The day has come: one of the Sister Wives kids is about to get hitched!
This is the extra-special episode weโve all been waiting for: itโs finally Kodyโs wedding day! Oops— we meant Maddieโs wedding day. Itโs easy to get confused because Kody often acts like a bridezilla and has been trying his best to make all of these wedding prep episodes all about him.
The episode starts off with a little back story about how Maddie and her husband-to-be, Caleb, met. ย Calebโs sister was married to Maddieโs uncle (Kodyโs brother), who passed away several years ago. Janelle tells us that Maddie and Caleb first got the hots for each other at the funeralโฆas you do.
โWhen Kodyโs brother passed away, Caleb was at that funeral. I remember watching Caleb and Maddie and thinking thereโs something there,โ Janelle said. โIt was very noticeable.โ
Yes, because what better place than a (joint) relativeโs funeral to find the love of your life?
โCaleb and I met in the ICU when my uncle passed away about three years ago,โ Maddie says.
This is literally the worst love story Iโve ever heard…
โAfter my uncle passed away I would go see my aunt (his sister) and Caleb and I became pretty good friends in that process.โ
Tale as old as timeโฆ..
Meanwhile, Kody is freaking out because he is charged with writing Maddie and Calebโs vows and he canโt decide what he wants them to say.
Alright, weโve got to stop it here. Why in the hell would anyone let this man do something as important as write their wedding vows? How much cash did TLC have to pay Maddie to allow Kody to take on this task? Letโs hope she asked for a sizable amount to allow Kody the court jester to take center stage at her wedding.
Kody canโt decide what he wants to say (because, well, heโs not so much for reading and writin’, you knowโฆ) so heโs decided that heโs just going to wing it. What could go wrong?
โMadison and Caleb either donโt care or they have a high level of trust because theyโve put this in my hands,โ Kody says.
Trust, bribe moneyโฆsame, sameโฆ
Kody decides heโs going to talk about how Madison had failure to thrive as an infant and how she had to have an emergency appendectomy during her teen years. I mean, nothing says romance like malnourished infants and hospitalized teenagers, am I right!?
Non-Jewish Kody reminds us that he had a bar mitzvah for Logan (?) which gives him the idea that he should โknightโ Caleb during the ceremony. He tells us heโs going to knight Caleb because heโs marrying Kodyโs princess. Vomit. Letโs be honest: Kody has so many daughters that heโd probably have trouble picking Maddie out of a lineup.
Kody and the wives keep telling us repeatedly how different this wedding is from theirs. The ladies tell us how small and awful their wedding days were. (This is with the exception of Robyn, who had the TLC-paid-for affair, and Janelle, who couldn’t care less and probably refers to her wedding day as โDark Sunday.โ) The women tell us that they didnโt get to walk down an aisle, or have too many guests at their weddings.
Maddie decides sheโs going to put Meri in charge of wedding planning. (I guess she thinks she needs to give her something to do so sheโll stop talking to random men on Twitter.) Apparently, Meri is good at organizing things and, since there are no coffee cans that need spray painting, she has some free time. Itโs a good fit.
Kody doesnโt miss an opportunity to throw shade as hisย legal spiritual wife. He jokes that Meri is a bigger Bridezilla than Maddie and continues to call her โZillaโ while the other wives give him dirty looks.
Itโs finally the day of the wedding and all the Browns are running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Caleb arrives and decided to play a โjokeโ on Maddie. He tells his stressed-out bride-to-be that he forgot his pants. Maddie starts freaking out at the thought of ย having to marry a pants-less groom, but luckily Caleb is just kidding. HE HAS HIS PANTS! Thank the Baby Jesus!
Meri is stomping around the venue, dressed in a vest. (In the words of Regina George, “That vest was disgusting.”) She’s attempting to wrangle all of her amped-up family members and get them to act like normal people for at least an hour or two.
Meanwhile, Kody is reconsidering his idea of โwingingโ the ceremony vows. Someoneโprobably sensible Janelleโprobably threatened to strangle him with his own hair if he decided to just get upย at the altar and start spouting unplanned nonsense. He sits down with his best friend (who is randomly married to Meriโs sister, naturally), to try to figure out what the hell to say.
As heโs writing, he spouts some very Kod-able quotes.
โWhen youโre writing your own daughterโs vowsโฆit makes you realizeโฆyour daughter is getting married,โ he says.
Oh Kody, never change…
Caleb is trying his best to stay a safe distance from Kody (who, at this point, is approaching creepy levels of obsession with his new son-in-law).
Heโs forced to go near Kody when itโs time for the mens’ pictures. Itโs been a couple of minutes since Kody has ruined something (other than his wivesโ lives, of course), so he decides to spoil the surprise that Maddie and Caleb had been planning for Caleb’s brothers.
The couple had purchased a โgroomโs cakeโ that is shaped like an elk and filled with red cake and filling. (Apparently no wedding day is complete without a simulated bleeding animal…)
Calebโs brothers, who are hunters, had no idea about the elk cake, and he was looking forward to surprising them at the reception with it. Of course, though, Kody canโt keep his big olโ trap shut and tells everyone.
Itโs now 30 minutes before the wedding, and Kody still doesnโt have the vows set in stone.
โIโm having to pass the baton of love for my daughter from me to another man,โ he tells us.
Nopeโฆnothing weird about that statement at all!
Kody finally sees Maddie in her dress and says, โYou are stunning. Donโt be embarrassed if I stare.โ
Janelle comes out and she and Kody marvel at the sight of their daughter in her wedding gown. Kody gets emotional, and is even so happy that he tosses a rare compliment Janelleโs way. He tells her that she looks more beautiful than the bride (which is strange since Maddie is standing right there.) Janelle looks uncomfortable and contorts her face in a way that it looks like sheโs being made to swallow lemon juice.
The wedding starts and luckily, Calebโs dad is the one to do the whole knighting of Caleb thing. It sounds like a cheesy idea, but the way Calebโs father does it is actually really sweet and perfect. Itโs a great moment, and you can tell that both Caleb and Maddie are moved by his fatherโs speech.
Then itโs time for Kody to completely ruin the momentโฆ
He starts his speech off with a joke. (And, yes, it turns out to be as bad of an idea as youโd expect.)
โCaleb? Do you feel lucky? Do you? Punk?โ he asks.
[Awkward laughs from the crowd]
โCaleb your father has just knighted you and now Iโm going to make you the king,โ Kody adds.
Why does Kody have to take a sweet moment and turn it into something weird?
Kody somehow seems to make the entire wedding service about himself. He tells the weird stories about Maddieโs explosive appendix and whatnot, and throws in a few mentions of how many times heโs been married and finally pronounces Maddie and Caleb husband and wife.
Thereโs only one problem, though: Kody forgot to have them exchange rings, which is basically the most important part of the wedding ceremony.
Maddie looks horrified, but tries to keep her cool, telling the crowd that, โItโs OK, weโll just do it later.โ She looks kind of heartbroken though. She ends up having to place her new husbandโs wedding ring on his finger while crammed into a corner. Caleb stuffs the ring on Maddieโs finger unceremoniously and they head to the reception.
At the reception, Maddieโs two biological parents, Janelle and Kody, must make speeches. (Meri was probably bummed that she wasnโt able to get up and regale the crowd with tales of her catfishing catastrophe again.)
Janelle gets emotional, which is unusual for her. Her speech is kind of perfect though. She tells Maddie and Caleb that they will probably eventually hate each otherโฆand everyone around them. (Iโm sure Meri was nodding enthusiastically in agreement as she listened to Janelleโs speech.)
We end the episode with Caleb telling us itโs not every day that someone finds their soulmate. Well, we canโt all fall in love with semi-relatives at family funerals, guy!
Next time, we go back to beating the dead horse that is Meriโs catfishing scandal. Unless TLC can suddenly produce a Meri and the catfisher sex tape, we are tired of this storyline!
Meri decides sheโs going on a trip to meet a woman who โhas been in the same situationโ as her. We also learn that Mariah is going to have some big life-changing news to drop on the parents. (Perhaps sheโs decided to stop making fun of her momโs eyebrows on camera?)
Until next week…
To read our previous โSister Wivesโ recaps, click here!
(Photos: TLC)
You have the best recaps ever! Thanks for the endless laughs!
I must say I initially thought of Superbad – “take off that vest, you look like Aladdin” ??
Oh, Meri.
Sorry, but I have to correct your Regina George quote. She actually says “that vest was DISGUSTING!”
I’m just glad they limited the about of Sobin Robin at the wedding. I love not seeing that pointy chin.
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I was not surprised at all he made the whole thing about him. I totally rolled my eyes when they were asked “who gives this woman away?” And he says “I do, Kody Brown”. Uhh, we know who you are stunt queen. Everyone there knows who you are. Janelle’s speech sucked and let us know just how miserable her marriage and life truly is. Nobody needs to hear that on their day. People tend to look at Meri as some sort of planning nazi but she is the perfect person in the family for this kind of stuff. She loves it, she’s in her element, and you know shit will be organized. Yes, she is annoying and probably the least liked mom for the kids but if I were Maddie Id had wanted Meri’s help throughout the planning process because we know it would have been on point. It’s funny your Caleb caption says something about Kody asking to go on the honeymoon because that’s exactly what I was thinking too, that I was surprised he hadn’t asked to join them. The comment about staring at her was creepy. There was no place in her wedding vows to be talking about her health problems and such lol. As far as the rings, I would have been heartbroken too that he forgot it but you get what you “pay” for when you ask Kody to do anything for you. Also, no one else seems to have a problem with the fact Maddie and Caleb are definitely related by marriage now. Caleb’s neices and nephews by Erica are Maddie’s blood cousins. But everyone seems to think they aren’t related. Okay..
Busted out laughing at “stunt queen.” omg.
He just always has to be the center of attention. Sometimes I wonder if that is why he got 4 wives, shock value. In the beginning seasons a high school friend said that even in high school, Kody was always strutting around like a peacock wanting to be the center of attention. Id be embarrassed as hell by him if he were my dad. Poor Caleb tries so hard to be patient and laugh it off but we know he will be sick of Kody eventually.
Your captions with Janelle’s pictures are flawless!!! It was the most awkward wedding ceremony ever thanks to Kody. And way to keep it real Janelle with that speech, yikes! How about the moment when they read Maddie’s letters out loud and Caleb’s poor sister burst into tears and had to be led away while Kody is standing there smiling like a damn fool.
I ahree, the most awkward wedding events ive witnessed. He was literally grinning from ear to ear as that poor woman broke down! Then excitedly told her to come over and get the corsage. He’s so awful.
I enjoy your recaps of this show so much that I decided to watch it. Man, does this show suck. TheAshley, thank you for recapping this show so I don’t have to watch it. You are a true American hero.
LOL!
@Renee– Always happy to be of service! And thanks! ๐ -The Ashley
Good recap, but.
Maddie got married months ago.
Mykeltie (?) days/weeks ago.
Recaps of eps are great but we also want news as it happens. As you can.
She already posted like two articles about Mykelti’s wedding after it happened.
The vows were so awkward but what would you expect from the Kodester? Also, I’m not sure why everyone is so worked up about the elk cake. I thought it was cute to do something that would make people laugh. A lot of brides get so wrapped up in perfection. I thought it was nice that she gave him something that would make him and his brothers happy. Weddings are about grooms too people. ๐
Winging vows….that’s uh…well…special.
Maddie and Caleb can’t help how they met. I don’t think it’s super weird. It just happened the way it did.
Her dress looks nice and well fitted.
I do wonder who made half the family believe Maddy wanted a ‘dr Quinn, Medicine woman’ theme as a joke.
Another good one! The Regina George references had me literally laughing out loud!
Downvoted by accident because I’m a dumb dumb, half asleep on my phone. I wish the site would let me change my vote. Ugh. Sorry.
Just keep clicking the correct thumb like a woodpecker. Usualy works for me ;-).
Your recaps are the best!!!!
Sorry accidentally down voted. Stupid phone.