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

