a "lot of time" together before that in their announcement.)
DeleteI also think exact time lines may be murky when it comes to the most recent courtships that feature long time family friends, as to when they advanced from "friends" to something more.
Love how it says “Engaged: Soon” under Carlin and Evan’s relationship timeline lol.
ReplyDeleteTime 9:36PM Mon 6/25/18
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing a timeline for all the couples.
Wow!! They have all came a long way!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information! So it seems the Bates usually have a pre-courtship period for about a year, then officially court for about a year, then are engaged for 3 to 4 months before marriage. Brandon and Micheala, as well as of course Kelton and Josie are exceptions regarding how long the pre-courtship period lasted.
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting that Zach and Alyssa both got engaged after very short courtships of only 2 months or so, and they were also among the first Bates to marry. Makes me wonder if expectations changed along the way regarding the ideal length of courtship.
But none of the Bates couples have been engaged longer than 4 months, so if Josie and Kelton follow that trend, we can expect a wedding in September or October this year.
I hope Josie waits tell next year to get married she still to young to get married .
ReplyDeleteMy second cousins waited a year after they were engaged to get married. One got engaged in September 2016 and got married in September 2017. The other one got Engaged on FEB 2016 and got married in April of 2018
Why? If you know that’s who you want to marry there is really no reason to wait a year. They both have have jobs, and are mature, growing and learning with your spouse from a young age is an adventure.
DeleteWe're they committed to remaining pure during the engagement? That would be a long time to not get tempted! This is why they have short engagements so they can keep purity till the wedding.
DeleteMy now husband and I were engaged for 11 months in order to finish school and have time to plan the wedding at the same time. Although we unfortunately did not save ourselves for marriage, we did repent and commit ourselves to purity during our engagement. It was not easy, but it is doable if you're committed. I do understand why these couples have short courtships and engagements. When you focus on the physical in a relationship, sometimes that is all you are focused on. My husband and I connected more in our relationship during our engagement period than the 4 and a half years we were dating prior to that.
DeleteI like it! Always tried to figure the timelines out
ReplyDeleteWhat about the when and where of Gil and Kelly's engagement? Bless you all! Love from Alaska
ReplyDeleteThis is just fascinating! Thanks for sharing. I too would like to see how Gil and Kelly's engagement timeline compares :)
ReplyDeleteWow, didn't realize Alyssa and John had such a whirlwind of a relationship!
ReplyDeleteWhere and when did Kelton and Josie meet?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Zach and Whitney felt like they knew each other better since they met at Sonic and had the opportunity to talk without a chaperone constantly listening in. They might have avoided that awkwardness Tori spoke of.
ReplyDeleteElle thanks for doing this. Can you also do one for the duggars.
ReplyDeleteCould you ask them for actual dates for those you don't know? As well as the Duggars? Would love to have a better timeline! Love your blog!!
ReplyDelete