Are you searching for the perfect wedding venue to host your best day ever? We’ve seen the inside of so many amazing wedding venues in Detroit. So we kind of have an idea of which ones provide our couples with their literal best day ever. From time to time, we love to shine a spotlight on the Detroit wedding venues that truly stand out. And we’re talking about the dance all night, eat the best dinner of your life, enjoy every single sweet moment kind. Below, we’re talking all about planning an epic wedding day at The Colony Club. We’re giving you the breakdown, ins and outs, and top tips, so keep reading for more!
History of The Colony Club Detroit
The thing about Detroit is that so many local wedding venues have such a steep history. The Colony Club is no different. In fact, when The Colony Club first opened its doors it was the Women’s Colony Club of Detroit. The building was one of four women’s clubs in the area that we now know as Detroit’s Entertainment District. At the time of its inception, there was an increase in buildings in the area that were commissioned by and for women. Pretty rad, right?
In 1927 the building was used as a seven-story home for the club’s members and designed by renowned Detroit architects, Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls. It was also one of the first buildings built by the firm Walbridge-Aldinger. The Georgian-styled red brick building with limestone and iron grillwork still stands today but serves as a wedding venue with a dash of opulence for couples getting married in Detroit. The elegance of the building’s third-floor Louis XVI ballroom is what we’ll be talking about.
Here’s the deal, the ballroom at The Colony Club is painted in Versailles cream and gilt, and features gold leaf ceilings with hanging sparkly crystal chandeliers. It’s opulent in every sense of the word, but in a way that showcases refined elegance. Recently, the venue has been fully restored to its original grandeur and is sought out by couples as the chosen location for their best day ever.
Accessing The Venue On the Day of Your Wedding
The Colony Club opens its doors to you as the couple, along with your wedding vendors up to three hours before the start of your wedding. This allows plenty of time for your planner, designer, florist, or baker to enter the venue for setup. However, your guests will not be able to access The Colony Club until 30 minutes prior to your wedding. Additionally, your food and beverage service will not begin until your contracted time. Access to your wedding will be limited to the space you reserved (because there are multiple spaces available within the venue).
The Colony Club Detroit Guest Parking
The Colony Club is located at the corner of Montcalm and Park Ave. They allow parking for your guests in the Comerica Garage. The venue will provide your guests with a 4-digit pin number to access the garage. We highly recommend you add the garage 4-digit pin to your wedding website or your invitation suite in a way that your guests will be able to easily locate & access it on the day of your wedding.
The Colony Club Wedding Cost & Capacity
There are two unique spaces to host your wedding ceremony and reception within The Colony Club. The Grand Ballroom and the Petite Ballroom. We’ll break down the total cost along with the capacity of each space for you, below. However, a wedding at The Colony Club comes along with a minimum spend amount. This is defined as the amount that needs to be spent and includes your rental fee, food and beverage service, tax, and additional service charges.
The Grand Ballroom at The Colony Club
The total guest capacity of The Grand Ballroom provides space for up to 275 guests, or up to 350 guests if you include seating on the mezzanine.
The rental of The Grand Ballroom comes with a fee of $2500 and a ceremony at The Grand Ballroom comes with a fee of $1500.
Additionally, The Grand Ballroom cost includes a minimum guaranteed spend, depending on the day of the week you host your wedding.
The total cost is as follows
- Monday – Thursday $19,000
- Friday $26,000
- Saturday $34,000
- Sunday $19,000
The Petite Ballroom at The Colony Club
The total guest capacity of The Petite Ballroom at The Colony Club provides space for up to 120 guests. The rental of The Petite Ballroom comes with a fee of $1500 and a ceremony at The Petite Ballroom comes with a fee of $1000.
Additionally, The Petite Ballroom cost includes a minimum guaranteed spend, depending on the day of the week you host your wedding.
The total cost is as follows
- Monday – Thursday $12,000
- Friday $12,000
- Saturday $15,000
- Sunday $12,000
A building buyout is available for a cost of $5,500, which will be in addition to the rental fee of your space. The buyout includes access to both ballrooms.
Booking Your Wedding at The Colony Club
In order to book your selected wedding package with The Colony Club you will have to make an appointment to meet with their in-house team in person. During that time, they will also provide you with a walk-through of the venue to see the spaces available for your wedding day. Once you have taken in the majestic space that is The Colony Club, they will ask you to fill out their wedding questionnaire. The questionnaire is a way to help the venue pinpoint what is most important to you on your epic wedding day.
From there, the venue will send you a proposal along with a contract for the date of your wedding, the details of the package you’ve selected, and an outline of the total cost. In order to hold the date of your wedding you will be required to sign the venue contract and provide a non-refundable deposit of $5000. Once your deposit is paid and your venue contract is signed, you officially have a wedding date! You can now book your other wedding vendors, including your planner, Detroit photographers, and your florals. From there, you can order your wedding stationary suite, and get ready to spread the good news!
The Colony Club Wedding Prices & Packages
Wondering how the cost of a wedding at The Colony Club breaks down? We’ll tell you! They offer their couples wedding packages. Which gives you some flexibility to take what you need and leave what you don’t. The Colony Club has been hosting fabulous weddings in Detroit for several decades and they bring their distinctive expertise and full-service hospitality to each of their wedding packages. The venue likes to think of itself as a collaborative partner that will help you plan your best day ever.
The Maddison Package
The Maddison wedding package at The Colony Club includes the following
Pre-event services include
- A dedicated event manager
- Floor plan
- Menu tasting for the couple
Wedding Day Services Include
- 4.5 hours of premium bar service
- Plated meal service
- Champagne toast for the head/sweetheart table,
- Gourmet coffee & tea station
- Chiavari chairs
- Full-length linens
- Cloth napkins
- Door host for the evening
- Coat check (weather permitting)
- Access to the wedding suite
- Complimentary parking
- Cake service
The Maddison Package is priced at $142 per person
The Grand Package
Pre-event services include
- A dedicated event manager
- Floor plan
- Menu tasting for the couple
Wedding Day Services Include
- 4.5 hours of premium bar service
- Plated meal service
- Champagne toast for all guests
- Deluxe coffee & tea station
- Chiavari chairs
- Full-length linens
- Cloth napkins
- Door host for the evening
- Coat check (weather permitting)
- Access to the wedding suite
- Complimentary parking
- Cake service
The Grand Package is priced at $152 per person
The Versailles Package
Pre-event services include
- A dedicated event manager
- Floor plan
- Menu tasting for the couple
Wedding Day Services Include
- 4.5 hours of premium bar service
- House wine pour with dinner
- Pasta course
- Plated meal service
- Champagne toast for all guests
- Deluxe coffee & tea station
- Fresh fruit display
- Chiavari chairs
- Full-length linens
- Cloth napkins
- Door host for the evening
- Coat check (weather permitting)
- Access to the wedding suite
- Complimentary parking
- Cake service
The Versailles Package is priced at $189 per person
The Park Avenue Buffet
Pre-event services include
- A dedicated event manager
- Floor plan
- Menu tasting for the couple
Wedding Day Services Include
- 4.5 hours of premium bar service
- Strolling meal service
- Champagne toast for all guests
- Gourmet coffee & tea station
- Chiavari chairs
- Full-length linens
- Cloth napkins
- Door host for the evening
- Coat check (weather permitting)
- Access to the wedding suite
- Complimentary parking
- Cake service
The Park Avenue Buffet is priced at $149 per person.
It’s also important to note that for each of the above wedding packages, a customary 24% service charge and 6% sales tax will be applicable.
The Culinary Experience at a Colony Club Wedding
The food and beverage service for a wedding at The Colony Club all happens in-house. So no worrying about hiring a caterer or bar staff! Wondering how it works? Well, the selection of your entrees must be made two weeks prior to the date of your wedding. The menu offers a total of two entree selections. The Madison Package includes two entree selections plus one vegetarian and one vegan option. The Grand and Versailles wedding packages include one dinner duo as well as one vegetarian and vegan option.
Your Tasting
Each of the wedding packages offered at The Colony Club offers a tasting. Once the venue receives your initial deposit, you will be offered a complimentary tasting for up to two people. If you feel like you might need a few more opinions thrown in the mix, they offer up to 4 additional guests to attend your tasting at the rate of $60 per person. You’ll schedule your tasting through the sales manager. And, just as an FYI, typically, tastings take place during the week. Be prepared because menus are subject to change and availability, so make sure you ask all the questions during your tasting!
Menu Enhancements
Dying to have a sorbet course or a pasta choice thrown in with your menu? The venue offers wedding day menu enhancements. These are a break from the norm and offer a little something extra, think: a full seafood display with jumbo shrimp, crab claws, and mini bottles of tabasco sauce! Ask about menu enhancements ahead of time so the venue can put these items into your proposal. Menu enhancements are priced at a per guest fee and can be added on to your wedding package as needed. PS: we highly recommend the hot fudge cream puffs!
Special Dietary Meals
Worried about special dietary restrictions for you or your guests? The Colony Club handles allergies and dietary restrictions, here’s a bit more on how.
Nuts
The Colony Club does not cook with the use of nut oils. However, some of their appetizers, salads, and desserts do contain nuts.
Gluten-Free
Entrees that are gluten-free will be indicated on each menu package. All of the potatoes, vegetables, and sauces used for dishes at The Colony Club are gluten-free.
Halal
Need a halal meal? All of the chicken and beef entrees served at The Colony Club are halal.
The Colony Club Wedding Photos
Let us just say, capturing wedding photos at The Colony Club is always a good time! We love hearing that our couples have chosen to host their best day ever at this venue. It is truly a space that glitters with all of it’s exquisite golden detail. But when that gorgeous light pours in, the venue is like utter magic.
We love capturing wedding ceremonies under the venue’s chandelier, but the winding staircase has our hearts. It’s the perfect location within the venue for some more intimate photos before you dash off to meet your guests. While we will spend the entire day photographing every candid laugh and unscripted embrace at your wedding inside The Colony Club, but, we like to provide our couples with a comprehensive wedding photography experience. To us, that means capturing you cutting the cake under the gilded ceilings of The Colony Club. Or the moment you take to the dance floor for your first dance as a married couple.
In fact, if you ask us, The Colony Club is an amazing venue for hosting a Detroit winter wedding. You won’t have to worry about stepping out into the frigid cold for wedding photos because the venue has all the insanely gorgeous spaces you’ll need for a once-in-a-lifetime wedding photo experience.
So much of what we do as Detriot Wedding Photographers is honing in on those unscripted moments and those candid seconds of your wedding day. You don’t know this now, but there will be a moment when you look over at each other and think, wow! This is really happening! That’s when we’ll be there, stealthy and ninja-like, to snap away. Because we want you to revisit that feeling year after year when you look at your wedding photos. If that’s the kind of vibe you want from your wedding photography experience you can contact us here.
Want us to bring some of our Detroit wedding photography magic to your best day ever?
Don’t be shy, reach out to us so we can chat about your big day!
Want to check out a few weddings we’ve captured at The Colony Club? Check out the links below.
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[…] no secret that we’ve photographed some amazing weddings at the Colony Club in Detroit. As a wedding venue, it is a top choice for couples planning a wedding in the area. With its gilded […]
[…] and Brad’s fall wedding at the Colony Club was a dazzling display of love and sophistication. The season’s vibrant colors heightened the […]