Guardian Building

The Guardian Building is a beautiful backdrop for photographs, and if that is all you care about, then it should work just fine. However, we found the experience stressful and not worth the photographs. We rented the venue just for 3 hours for a 30 person ceremony, as we were having a large reception at a different space. Communication the whole time was pretty much strictly over e-mail, and we never met any of the staff we coordinated with in person. We paid a small fee to be able to hold a rehearsal the night before our wedding, and this was when the stress really started. The only staff on site were security guards who seemed completely disinterested in allowing us private access to the space. Though we paid for an hour of the space to be ours for the rehearsal, we were dealing with people coming in to look at the building the entire time. We had to essentially beg the security guards to close the gates so we could have some privacy, but even then there was a crowd of people looking in, waiting for us to be done. In the end we probably only got 5 minutes of time to ourselves to rehearse, feeling like zoo animals because people were looking in through the gates. After that experience, we were pretty concerned about how our ceremony would go, so we e-mailed the staff, but we never got any response until the following week (wedding was Saturday). The ceremony went exactly how we feared. When we were setting up (during the time we paid for), the security guards seemed to encourage people to come in, and some people even tried to help us set up as as way to get photographs of the building. There is a back entrance to the promenade right next to where I was going to start walking down the aisle from, which I was told was secure (I was even told I was not allowed to use it). Literally as I was about to walk down the aisle a tourist somehow burst through the back door and started trying to walk down the aisle. It took her a while to at least step back and it seemed for a minute like she was just going to stand there. Thankfully she finally left. Then during our actual ceremony, there are people just waiting in the lobby right under us, loudly talking, and someone was even playing music. The security guards were chatting loudly WITH them. We had our ceremony under the clock tower so it probably is way less distracting for folks who have the ceremony on the other side, and it's possible because our ceremony was small, people were more willing to wait us out versus if the place was set up for a full reception. So, I am sure plenty of people have a fine experience, but I would not recommend for a small ceremony. I was also surprised there's basically no way to get in touch with anyone the day of; if something drastic went wrong it seems like you'd be on your own.

The Guardian Building was the perfect venue for our intimate wedding ceremony! We didn’t even need decorations or florals because the space itself is breathtaking, and our photos were beautiful. Paige and Shannon were a delight to work with and answered all of our questions promptly. We were allotted one and a half hours in the promenade, which was plenty of time for our ceremony, first dance, and photos with our guests. They accommodated our musicians who wanted to set up early, and the security on staff was incredibly friendly and even made sure outside visitors walking in through the front doors were quiet. An incredible venue and staff - you won’t regret having your event here.

What can you say about this space other than what all our guests said - WOW! It's stunning. We didn't need any additional décor for our ceremony. The photos are amazing.

We held our wedding at the Guardian Building on 11.2.2019. The building itself is stunning, so you have the luxury of getting by far the best wedding decor you could ask for. It's also a blank slate so you can bring in whatever vendors or feel you want which is really nice to make your wedding feel custom. The staff at the guardian is great, super responsive and has great recommendations as well. I would choose this location over and over again as it screams Detroit and is on par with cost of other similar blank slate venues within the City.