on match.com.
“We had the honeymoon be-
fore the wedding,” said Rosen,
the executive director of devel-
opment for Jewish Senior Life.
“We were initially thinking of
getting married in the spring,
and then when the kids were
over, we thought, ‘
Why not?
Let’
s do it on Thanksgiving
and surprise our friends and
family.’
”
With less than two weeks to
go before the nuptials, every-
one went into stealth planning
mode. Rosen’
s two children
and their spouses and Nickel-
hoff’
s three children had their
assignments. Zak would write
the ceremony and Rosen and
Nickelhoff would write their
vows. It was decided that Ros-
en’
s three grandchildren, ages
9, 6 and 2 at the time, would
be told at the last minute so
as not to accidentally leak the
news.
“The biggest challenge was
getting my daughter a flight
in from Portland at the last
minute for the busy holiday
weekend,” said Nickelhoff, an
employment and labor attor-
ney. “This was the first time
that all of our kids were in the
same place.”
Rosen added, “It was a very
special bonding for our two
families.”
On Thanksgiving Day, Nov.
28, the guests started arriving
for the 5 p.m. dinner at Rosen’
s
West Bloomfield home.
30 | APRIL 30 • 2020
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JO ROSEN
Celebrate!
A DIY
Thanksgiving
W
edding
West Bloomfi
eld man offi
ciates
his own mother’s nuptials during
the holiday.
JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
F
ive years ago, Zak Ros-
en went online to the
Universal Life Church
website and became an
ordained minister for $29.99.
With his instant credentials in
hand, Rosen officiated his best
friend’
s wedding.
Since then, Rosen has
performed six Jewish and
nondenominational weddings,
including the surprise wedding
of his mom, Jo Strausz Rosen,
to Andy Nickelhoff.
It was 10 days before
Thanksgiving 2019, and Zak,
his wife, Shira Heisler, and
their daughter, Noa, were
visiting Rosen and Nickel-
hoff. Always the consummate,
organized hostess, Rosen had
emailed the 40 guests their
Thanksgiving invitation and
assigned menu items six weeks
prior. With the Thanksgiving
plans well under way, the con-
versation then turned to pos-
sible wedding dates for Rosen
and Nickelhoff, who had got-
ten engaged in Florence, Italy,
in October after three years of
dating and finding each other
Zak Rosen officiates
at the Thanksgiving
wedding of his mom,
Jo Strausz Rosen,
to Andy Nickelhoff.
Jo Rosen’s
daughter
Lindsey Maddin,
holding Zak’s
daughter, Noa
Rosen, with her
children, Lainey
and Brody, next
to her brother,
Zak.
continued on page 32