Sarina Rose was only trying to be a good friend. Back in July 2017, a close friend asked her if she wanted to go to a local bar because she was meeting a man she met online and she didn’t want to go by herself. “So, of course, I went with her even though I don’t love the bar scene,” Rose says. As it turned out, she made a decision that would change her life.
“I walked in and said, ‘Is this what you guys do at a bar? You sit and wait for a guy to approach you?’” Rose says. Not long after, she locked eyes with “a super attractive, tan man. We kept making eye contact.” Within minutes, she was introduced to Blake Zachary, and the pair quickly became enamored with each other. “We opened up so quickly to each other,” Zachary recalls. “We became best friends very quickly.”
While their relationship began quickly, the road to their engagement was a bit slower. As the 2020 Christmas holiday approached, Rose was hoping for a ring. “We just bought a house at the end of 2020, and he kept telling me that he promised we would be engaged by the end of 2020,” Rose says. “So it was always in the back of my mind.” After a few bumps in the road, Zachary proposed on December 23 — “Way to cut it close, Blake!” Rose says with a laugh.
The couple quickly began wedding planning with a date set for September 2021, just nine short months after their engagement. During that time, Rose’s godfather, Chris Jeannotte, and his partner, Steven Weingartz, threw the couple an epic Great Gatsby-themed bridal shower with roughly 175 guests at their home in Pleasant Ridge. “I wanted to make it a very magical night that Sarina wouldn’t forget,” says Jeannotte, who arranged for complete 1920s-themed décor top to bottom. The night was chockfull of entertainment, including swing dancers, a Charlie Chaplin impersonator, flappers, 1920s candy girls, and a live performance by Detroit’s Ben Sharkey, all while mermaids floated in
the pool.
As guests entered the venue, they were greeted by a 1920s flapper girl whose dress was the red carpet of the event while swing dancers taught guests the proper way to swing dance. Guests noshed on filet, shrimp, orzo, asparagus spinach pie, and, of course, dessert: a Cassata cake with cannoli cream. “When we walked in we were both in complete awe,” Rose says. “It was memorable for us to see the amount of detail and creativity that went into this party, from the candy bar, the balloons and feathers, the special cocktails, the entertainers, the decor, the music, photographers, the rented out vintage car, the videographer. It left us speechless. I knew it would be a beautiful shower, but we had no idea the content of what it was going to be. It was a stunning event shared with our families and friends that we will always talk about for years to come!”
Their wedding day was just as memorable. Held at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, the traditional Catholic ceremony preceded a reception at Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville. “We both grew up going to this club,” says Rose of their choice. “Both our grandparents belonged for years. Blake’s parents got married there. So it was a special venue to us.” At the reception, guests enjoyed chargrilled filet with shrimp scampi in a lemon garlic white wine sauce and a three-tier coconut cake with lemon and raspberry buttercream from Maddie Bakes in Birmingham.
After dancing the night away, the couple embarked on their new life as husband and wife. “Our wedding day was a day we shared our commitment to each other under God in front of our closest friends and families. Marriage has a mystical way of revealing God, a way of bringing a smiling peace to our restless hearts,” Rose says. “Ever since I met Blake, he’s been home to me.”
“Ever since I met Blake, he’s been home to me,” says Sarina Rose. The couple celebrated their marriage in September 2021 with a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament and a reception at Meadowbrook Country Club.
