Daniels and Fisher Tower

I was very disappointed. My fiancé and I wanted to book this venue for our wedding. I e-​mailed on January 11^th and called two different days after that and still haven’t received a response. That would have been easy business.

We had our wedding at the Clock Tower last month, and it was amazing! Such a beautiful place, and from start to finish, it was all wonderful! We used Gourmet Fine Catering per their recommendation, and the food and staff were wonderful. We hired the venue sales person to help tie everything together. She was really good at working with us on the price as we did not have a lot of extra money. Even though we did all our own planning she was so nice about being there for all of our questions. And it was so nice to have her (Jodi) on the our wedding day, and the few days before to make it all happen.

The D&F Clock Tower is very unique and provides a beautiful backdrop for the wedding ceremony, which is held on the 18^th floor where the clock faces are. Our wedding of 60 guests worked ok in the space. The ceremony floor isn’t large enough to provide seating for all 60 guests so we opted to do partial seating (for ~20 guests) & standing room for everyone else. The con of this approach was that several of our guests who were standing near the back of the room said they couldn’t see the ceremony.
We used the rest of the floors (18 – 20) for our reception and had food stations available on each floor. One of the reasons we choose this venue was so that guests could spread out and take advantage of each floor. One thing to note: The bar is setup on the 20^th floor and the majority of our guests tended to stayed in this area — the space is tight so there was a bit of a challenge moving around on that floor.
In terms of the venue, what you get is what you see. Our ceremony & pictures came out beautifully and our guests enjoyed the uniqueness of the Clock Tower.
In terms of the staff, there could definitely be more engagement from start to finish. Our contact at the Clock Tower was Jodi and she seem disengaged throughout the entire process. I was constantly reaching out to Jodi to schedule my walk-​throughs (both with the caterer and to discuss floor plan layout and décor) and for my rehearsal twice (the first time it was scheduled it was not put on the calendar). Also, the week of my wedding Jodi asked to postpone my rehearsal by 1 day.
If Jodi happened to take notes during our any of our meetings, she often left them «at home» for any subsequent meetings. This meant I had to go over the same details again. Jodi also provided day-​of coordination services, which should have included creation of the day-​of timeline and coordination with all of the vendors. I had to negotiate a lower fee with her because she wasn’t actually doing any of those activities.
Post wedding, there has been no communication whatsoever from Jodi. As a venue point of contact I wouldn’t expect any follow-​up, but Jodi presents herself as a separate business (Three-​O-​Three Event Planning). I would expect some type of post-​event follow-​up from a hired day-​of coordinator.
All in all — if you love the venue just know what you are getting into. You may have to do more leg work on your end to keep everything on track. I also wouldn’t recommend hiring Jodi for day-​of services.

The Clock Tower in and of itself is a beautiful, stunning venue. However, the staff leave much to be desired. I booked my wedding pretty far in advance, and when time came to start getting back in touch with the staff to get everything in place for the wedding, it took a month of relentless calling and emailing to get any sort of answer back. This problem of extremely disjointed communication continued up until about two months before my wedding, which was pretty stressful. It turned out that the Clock Tower had also changed its policy on decorating between the time when I had booked and when my wedding was — while I had paid for it, apparently they no longer offered that service. While they agreed to honor this part of the contract in the end, it took more effort on my part than should have been required and unfortunately I had an extremely subpar experience.
First, I had to do not one, but two walk throughs. The first one I spent about an hour walking around with the house manager with all my vendors, going over a detailed list of decoration instructions. The manager was extremely disinterested and brushed off all concerns, saying he does this all the time, and everything would look fine. The vendors even expressed their concerns afterwards about how apathetic he had been. Then about two weeks before my wedding, I was called by another staff member asking why I hadn’t done a walkthrough yet. I explained that I had, but apparently on their end nothing had been written down. I emailed my detailed decoration instructions a second time and arrived early on my rehearsal day to do yet another run down.
Despite these two walkthroughs, detailed prior instructions, and my questioning of the staff on whether they had any questions, I still received a call at 3 pm on my wedding day saying that they didn’t understand the instructions, and that a lot of the things I had asked for (such as fairy lights to be wrapped around railings) could not be accommodated due to power concerns, etc. This would have been great to know before I dropped money on decorations that could not be used. My parents had to rush down on their daughter’s wedding day to help a family friend who had volunteered as a day of wedding coordinator and spend a good portion of their time directing the staff and helping them set up. The reason I paid for decoration set up and break down was so my family could spend time with me — not setting up decorations.
While my parents said the staff did their best to be helpful once they arrived, and while their mannerisms were always polite and helpful, I feel it was a situation that could have been avoided entirely by simply paying attention. Did it look good in the end? Yes, I’m sure my pictures will be beautiful. But unfortunately I feel one of the most lingering memories I’ll have of my wedding is the stress of that call and sadness I felt that my parents were busy setting up decorations instead of spending time with me.

We were planning our wedding in Denver from Houston and I was elated when my fiancé suggested the Clock Tower on 16^th Street Mall. I went to college in Denver and this was my stomping grounds. The venue itself is gorgeous and I love the historic background. We had to pay the full amount as a deposit to reserve the space for the wedding and reception, which was non-​refundable. The price was comparable to what we would have paid to book separate spaces for the ceremony and reception, and saved us a lot of logistics with coordination of two locations.
We had the 17^th floor through the 21^st floor to use with our booking. We were also given access to the 14^th floor to use as the bridal suite. The elevators go up to the 17^th floor only, and from there you take the stairs because they are unable to put an elevator in for the higher floors. The ceremony was held on the 18^th floor. The capacity for seated guests was 60, and it was pretty tight. We lucked out, and of the 125 guests we invited, less than 50 showed up — making it the perfect space for our event.
The venue is set to go with a sound system that worked great for our small crowd. We brought in an iPod with our ceremony and reception music and Bart played DJ for us. They were also very accommodating because I wanted to use YouTube to do Live Event so our friends that couldn’t make it could watch the event in real time. We bought a 100 foot Ethernet cable and ran it from the 14^th floor to the 18^th floor so I could set up my laptop with an external microphone and camera. It was the first time a live event had been streamed in the venue and it turned out really well!
Jodi of Clock Tower Events helped us coordinate everything and worked with our vendors. She is very sweet and easy to work with. We hired her for day of services at a very reasonable fee of $ 400. We used Bistro Boys Catering and they worked with us to come up with a menu that would be easily consumed while standing and moving since the space was not conducive to a seated dinner for the amount of guests we had.
The views we enjoyed during the reception with the sunset were phenomenal. Jodi recommended Dave of Camara Photography, who has shot at the venue on multiple occasions, and our photos turned out gorgeous! We had shots in the venue, in the belfry and on 16^th street. We couldn’t have been more pleased.
There were only a few small glitches to the day:
1. There was no full length mirror in the bridal suite on the 14^th floor while we got ready. We were all trying to use a small mirror in the bathroom that was hard to get in front of because the toilet was in the way.
2. The cake was put in the wrong location on the 18^th floor and did not include the decorations we had brought to be used with it.
3. The music during the ceremony had some delays because Jodi would signal down from the 18^th floor to Bart on the 17^th floor (another Clock Tower employee) when to play the music and he had some difficulty with the iPod.
Overall, it was a huge success. We were very happy with the entire event and would recommend the venue and Jodi’s services to others. I can’t imagine a more perfect place for my wedding. All of our guests were really pleased with the entire experience and said it was one of the most memorable weddings they’ve ever been to. My official rating is 4.5÷5 stars.

If you’re having a special event, check out the Daniels and Fisher Tower. We attended a Holiday Party there this year, and it was fabulous. You can book events on the 17^th floor and above, and this party spanned all of them. The floors above 17 are only accessible by stairs, but walking up the different floors lead to separate rooms that were all unique and incredibly cool. We were behind the clocks on some, and able to walk out to a narrow walkway on others to take in the amazing views of the city. The 21^st floor had a spiral staircase that we couldn’t climb, leading to the tippy-​top of the tower, and from there we could enjoy the chimes when the hours changed. It was awesome.
From the inside or the outside, this is a beautiful downtown Denver landmark has amazing charm and character. It’s one of my favorite historical landmarks in Denver.

We looked at the D&F tower as a possible wedding reception venue.
The positives are the price, the staff, and the views. For $ 3000 for a reception venue that includes all of the tables and existing décor, it really can’t be beat for a bride on a budget. Also, we found the communication and availability of both Holly and Jessie to be very open and flexible. They were easy to get a hold of via email and when we showed up 2 hours early for our tour (because of a misjudge of timing on an earlier appt), they easily accommodated us. Also, the 360 degree views of Denver and the Mountains is exceptional.
The downsides were the space and set up as well as the overall outdated feel. While certain things about this venue are amazing (the clock background would make a perfect picture backdrop), there was a definite disconnect with the flow of the room. If you have a party of 25 – 50 people, it would probably work. But there was absolutely no way to get our party of 100 people onto one floor for the first dance or cake cutting. I’ve also been told that this venue is very difficult for caterers because of all of the stairs. The stairs are a open metal grate with traction, which made the idea of having a few drinks and climbing them in a long dress terrifying. Also, we went to look at this venue with our mothers and both had a really hard time with the height. There was a lot of looking up to climb more stairs that made everyone feel shaky. Regarding the needed maintenance, this is a very historic old building. The space itself could use a revamp, but there were large orange KEEP OUT signs on the center stairwell as well as caution tape in areas that made it feel a little grungy. I am sure they would remove it (maybe?) if a wedding party were to book the space.
Overall, cool venue idea and the price was perfect, but it just did not fit our needs.

Despite many changes, this has always been a historic landmark of Downtown Denver! I vaguely remember coming here and shopping with my Mom when I was little. It was a department store then and I remember eating in the café on one of the upper floors.
A little history if I may!
«William B. Daniels and William Fisher opened a five-​story department store in 1864. After travelling to Venice, Italy, Daniels became mesmerized by the Renaissance architecture and wanted a reminder of the beauty in Denver. He decided to build a structure modeled after the Campanile (St. Mark’s Bell Tower) at the Piazzo San Marco in Venice, Italy. Construction of the clock tower began in 1910 and finished in 1912. The tower prided itself in being the highest structure west of the Mississippi River at the time, standing at 325 feet.»

Great place for a party!
Recently went to a friend of a friend of a friends 40 something birthday party!
If you need to throw yourself a party and you have the money to waste do it here for hell sakes!
The top 4 – 5 stories are open space and can be rented for social events… you can walk out onto the balcony below the clocks and get a great 360 degree view of downtown Cowtown! It’s a sweet view…
You take an elevator up above the housing levels and open into the tower from which you climb 2 levels of wrought-​iron stairs to the main party room… it’s fun and scenic, a little cramped but definitely different!
My major turn on is the exterior architecture and it’s connection to a by-​gone era of Denver! It definitely adds some flair and fun to 16^th Street and is just another monument to Denver’s individuality!

This is certainly one of the most recognized Denver landmarks in the downtown area. I think it is a very lovely tower with quite a history.
I remember back in the 80s they used to drop things off it for radio promotions. Kind of strange, but I guess it was what you did in then.

This old historic building has some real character, and is almost always empty.
A very tall and slender clock tower, which totally seems Edgar Allen Poe to me, this building is located off of the 16^th street mall, and has Lannie’s Cabaret in the basement.
When I went in through the cool looking brass revolving doors, it was empty, minus the cleaning dude. So it seems that the building has seen some busier times.
In any case there was a plaque explaining the building’s historical significance (which I won’t bore you with here), and all that.
If you are in the region — which seeing as how it is along the 16^th street mall you probably will be — take 5 and check it out.