Our Weekend Away to The Prince of Wales Hotel, Niagara-on-the-Lake

If you don't know us already, both Allie and I are what you call hopeless romantics. A trait that fits well with our profession as wedding photographers.

But that doesn't stop with our work. This hopeless romantic thread carries through to our lives, and milestones, and our desire for experiences to fit the same bill.

Every year I look forward to planning an anniversary trip for us. Or more like an anniversary experience - that's the goal. Because I've found that you can travel somewhere and experience nothing. So I like to think of it as planning an experience first, and I find the location usually falls beautifully into place.

I started planning this year's with the desire for luxury, royalty, with a touch of fashion glamour. How I got to that point? I'm not sure, but it was the feeling of what would be right this year, and how I was feeling about being married to Allie after three years.

With traveling abroad a bit unpredictable these days, and our anniversary being on October 13th (right in the middle of a busy fall wedding stretch) I needed to find something local.

So I went to search for a place that hit these points, and preferably a spot Allie had never been to.

Niagara-On-The-Lake & the Price of Wales Hotel it was.

We only had enough time for a one night getaway between weddings, so I knew I needed to make it count. NOTL fit the bill perfectly, with it's sprawling orchards and quaint charming town.

We first started with a sunset dinner at Peller Estates complete with their 7 course, blind chef's tasting menu. Each course tastefully paired with wine.

As the sunset light hit the vineyards, we paused our appetizers to take a few photos on our recently purchased film Nikon point and shoot camera. The Lomography 400 film stock captured the golden light just right and we love reliving these memories on print.

So after a night of laughter, reminiscing & dreaming new dreams, we went back to the Prince of Wales to make sure Maple, our Cavalier King Charles, was enjoying the comfy suite. Then Allie and I stepped out to roam the streets for a few more laughs and photos to capture all the romantic feelings.

We drove back to Toronto feeling freshly inspired, fully celebrated, and creatively refuelled - ready to go back to making art, and celebrating love stories - made even more meaningful by celebrating our own.