We’re so delighted to be featuring the gorgeous Jewish wedding of Smashing The Glass Bride’s Club member Tamara, a middle and high school history teacher, and Josh, who works in property management.
We’re obsessed with their Scottsdale venue – nothing like an outdoor chuppah with those stunning southwestern mountains in the background – and the way the couple seamlessly tied in their classic wedding style and lilac and white color scheme. Don’t miss the wonderful pics from photographer John Solano!
Tamara is, in her own words, “obsessed with shtick,” and her crew delivered! Lots of the humor was based around the fact that Tamara and Josh attended rival schools University of Arizona and Arizona State University, respectively, and the bride’s Chabad rabbi from U of A went so far as to mention that if these two couple get together, world peace can happen! The pair also had a friend do schtick where he was eating “hand sanitizer” (jello) and “mouthwash” (probably Gatorade)!
Tamara’s got a wild wedding gown story, too… but all’s well that ends well, and if you ask us she couldn’t have looked lovelier in the finished product!
Now over to the bride…
How we Met
Tamara, the bride: We met in Israel at the Maccabiah Games in 2017. We were both playing softball.
An Arizona Wedding
Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s such a beautiful venue. As with many of us Jewish brides, we only had so many options for venues that allow kosher catering or have a kosher kitchen. The Hyatt just recently has begun allowing kosher catering.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
I loved being a part of the Bride’s Club community just to see what other ladies were doing. It was a lovely support group.
Classic Elegance
My color scheme was lilac and white. I wanted to keep a very classic theme. We used the talented wedding planners from BTS Event Management.
Invitations / stationery
We used Paperless Post and Greenvelope for invitations! Paperless Post for STD and regular Wedding Invites and Greenvelope for everything else. With everything rapidly changing, we wanted to make sure we could contact and collect data quickly. It was great!
Hair + Make-up
I used Heather Van Houten hair and Makeup. Heather and the hair stylist did beautiful work. They stayed for touch ups throughout photos and after the ceremony to transition my hair to an updo for the reception.
Dress
I have a whole dress story. So I was initially sold a gown that was probably about 10 sizes too big (I didn’t know because they clip you in), I took it to a seamstress to make alterations and it became apparent that this dress was not going to be fitting correctly. So less than two weeks before the wedding, I purchased a new dress and had it tailored in about a week. It was such a beautiful choice and I’m glad that I chose to go with a new dress instead of bearing with the old one.
I cannot find the designer tag of the dress so I have no idea, but I purchased it off the rack. It was just such an elegant choice that was perfect for me.
Accessories
I borrowed our Jewish wedding coordinator’s daughter’s veil. It was such a mitzvah. My husband gifted me a pair of earrings the morning of the wedding day. My grandfather gave me a gorgeous pearl necklace to wear.
Shoes
I wore 3.5” White Sam Edelman Sandals. Then for the ceremony, I switched to all sparkly shoes from Betsey Johnson.
The handsome groom
He wore a custom Tux from Peter Millar. He gifted his groomsmen all a pair of Pit Viper sunglasses.
Bridesmaids
I gave my bridesmaids the choice of color and they got to pick whatever they wanted. I did have them all wear these capes to cover up during the ceremony if they weren’t tznius.
Ceremony
So I love the badecken, it’s literally my favorite part of the whole wedding (for every Jewish wedding). It was amazing to see Josh after not seeing him for a few days and getting blessed by my father, his grandfather and father, and then to see Josh for him to veil me. It’s such a beautiful ceremony.
Rabbi Muskin did such an incredible job at leading the ceremony and making it as accessible as possible for the non Jews in the crowd and the religious alike.
Ketubah
Our Ketubah was a beautiful print that was gifted to us by one of my husband’s best friends. His mother, Nehama Samson, produces amazing ketubahs (by hand and by print). We were so lucky to be able to choose such a beautiful print for our ketubah.
Chuppah
I just love a classic design. I wanted just enough flowers but not too many.
Our Music Choice
We had a band, Eli’s Band, who played most of the music. They can literally sing anything. We played a good mix of music! We had the traditional Jewish wedding songs for the Chuppah and Josh walking down the isle. They played instrumental of pop songs for the bridesmaids and groomsmen and more older tunes for the elders.
I walked down to an instrumental of ‘Falling in Love with you’.
The party was a crazy good time, with the traditional Jewish hora music. The second set was all secular and Israeli music. Hi Rak Rotza Lirkod Golden Boy Nadav Guedj Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen; Big band music that I got to swing dance with my grandfather to. It was a good time.
Josh and my first dance was a choreographed nightclub two step to ‘We Belong’ by Pat Benetar.
Flowers
Orchids!! It was soooo amazing. Bloom and Blueprint also found these purple roses that were the most amazing color.
Photographer and videographer
Our photographer did such an amazing job. My family in law have used John Solano for Bar / Bat Mitzvahs. John and his wife work together to capture the moment together. I loved their dynamic and I’m so happy with how the photos turned out. Our videographer also did an amazing job!
Food and Cake
Our catering was done by Pat’s Restaurant and Catering from Los Angeles. The food was fantastic. We had a cake! It was beautifully decorated with purple and white in an elegant fashion.
Entertainment
We used Eli’s Band and THEY BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN. It literally felt like we were at an exclusive New Year’s Eve party. Eli’s Band does such an incredible job and Eli has pipes!!!! They travel all over the world and we were so lucky to be able to work with such an incredible group.
Shtick
I’m obsessed with shtick. I asked for it and it was delivered. The theme of the wedding was the fact that I went to University of Arizona and Josh went to Arizona State University. Rabbi Winner (the UofA Chabad Rabbi) who read our ketubah, mentioned that if us being together can happen, world peace can happen.
We had a friend do schtick where he was eating “hand sanitizer” (jello) and “mouthwash” (probably Gatorade). Everyone just had so much fun, the energy was unreal. We repurposed the backdrop for the bedecken as the mechitza for the first set of Jewish dancing.
Honeymoon
We did not go on a proper honeymoon yet. We did stay at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale for a mini-moon two weeks after the wedding.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Buy a wedding dress in as close to your size as possible. Also don’t stress about the dress, you can always find one off the rack and tailored right before your wedding 😉
Plan time for you to just sit and rest. I had that time and it was amazing before all the chaos started. Also make sure you drink lots of water and sports drinks if you’re fasting your wedding day; especially if it’s going to be hot.
TAMARA & JOSH’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – John Solano
Videography – Vidicam
Wedding planner – BTS Event Management
Venue – Hyatt Regency Scottsdale
Bride’s shoes –Sam Edelman, Betsey Johnson
Groom’s attire – Peter Millar at Bloomingdales
Hair + Makeup – Heather Van Houten
Flowers – Bloom and Blueprint
Band – Eli’s Band
Catering – Pat’s Restaurant and Catering
Ketubah – Nehama Samson
Stationery/Invitation – Paperless Post, Greenvelope
Rabbi – Rabbi Muskin of Young Israel Century City
