Today’s gorgeous Jewish wedding has made us realize we don’t see nearly enough desert celebrations. But we’re hoping to see a lot more after today, because who could see the stunning nuptials of Simone, the co-founder of an educational services company that brings wellbeing programs to college students, and Isaac, who works in real estate development, and not want to get married amidst the mountains and saguaros?!

Although mountain lovers Simone and Isaac live in Tucson, home to plentiful dramatic scenery, it wasn’t so easy for them to find a chuppah spot that met their specs: it needed breathtaking mountain views that could be enjoyed by both guests AND the couple themselves while standing under the chuppah. We’re glad they didn’t give up, though, because they totally hit the jackpot when they found The Westin La Paloma.

And how amazing is their chuppah, which, in keeping with the theme of celebrating Tucson’s natural beauty, incorporates not only flowers but also cactus pads?!

We’re obsessed with their gorgeous artistic ketubah from STG Recommended Vendor ketubah.com too. Truly a work of art!

OK – time to ogle over the stunning pics from Ben & Kelly Photography and video by Black Sheep Filmworks. And let’s hand over to the bride, who looked radiant in Tony Ward…

Mountain Views

Simone, the bride: We got married at The Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Arizona. I had two main criteria when it came to selecting a venue. The first, and most important, was to have mountain views from the ceremony site and the second was to select a hotel venue since a lot of our guests would be coming from out of town.

I visited every hotel venue in Tucson and while all were beautiful, none had the dramatic mountain views that I had wanted from the ceremony site and if they did, only the guests would be able to see them, not me or my husband from under the chuppah. I actually started to scope out venues in Scottsdale because this was one area I was not willing to compromise.

As a Jersey girl, my favorite thing about living in Tucson are the mountains and I am just as enamored with their beauty today as I was when I first moved here 6 years ago. My husband, who is a native Tucsonan, shares my love of the mountains and I couldn’t imagine them not being a part of our big day.

Anyways, La Paloma was the last stop on our Tucson hotel tour and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. As we were going around the property everything else checked the boxes in terms of what we were looking for and I was eager to see the ceremony site, which was the last stop on our tour.

The minute we pulled up I knew with 100% certainty that we had found our venue. The ceremony site was beyond perfect. It was quiet, secluded, and had unbelievable views of the mountains for both us and our guests. 

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