Married in Motown

Forget the far-flung locale, the city in your backyard has some amazing venues
you shouldn't overlook for your"big day."

By Lynne Konstantin

The lobby of the Fox Theatre in Detroit. The theater can
accommodate 800 guests.

ur fair metropolis is
undergoing a grand revi-
talization just in time to
play host to your wedding.
You want resplendence?
Detroit's got it. You want
charming? It's here. Hip? Check. And
history? It's everywhere you look — in
spectacular abundance.

0

COLONY CLUB

Opened in 1929 on Park Avenue and
Montcalm as one of four women's clubs
is what is now Detroit's entertainment
district, the Georgian-style Colony Club's
clean lines of red brick, limestone and iron
grillwork emanated genteel elegance and
taste. Each floor had a purpose. Shops
were on the ground level. A modern
solarium provided a rooftop retreat. Sleep-
ing rooms, card rooms, salons, squash
and badminton courts — even a smoking
lounge for men (who were not allowed
above the third floor) — all led to the club-
house's piece de resistance: the third-floor
Louis XVI Grand Ballroom, shimmered
in Versailles cream and gilt. The structure
was considered the city's finest.
In 2006, in preparation for the arrival
of Super Bowl XL, the club was restored
to its original magnificence, including its
original maple floors. Wedding arrange-
ments are directed by the Gem & Century
Theatres' staff, who oversee every detail.
Amenities include colored accent light-
ing to highlight the Grand Ballroom's ar-
chitecture and a late-night menu including
a Detroit coney dog station and chocolate

A ceremony in front of the Rackham Fountain at the Detroit Zoo
in Royal Oak.

fountain. The Colony Club offers fun, fun,
fun housed in luxury for up to 400 guests.
(313) 463-4215; colonyclubdetroit.com .

DETROIT OPERA HOUSE

Picture saying "I do" on the stage of
Detroit's first movie house, amid crystal
chandeliers, brilliant frescoes, marble
stairways and lush rose-red Italian dam-
ask. David DiChiera and the Michigan
Opera Theatre open tli; doors of-the mag-
nificent Detroit Opera House for couples
to wed, sharing a stage that once featured
luminaries like Louis Armstrong, Betty
Hutton and Duke Ellington. Then, kick
off the celebrations by raising the grand
curtain and welcoming your guests onto
the stage for your reception.
Modeled after the Italian Renaissance-
style grand opera houses of Europe by
Detroit architect C. Howard Crane — who
also brought us the Fox Theatre, State
Theatre and Orchestra Hall — the Detroit
Opera House, originally opened in 1922
and called the Capitol Theater, was the
first of many palatial theaters built in
the Grand Circus Park area; the facility
underwent major restorations in the mid-
1990s. The opera house can accommodate
receptions for up to 500 people. (313)
965-4314; motopera.org .

DETROIT YACHT CLUB

Since being called home by the Ottawa
and Chippewa Indians, Belle Isle — the
largest island park in the U.S.— has
had a tumultuous and romantic history.

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An intimate affair at the Music Box performance venue at the
Max Fisher Music Center in Detroit.

Designed by noted landscape architect
Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New
York City's Central Park, it is home to the
historic Detroit Yacht Club.
Add your guests to the ranks of U.S.
presidents, international royalty and Hol-
lywood elite — all of who have been hosted
by the club.
Originally founded after the Civil War,
the iconic Mediterranean-style clubhouse,
built in 1923 — the same year a concrete
bridge to Belle Isle was opened — was de-
signed by architect George Mason (of Gem
Theatre and Mackinac Island's Grand
Hotel fame).
By the end of the following year, mem-
bership had reached 3,000. Today, it is the
largest yacht club in the United States —
and the 12th oldest. (313) 824-1200;
dyc.com .

DETROIT ZOO

Let the calls of the wild set the tone for
a truly exotic wedding adventure. Among
wedding options at the Detroit Zoo are
the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery (for up to
150 guests), which contains the rotunda,
mezzanine, theater, exhibit hall and two
art collections.
It also houses the zoo's oldest build-
ing, the 1928 glass-domed birdhouse,
which has been renovated to hold the
tropical Butterfly-Hummingbird Garden,
and where couples can say "I do" amid
hundreds of flitting, vibrantly colored
butterflies.
Another option: Purchase a private zoo
evening and wed in front of the Rackham

Fountain, followed by hors d'oeuvres and
a stroll through the zoo before dinner and
dancing.
For smaller weddings (60 seated guests
without a dance floor; 50 with a dance
floor; 100 guests for a cocktail reception),
your company can gaze out at the under-
water views of polar bears and seals inside
the Arctic Ring of Life's Nunavut Gallery
and Exploration Station. (248) 541-5717;
detroitzoo.org.

FOX THEATRE

If you're thinking exclusive, the Fox
Theatre is it. The opulent architectural
cocktail of Far East, Indian and Egyptian
styles was the second-largest theater in the
world when Detroiter C. Howard Crane
designed it in 1928 for William Fox (of
20th Century Fox fame).
The lobby was six stories high and half
a block long, surrounded by blood-red
marble columns, each holding its own
jeweled figure of various Asiatic gods. The
inaugural performance at the Fox opened
with the playing of "The Star Spangled
Banner" by the Fox Theatre Grand Or-
chestra as it rose dramatically into view on
the elevator platform.
In the past, the occasional wedding was
held at the Fox, primarily for those who
had some sort of connection to the theater.
But now, the Fox is opening itself to six,
super-exclusive wedding opportunities per
year. Because availability is limited during
the theater's show season, weddings must
be scheduled between Memorial Day and
Labor Day.

10-

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BY JRDEL-1113NS

20 February 2011 I

IUD THRUM

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