We’ve all watched as Kody Brown’s marriages continue to blow up in his face on “Sister Wives.” But while he seems shocked that three of his four wives left him behind, fans have started to recognize the tell-tale signs that were seemingly always there.
Not only is Kody’s treatment of Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, and Christine Brown garnering attention now, but looking back, fans have noticed that Robyn Brown, his only current remaining wife, has long seemed to be his favorite. She not only appears to be the wife he is most concerned about these days, but even before she was officially a member of the family as a “spiritual wife,” Kody had a preference for her.
In fact, this went back even as far as the weddings and honeymoons each one of the wives got when it came time for their relationships with Kody to be honored. Curiously, a distinct difference was seen between all four weddings and honeymoons. Here’s what they were all actually like.
Meri Brown had a traditional wedding – with a surprise guest
While she might have been the wife many felt had the hardest relationship with Kody Brown over the years, Meri Brown was the one who got a more traditional and grand wedding, complete with a big, lavish wedding dress, a white tux for Kody, a classic cake (and other desserts), professional photos — the works.
As his first wife, and at the time, the only one he was legally married to, Meri was able to have the big and grand affair that seems reminiscent of the weddings monogamous couples might also have. She and Kody didn’t have to be as secretive with their union, because, unlike his future wives-to-be, their marriage wasn’t a crime. Kody’s later spouses could not be legally solemnized, and therefore, the celebrations were expected to be smaller.
One interesting fact to note about Meri’s wedding was that one of her future sister wives was actually in attendance at the event. Janelle Brown, who went on to become Kody’s second wife, was there. At the time, she was actually Meri’s sister-in-law. Shortly after Meri and Kody’s 1990 wedding, Janelle divorced Meri’s brother, and by 1993, she was married to Kody as well.
Meri and Kody spent their honeymoon in Jackson Hole
After a grand wedding, a grand honeymoon seems like it would have been in the cards, but alas, that was not the case when it came to Meri and Kody Brown. In the family’s book, “Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage,” Meri recalled that their original plans wound up postponed because she got sick after the wedding, likely due to the “stress and pressure” of planning a wedding. However, a few days later she recovered, and they were able to embark on their journey, something she referred to as a “Kody Brown-style trip.”
“Everything was spontaneous and unplanned. We were just so excited to be married and to be traveling with only each other for company,” she wrote. “The next day, we made it to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, our official honeymoon destination.” Meri continued to recall their serene vacation, gushing, “We spent a memorable few days there, sightseeing around the quaint little tourist town and exploring our new relationship. We had a magical and romantic experience together, a wonderful beginning to our new life.”
Janelle Brown’s wedding was barely an event
As the first “spiritual” wife, Janelle Brown’s wedding wasn’t much of a grand affair. It actually wasn’t even a party at all. According to the reality TV star, her decision to be with Kody Brown actually led to her being somewhat isolated.
“My experience coming into the family was nothing, really like Robyn’s experience,” she shared on the show after Kody’s wedding to Robyn Brown. “Quite honestly, when I had made my decision to marry Kody, I lost the relationship with most of my family and friends because they were so appalled.”
As such, their “I Do’s” might have involved a cake, and Kody did wear a dark suit, but those were about the only traditional elements from a wedding present at the event. In fact, Janelle didn’t even get to wear a traditional wedding dress, and she instead wore a dark blue number on her big day.
Janelle Brown’s honeymoon was a road trip
With Janelle Brown’s very small wedding came what is believed to also have been a rather small honeymoon. However, neither she nor Kody Brown have ever really expanded on the details and where they went.
In the family memoir, “Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage,” Kody admitted that it was similar to what Meri Brown called a “Kody-style” road trip. He wrote: “We had no plan. We just drove and drove, staying wherever we felt like stopping.”
Janelle recalled that they hadn’t really spent any time alone together until then, making things uncomfortable, at least initially. She said, “Although I was looking forward to finally having the freedom to be alone together, it was awkward at first.” However, she reflected, “By the end of the honeymoon, we had arrived at a point where we felt safer with each other. But it would be many, many years into our marriage before our true love story would begin.”
Christine Brown’s wedding was a massive disappointment
Christine and Kody Brown’s marriage was never really solid and had many ups and downs. That rollercoaster likely started on their wedding day. Much like Janelle’s wedding, they also had a very small affair. Kody wore the same white tux he had on when he married Meri, and Christine donned a white dress — albeit one that she loathed.
In fact, the two later reflected on their wedding day during an episode of the show, admitting that if they could do things differently, they would. In the episode, Kody recalled, “We literally got engaged and set a date, and [Christine] went off planning it and I continued working and we weren’t even near each other. We were in two different states … I had a thousand-yard stare and I wasn’t engaged into the experience. It was hard.”
Christine agreed that things were not great at the time of their nuptials, adding: “Our wedding day was sad. It was a little bit sad. I hadn’t seen Kody for a long time. We’d just been talking on the phone, we hadn’t connected. I hated my dress … We just did not make a big deal out of any of it.”
Even more disappointing was Christine Brown’s honeymoon
After a lackluster wedding, things didn’t improve for Christine Brown and Kody Brown’s “honeymoon” — or lack thereof. The distant feelings between the new spouses that was at their wedding was also present on their trip — which was really Kody just bringing her back from Utah to Wyoming to join a waiting Meri Brown and Janelle Brown.
Like with his first two wives, Kody had not really planned a honeymoon — something Christine admitted was a shock when the time came. In their family memoir, she wrote, “I was shaken when Kody showed up at our wedding with that look on his face. He was morose. I was even more devastated when I learned that he hadn’t planned a honeymoon. I was hoping that we’d finally have a romantic getaway, something special that told me how thrilled he was to have me in his family.”
Things only got worse when they packed their bags and set off. “I was struck by the realization that I didn’t know Kody very well. Once we got into the car, he still had the faraway look on his face that I’d seen at our wedding,” she continued. “He seemed distant and unreachable. I began to understand that he felt overwhelmed. However, I didn’t know how to talk to him about what he was feeling. I had no idea how to reach out to him.” Expressing how sad she felt, Christine recalled simply watching her new husband drive — and choosing to stay silent.
When Robyn Brown came along, things changed drastically
According to the Brown family, the reason that Christine and Janelle’s weddings were such small affairs was because polygamous families typically didn’t go all out for marriages that couldn’t be legalized and were, in some cases, being done under the radar. However, when it came to Kody Brown’s fourth wife and their wedding, that logic was thrown out the window.
As Kody put it during the Season 1 episode when their wedding aired, this wedding was the family’s “coming out” to the world, meaning they were going to have a big wedding. However, in their family book, “Becoming Sister Wives,” Robyn Brown wrote that despite the polygamous idea that weddings with other wives should be smaller, Kody felt differently when it came to their nuptials.
“Even though we had no money to get married, Kody dreamed of a big, fancy wedding. It’s his view that since polygamists marry so often, they don’t value the marriage ceremony and the reception as they should. They don’t do enough to make the day special. For the most part, polygamous weddings are humble. Kody swore that when he and I married, it was going to be a big deal,” she recalled.
Kody Brown had a lot of input on Robyn Brown’s dress
Kody Brown was a stereotypical groom when it came to his other weddings, and literally didn’t plan a single moment of his nuptials to Christine Brown since he was living and working in a completely different state. He did not repeat that incident when it came to planning his wedding with Robyn Brown.
Not only did he help pick the cake, along with all of his wives, but he also did something for Robyn that he never did with any of the other women — he picked out her dress. This was something he gleefully announced to his other wives, despite it visibly upsetting them because he didn’t seem to care what any of them wore to their weddings.
The news upset Christine seemingly the most, but Kody seemed to keep firm on his belief that he should be allowed to have a say. Nevertheless, the other wives agreed with Christine. Meri Brown admitted that it was a little bit insulting, while Janelle revealed that she felt it was a weird thing to do since grooms typically don’t pick out their bride’s dresses — even in monogamous relationships.
Despite having a bigger wedding, Robyn Brown was still disappointed to an extent
Robyn Brown had a big, lavish wedding when she married Kody Brown, but wound up admitting in the family’s memoir that it wasn’t really that important to her to do so. Instead, she preferred a day that focused on the family. Of course, while the family was a part of their day, Robyn still wound up feeling disappointed in the end, telling Kody that she missed him at their event — even if it was a success.
More disappointments followed. Writing in “Becoming Sister Wives,” Robyn admitted that she felt the wedding opened her up to be criticized and treated like she had preferential treatment — which she was deeply upset about. “Everybody on the couch — and in the audience — felt the need to participate in what seemed to be an endless commentary and judgment on my wedding, the reception, and the honeymoon. For me, at least, it cheapened and stripped away the beauty of something special. I felt that because of the show, nothing had been left for me. Huge portions of my life were turned into an open book available to public comment,” she lamented.
Kody Brown made it up to Robyn with a major honeymoon
Fans could argue that Meri Brown still had the biggest (and best) wedding since she was the only one Kody Brown was initially able to marry legally, but one thing that can’t be argued is that Robyn Brown was the winner when it came to honeymoons. While Kody’s other wives all received little road trips with minimal planning, Kody and Robyn jetted off to San Diego, California, for a massive 11-day trip.
This did not sit well with the other women, who discussed it during an episode of the show. Janelle, specifically, expressed anger over it, saying, “I don’t know what’s acceptable, but I think 11 days is ridiculous, to be honest with you. I think he has a big family and I think 11 days is too much.”
Robyn defended it in the family book, however, writing, “The honeymoon was both necessary and special to me … Those ten days were especially important to me because of the hardships I had been through in my previous marriage … I understand now that my long honeymoon was somewhat hurtful to my sister wives, who didn’t have comparable experiences. I made sure Kody called all of them several times during our ten days away — but not all of my sister wives took his calls … I needed it but I didn’t know how much until I was on the honeymoon with Kody — when you have been married and divorced, you can have the past come back to haunt you in the worst times.”
Robyn Brown also got a second honeymoon
To make matters even more maddening for Kody Brown’s first wives, when he divorced Meri Brown in 2014 (in order to legally wed Robyn Brown for the sake of adopting her three children from her earlier marriage), another honeymoon was then put into place.
Robyn revealed details surrounding the trip during a Q&A session on X (formerly known as Twitter) at the time, stating that they headed off to Hawaii after taking their legal vows (via The Ashley’s Reality Round Up). However, during that session, she defended the trip, stating that it not only wasn’t a honeymoon (she said it was a trip for her birthday), but that she also has been the one left behind while Kody took exotic trips with his other wives. Notably, she explained, fans never saw that on the show. “Well if we are going to be COMPLETELY fair … I never got to go to Mexico and neither did the kids,” she said at the time. “Just because you didn’t see it on the show didn’t mean it didn’t happen. Both Christine and Janelle have.”
