First Congregational Church in Detroit

Review №1

2022-07-23

Take the living history Underground Railroad tour!!! Cannot recommend this highly enough. I called to reserve a tour and spoke to Janet. She was so nice and even let the tour happen even though we didnt have the full 10 participants needed. The actors are all volunteers and they do an amazing job. You become a slave and its completely set up with scenery and houses that are your stops along your journey to freedom. You have a guide that stays in character to take you to each stop and teaches you about what really happened while on the journey. Seriously, this is absolutely worth the ticket!! It takes about 45 minutes from the beginning to end. Youll show up 30 minutes before to handle paying for it, etc. Great place to take kids as well!

Review №2

2022-01-16

Michelle falina was my wedding planner and all my goodness she is amazing definitely go with her she became a great friend of mine. This church is absolutely breathtaking I will never forget it. Even though that marriage ended in divorce lol

Review №3

2019-03-24

Glorious. A beautiful and historic church in Midtown Detroit. Its historic for its age, over 120 years old, and for its role in the Underground Railroad. In fact there they host the Underground Railroad Living Museum. I was there during the annual Noel Night listening to a concert of madrigal singers perform.

Review №4

2019-10-27

We visited this beautiful, historic church in Detroit for the Underground Railroad tour that they give. They do a great jobof presenting this part of our American history in a way that leaves a lasting impression. I recommend this tour for everyone.

Review №5

2016-08-04

We had our wedding at First Congregational Church of Detroit in July 2016. Mainly we worked with Pastor Cindy and two staff members to plan the wedding and the weeks and months before it happened.Bottom line, we recommend against First Congregational Church of Detroit as a wedding venue.Please note: this is NOT a review of the church itself. The Underground Railroad Tour is awesome! And the church community was always welcoming and kind to us. This is just a review of the church as a venue/caterer for weddings.Pros: The building is beautiful, both the sanctuary itself as well as the rooms used for the bridal party and reception. The dining area looked great with napkins decorated in our wedding colors. And, for what the church promises, it’s a good bargain in terms of price.Unfortunately, the church did not deliver on their promises.1. We had the misfortune of having our wedding on one of the hottest days of the year. The reception hall itself has air conditioning units, and the church staff assured us that our reception would be safe from the heat. Not so. We had an afternoon reception, and it was a sweltering 85 to 90 degrees. The air conditioning was on, but it was apparently not at all up to the task of cooling a room with 140 people. Our guests were quite uncomfortable with the heat.2. This created a significant problem when the church caterer did not have any water available for guests at the start of our reception. Our guests graciously listened to our speeches, and even dry toasts by our parents, without any water or wine on our tables. Members of our bridal party specifically asked that pitchers of water be brought out for our guests as the reception got started around 1pm. But the church was slow to address this issue, and it was over an hour into the reception before all our sweltering guests had water to drink at their tables. This happened despite the fact that we discussed ahead of time with the church that drinks be at the tables when our guests arrived in the reception hall. Many of our guests left earlier than they would have due to the heat and lack of water.3. We paid for appetizers as part of the church catering. We discussed ahead of time with our church contacts that the appetizers be available at noon (around when the ceremony ended). At the end of the ceremony (~noon), we told our guests they could file into the reception hall for some snacks, but there were none when they arrived, creating some confusion. The catering staff put out the appetizers around 12:45pm, only a few minutes before we asked everyone to take their seats to start the reception. The church catering staff even covered up the appetizers with plastic wrap and took it out of the reception early, with most of it left uneaten.These were our biggest concerns, but there were quite of few other problems.Throughout the wedding planning process, Pastor Cindy and the staff all assured us that they have extensive experience with weddings, and that they were prepared to pull it off.We want to emphasize that the community at First Congregational Church of Detroit was kind and welcoming to us, but we are not able to recommend them for weddings.

Review №6

2018-05-03

The First Congregational Church sanctuary is one of the most beautiful spaces in Detroit. I held my wedding ceremony here on April, 14th and I couldn’t have chosen a better place, space or team! The events coordinator, Chelsee and her crew, ensured my special day ran smoothly from start to finish. Chelsee was very understanding, patient and sensitive to all of my wedding needs. The venue offers packages to fit most budgets and they rarely said “no” to any of my add-on requests. My guests were stunned by how beautiful and elegant the venue was. In short, this church surpassed all of my expectations.

Review №7

2016-05-28

Great place to take the kids, i was inspired to bring my own 4 children after going myself on a field trip via Blackwell elementary school (my youngest daugthers school 5). This is a Live simulation of slavery and its escape- just a good experience overall, U Should definitely Visit.

Review №8

2013-10-24

It was amazing to experience the strong history of Detroit. Its strength is in the peoples willingness to reject slavery and their willingness to stand for what is right. From my experience these were courageous people who were willing to transcend status quo, to take their own freedom at the risk of their own lives..

Review №9

2019-02-28

I attended a baby shower here & I vote here. Clean, well maintained historic venue & church located in midtown headed/close to downtown Detroit.

Review №10

2019-03-23

They give away clothes at least once in a while. You can fill up as many bags as u like. The staff is nice and friendly.