Eagle Crest Wedding DJ, Photography & Videography
Ypsilanti, Michigan — Washtenaw County — Serving couples for 30 years
Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest is a hotel and golf resort wedding venue in Ypsilanti, Michigan, set on Ford Lake beside the Eagle Crest Golf Course. Its wedding spaces include the Roy E. Wilbanks Ballroom, the glass-walled Garden Marquee, the outdoor Terrace Grounds, and the Elizabeth Ann Ballroom. Mike Staff Productions has provided wedding DJ, photography, and videography here for years, coordinating all three under one trusted team.
For more than 30 years, Mike Staff Productions has helped Metro Detroit couples plan the wedding day they pictured. We have worked at Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest for years, so we know this venue inside and out. The way the sun drops behind Ford Lake during portraits, the acoustics in the Roy Wilbanks Ballroom, the moment the Garden Marquee’s glass walls open onto the fire pits. If you are dreaming of a wedding here, you have picked a beautiful place to say “I do.” Here is how to make the most of it, from photo spots to reception flow.
Mike Staff Productions at Eagle Crest
Our Team Approach ensures seamless coordination between your DJ, photographer, and videographer throughout your Eagle Crest wedding. We have shot on the Terrace Grounds, set up in every ballroom, and learned how the day flows from the lawn to the dance floor. That kind of history means fewer surprises on your wedding day and more time for you to enjoy it.
When you book Mike Staff Productions for your Eagle Crest wedding, you get:
- Venue Expertise: We know the room layouts, the light in each space, and the published sound cutoff times that shape your reception timeline. No guesswork, no scrambling.
- Coordinator Relationships: We have worked alongside the Marriott events team for years. That trust means smoother handoffs and a calmer day for you.
- Consistent Quality: The same award-winning team handles your DJ, photography, and videography. One standard, start to finish.
- Choose Your Team by Name: You pick your DJ, photographer, and videographer yourself, by watching their real work first. With our Team Approach, all three pros coordinate as one unit instead of three strangers meeting for the first time at your wedding.
Booking three separate vendors means three contracts, three timelines, and three people who have never met. We have spent years at Eagle Crest making sure your day does not work that way. One team, one plan, one point of contact.
Best Photo Locations at Eagle Crest
After photographing weddings here for years, we know exactly where to be and when. This property gives you water, open fairways, and modern architecture within a few minutes of each other, which means we can build a full portrait gallery without ever putting you in a car.
The Lakefront Lawn
Open grass with nothing in the frame but the two of you and sky. This is the wide, quiet one, and it’s the shot most couples end up printing large. There’s a pair of Adirondack chairs out there too, which gives us something softer and more candid than standing portraits.
The Arched Footbridge
A long wooden bridge curving over the water, and the most distinctive frame Eagle Crest has. We shoot it two ways: from across the pond with the two of you small at the top of the arch and the whole span in view, then close on the railing where it’s just your faces. The wide one is the wall piece.
On the Course
The most range of anywhere on the property. Old trees with low branches that frame the top of the shot, open fairways rolling behind you, and sky that goes on forever when the clouds cooperate. We shoot low out here so the sky does most of the work. If your dress has a long train or a veil that moves, this is where we use it. Carts get us out and back fast when portrait time is tight.
The Window Wall
Floor-to-ceiling glass with polished floors and greenery just outside. Light is soft and even at any hour, and the reflection underneath doubles your dress. This is our rain plan, and it’s good enough that couples ask for it on clear days too.
The Lounge Wall
A honeycomb-patterned feature wall with upholstered seating in front of it and marble underfoot. This is the one spot where we sit you down, which changes the whole feel after an hour of standing portraits. It’s also the best place on the property to fan out a long train, because the floor is clean and the pattern behind you keeps the frame from going flat.
The Covered Walkway
Sun through the slatted roof throws striped shadows across the concrete, and the dark siding beside it keeps everything sharp and modern. This is the editorial one. It converts to black and white better than anything else here, and a great location for a first look or first touch.
Golden Hour Timing for Your Eagle Crest Wedding
We plan your portrait timing around golden hour, that soft window just before sunset when photos look their best. Because the golf course gives you open sky in every direction, that light is easy to use here. Times shift through the year, so use this as a guide and we'll fine-tune it with you.
| Season | Approximate Sunset | Best Photo Window |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | 7:35 PM to 8:20 PM | 6:35 PM to 7:35 PM |
| Summer | 8:45 PM to 9:15 PM | 7:45 PM to 8:45 PM |
| Fall | 6:35 PM to 7:35 PM | 5:35 PM to 6:35 PM |
| Winter | 5:05 PM to 5:35 PM | 4:05 PM to 5:05 PM |
Because so much of the property is open ground, you get usable light later here than at most indoor venues. Summer couples should plan a short portrait break between dinner and dancing rather than trying to fit everything before the ceremony.
Wedding Reception Spaces at Eagle Crest
We've set up in all three reception rooms here, and there's one detail that almost never comes up on a venue tour: each room has its own published sound cutoff time. That single number decides how long your dance floor stays open, so it's worth knowing before you sign anything.
Roy E. Wilbanks Ballroom
The biggest room here, and the only one that runs until midnight. There’s space for a real dance floor without squeezing the dinner tables. It’s also a big, neutral room, which makes it perfect for uplighting – washing the walls in your color keeps 500 people from feeling like they’re in an airplane hangar. Sound carries hard under those twenty-foot ceilings, so we aim the system at the floor, not the head table.
Size: 9,880 sq ft
Reception capacity: Up to 500
Sound cutoff: 12:00 AM
Garden Marquee
The prettiest room on the property, hands down – glass walls open to the fire pits with the course stretching out behind them at sunset. The catch is an hour: music stops at 11:00 PM here, not midnight. So we tighten up dinner and toasts to protect your dance floor, keep the setup small, and put the floor on the window side so nobody’s staring at speakers instead of the view.
Size: 4,800 sq ft
Reception capacity: Up to 250
Sound cutoff: 11:00 PM
Elizabeth Ann Ballroom
The smallest of the three, with built-in AV and a layout that works well for a shorter reception, a rehearsal dinner, or a farewell brunch. Same 11:00 PM cutoff as the Marquee.
Size: 2,500 sq ft
Reception capacity: Up to 120
Sound cutoff: 11:00 PM
Wedding Ceremony Spaces at Eagle Crest
We've run ceremony sound in these spaces, and the choice usually comes down to one question: do you want to be outside, or do you want to stop watching the forecast?
Terrace Grounds
The outdoor ceremony spot, built around a stone pergola with mature evergreens filling in behind it. It's the setting most couples picture on a tour, and it flows straight into cocktail hour on the patio without moving anyone far. Wind is the real challenge outdoors, so we bring windscreens and run a handheld wireless mic on a stand rather than a clip-on, which keeps your officiant from feeding back through the speakers. Eagle Crest has power at the ceremony site, which plenty of outdoor venues can't offer..
Setting: Outdoor, stone pergola
Follows with: Cocktail hour on the terrace
Reception: Moves indoors afterward
Garden Marquee
Floor-to-ceiling glass that opens onto two fire pits, overlooking the golf course. You get the light and setting of an outdoor ceremony with a roof over your head, which is why plenty of couples book it as their first choice instead of their backup. Ceremony and reception happen in the same room, so nobody moves.
Setting: Indoor and outdoor, glass walls
Ceremony capacity: Up to 250
Reception: Same room, no move required
Roy E. Wilbanks Ballroom
The venue also offers its largest ballroom as a ceremony space, flipping to a reception layout during cocktail hour. Worth asking about if you have a big guest list or you want zero weather risk. Ask your Marriott planner how the flip is staged and we'll coordinate our timing around it.
Setting: Indoor ballroom, customizable lighting
Ceremony capacity: Up to 500
Reception: Same room, flipped during cocktail hour
Elizabeth Ann Ballroom
The intimate indoor option with built-in AV, suited to smaller ceremonies. A good fit for a weekday wedding or a guest list under about 120. We scale the sound setup to match the room instead of filling it with equipment you don't need.
Setting: Indoor, built-in AV
Ceremony capacity: Up to 120
Reception: Same room or move to another space
Your Eagle Crest Wedding DJ
A wedding here usually happens in three places: vows outside, cocktails on the patio, dinner and dancing indoors. That’s three different sound setups in about four hours, and every room has its own rules about when the music has to stop. Knowing that before you sign your venue contract changes how we build your entire night.
Our wedding DJs have been working this venue for years, so you’re not getting a generic reception template with the venue name swapped in. Here’s what that looks like room by room.
Ceremony Sound Covers Cocktail Hour Too
Add ceremony sound for an outdoor wedding and that same setup carries your cocktail hour on the patio. You're not paying twice for the same corner of the property. We run a handheld wireless mic on a stand with a windscreen, which beats a clip-on against wind and won't feed back with speakers facing your officiant.
Uplighting Works Differently in Each Room
Uplighting washes walls, so the room decides the plan. Roy Wilbanks is big and neutral with plenty of wall, and it already has customizable lighting built in. The Garden Marquee is mostly glass, and you can't wash a window, so we light the ceiling structure instead and let the fire pits do the rest.
We Build Backward From the Cutoff
Roy Wilbanks runs until midnight. The Garden Marquee and Elizabeth Ann stop at 11:00 PM. We start from your room's cutoff and work backward, so toasts get a hard window and the formal dances land while the room is still full. The goal is a night that ends, not one that gets cut off.
Wedding Videography at Eagle Crest
Our wedding videographers have filmed plenty of weddings here, and the property gives us more to work with than most. Glass walls, open fairways, and a covered walkway that throws hard shadows mean we can cut between three completely different looks without ever leaving the grounds.
The audio is where sharing a team pays off. Your officiant wears a lapel mic that runs straight to our recorder, so your vows are captured clean and separate from whatever the room is doing. Your DJ runs a handheld on a stand for the guests. Two mics, two jobs, one company deciding how they work together instead of two vendors negotiating over the officiant’s collar five minutes before you walk down the aisle.
Hailey and Mitch put it simply: during the chaos of the day you miss things, or you don’t remember them the way they happened. The film is how you get them back.
Real Eagle Crest Weddings
Take a look behind the scenes at days we've filmed, photographed, and emceed at Eagle Crest.
What Couples Say About Their Eagle Crest Wedding
“
We absolutely loved our Eagle Crest wedding! The lake views were beautiful and it was the perfect setting for our day. Having a Mike Staff team that knew the venue so well made everything even easier, from finding the best photo spots to keeping the day running smoothly.
— Hailey (DJ, Photo, and Video)
“
Eagle Crest was such a beautiful place for our wedding. We loved the waterfront setting and how everything came together. Mike Staff knew the venue inside and out, which helped make the entire day feel effortless.
— Kate (DJ, Photo, and Video)
Planning Your Eagle Crest Wedding
Get pricing for wedding DJ, photography, and videography services that work together seamlessly.
Frequently Asked Questions: Eagle Crest Weddings
Where is Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest located?
The venue sits at 1275 S Huron Street in Ypsilanti, Michigan, beside the Eagle Crest Golf Course.It is about ten minutes from downtown Ann Arbor and roughly 35 to 40 minutes from Detroit, with Detroit Metropolitan Airport a short drive away.
How many guests can Eagle Crest hold for a wedding?
The Roy E. Wilbanks Ballroom holds up to 500 guests for a wedding across 9,880 square feet. The Garden Marquee holds up to 250 guests in 4,800 square feet. The Elizabeth Ann Ballroom holds up to 120 in 2,500 square feet. The resort offers roughly 34,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space in total.
What time does music have to end at Eagle Crest?
Sound cutoff is 12:00 AM in the Roy E. Wilbanks Ballroom and 11:00 PM in both the Garden Marquee and the Elizabeth Ann Ballroom. That one hour is the biggest practical difference between the rooms, and it shapes your whole reception timeline. Mike Staff Productions builds your schedule around the cutoff for your specific space.
Does Eagle Crest have an outdoor ceremony option?
Yes. The Terrace Grounds is an outdoor ceremony lawn with a permanent stone pergola overlooking Ford Lake and the golf course. The Garden Marquee serves as a weather backup that still feels outdoors, thanks to floor-to-ceiling glass walls that open onto two fire pits.
Can guests stay overnight at Eagle Crest?
Yes. Eagle Crest is a full Marriott hotel, so your guests can book rooms on site. Couples can arrange a discounted room block, and the venue provides a custom Marriott reservation website for your group. Marriott Certified Wedding Planners are on staff to coordinate the venue side of your day.
What are the best photo spots at Eagle Crest?
The Terrace Grounds pergola with the golf course behind it is the most requested location. The golf course and its arched wooden footbridge give you wide open frames for bridal party portraits. The Garden Marquee's floor-to-ceiling windows create soft natural light indoors at any hour. Our wedding photographers know the light at every one of these spots.
Can one company handle the DJ, photography, and videography?
Yes. Mike Staff Productions provides all three services through one coordinated team. You choose each pro yourself, and they work together so nothing falls through the cracks on your wedding day.
How long has Mike Staff Productions worked at Eagle Crest?
We have provided wedding DJ, photography, and videography at this venue for years. That history means we know the spaces, the light, the sound cutoff rules, and the Marriott events team well.
Our Wedding Services
Ready to Plan Your Eagle Crest Wedding?
Mike Staff Productions would love to hear about your day. Tell us your date, your spaces, and what you're picturing, and we'll walk you through how DJ, photography, and videography come together at Eagle Crest. No pressure, no pitch, just a straight conversation about your wedding.
Looking at other Michigan wedding venues? Browse our full venue guide to see where else we work.