Bridgerton's Marriage Order Is Already Very Different From The Books

As fans wait for the second half of Colin and Penelope’s love story in Bridgerton Season 3, they’re also embracing their inner Violet Bridgerton and thinking about the rest of the brood’s marriage prospects.

Naturally, you’ll probably want to consult Julia Quinn’s novel series to find out the Bridgerton siblings’ marriage order. But there’s a catch — just like the show sometimes changes characters’ ages and backstories, it also isn’t married (ahem!) to the specific wedding timeline Quinn laid out in her books.

Here’s a breakdown of when each Bridgerton gets married in the books vs. the show. Book spoilers ahead!

The Bridgerton Siblings’ Marriage Order, Explained

For its first two seasons, Bridgerton followed its source material pretty closely: Daphne and Simon married first (1813) followed by Kate and Anthony a year later (1814).

But this is where screen and page start to diverge. In the books, Benedict and Sophie Beckett are next to wed following a three-year lull in Bridgerton weddings (1817). “Lady Bridgerton has been heard to declare on several occasions that she is nearing her wit’s end,” Quinn writes in An Offer from a Gentleman, a nod to the matriarch’s desire to help her kids find their respective love matches.

Francesca is said to marry her first husband, John Stirling, “within a year” of Benedict, placing her nuptials around 1818.

There’s a big break before the next Bridgerton wedding, but 1824 proves to be a busy year for the family. First, Colin and Penelope say “I do,” followed by Francesca and Michael Stirling (her late husband’s cousin), and then Eloise and Phillip Crane.

Finally, Hyacinth marries Gareth St. Clair in 1825, and Gregory marries Lucy Abernathy in 1827.

But What Does It All Mean?

That said, the order of future Bridgerton seasons is not set in stone. Season 3 shook up the canon in a big way, changing character specifics (Colin and Penelope are older when they wed in the books, for example) and the order of the siblings’ marriages.

“It’s possible that we will continue to go out of order,” showrunner Jess Brownell recently told The Hollywood Reporter. But Benedict fans, take heart: There’s reason to believe his season is coming up next. Just like Colin and Penelope’s season followed a boiling point for their relationship, Luke Thompson (who plays Benedict) said at a Bridgerton event that his story “comes to a head” in Season 3.

Plus, Brownell told Refinery29 that she’s “not trying to shake things up too much,” in regards to the book-to-show changes. So there’s every chance that Benedict being pushed back on the Bridgerton schedule was just a one-time thing.