I filmed a couples session at Prince of Wales, and the interiors are the reason to shoot here. The public rooms are Victorian and they are furnished like it — a games room, the Churchill Lounge, a tea room — and they are not lobby space dressed up for photographs. They are actual rooms with actual furniture and enough of it that you can move a couple through four completely different backdrops without leaving the ground floor. For a portrait session in bad weather, or for the hour before a ceremony when nobody wants to go outside, that is worth more than a garden.
The spaces
Prince of Wales is a Victorian hotel directly in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake, and part of the Vintage Hotels group. Its wedding spaces run from intimate rooms to ballrooms, and Vintage Hotels positions the property for anything from a small gathering to a celebration of around a hundred guests.
The Royal Cambridge Ballroom is the larger reception room, with vintage styling and room for dining and dancing.
The Victoria & Albert Ballroom is the smaller ballroom, and the one Vintage Hotels describes as the guest favourite for its regal decor.
Hampton Court is the intimate room — embossed vintage wallpaper and classic fixtures — suited to small ceremonies and receptions.
Three Feathers is a Victorian event space with rustic elements and warmer tones, which the hotel markets particularly for fall weddings.
The Secret Garden Spa is on site, a smaller Victorian-styled spa rather than a resort facility.
The Royal Suite has a walk-out balcony over Old Town, a four-poster canopy bed and a jetted tub.
For current capacities, floor plans and which room suits your guest count, ask the Vintage Hotels events team directly — their numbers will be more current than any published page.
Filming here
The interiors carry the day. The games room, the Churchill Lounge and the tea room are genuinely different environments — different wallpaper, different furniture, different light — and they are all within a short walk of each other. If the forecast turns, you lose almost nothing here, which is not true of most Niagara venues.
Queen Street is your exterior. You step out of the front door into Old Town. Heritage storefronts, the Shaw Festival a few doors down, and horse-drawn carriages that are a working part of the town rather than a prop. A portrait walk here needs no planning beyond deciding when to go.
Go early or go late on Queen Street. Old Town is busy in season, and the difference between an eight in the morning walk and a two in the afternoon walk is the difference between having the street and sharing it with a tour group.
Ask about access to the public rooms. The lounges are hotel spaces with hotel guests in them. On a wedding day, whether and when you can shoot in them is a question for the events team, not something to assume.
Planning notes
It is a hotel first, in the busiest block of Old Town. Accommodation is on site, guests can walk to the Shaw Festival, restaurants and shops, and nobody needs a car for the weekend. That is the central argument for the property.
Catering runs through Vintage Hotels’ culinary team, with Noble Restaurant on site. Confirm outside-vendor rules before booking anyone.
Match the room to the guest list early. These are period rooms in a Victorian building, which is exactly what makes them worth filming in — and it means the room and the guest count get chosen together. If your list is heading past a hundred, ask which room holds it, and look at Queen’s Landing within the same group.
Book well ahead for Shaw Festival season. Old Town accommodation is tight from spring through fall.
Who it suits
Prince of Wales fits a couple with a smaller guest list who wants Victorian Old Town — period rooms, Queen Street outside the door, and a weekend where guests walk everywhere. It is a strong choice for a winter or shoulder-season wedding, because the interiors are good enough that an entirely indoor day is not a compromise.
If a garden ceremony, a vineyard, or a longer guest list is the picture in your head, the other Vintage properties in Niagara-on-the-Lake are built for exactly that. They are minutes apart, so tour more than one in the same afternoon.
Prince of Wales is at 6 Picton Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
I’m based in Niagara-on-the-Lake and film weddings across southern Ontario. If you’re planning a wedding in this region, here is more on how I work as an Ontario wedding videographer.
