Fairmont Chateau Laurier

There are wedding venues that try to create the feeling of a castle.

Fairmont Chateau Laurier does not have to try.

Standing in the heart of Ottawa since 1912, the French château-style hotel has become part of the city's landscape, its limestone walls and turrets watching generations arrive for dinners, celebrations and weddings beneath them.

Walking through its doors on a wedding day feels different.

There is a sense that the building already understands the importance of an occasion.

Inside are 16 event spaces and more than 36,000 square feet devoted to gatherings, with wedding settings suited to celebrations from approximately 50 to 400 guests.

Some rooms feel intimate and ornate.

The Adam Room, with its sculpted ceiling and distinctive oval shape, carries the elegance of another era and gives even a smaller celebration a wonderful sense of ceremony. Other spaces allow the wedding to grow into something grander while keeping the same historic character around it.

But the romance of Chateau Laurier begins long before dinner.

It is in the hours upstairs when dresses are hanging in hotel rooms and someone keeps checking the time.

It is in the lobby when relatives begin appearing one by one.

It is in the strange feeling of walking through the halls of one of Ottawa's most recognizable buildings knowing that, for once, the important event happening inside is yours.

Then everyone gathers.

The ceremony happens.

The nervousness disappears.

And the hotel that felt enormous all morning suddenly seems to narrow its focus onto two people.

Later, dinner becomes speeches. Speeches become music. The room grows warmer as everyone relaxes into the evening.

The hotel's culinary and banquet teams work with couples on menus and the details surrounding the celebration, while the guest rooms above mean family and friends can remain beneath the same roof after the final dance.

There is something timeless about that.

Long after the flowers are gone and the photographs have been printed, Chateau Laurier will still be standing at the corner of Rideau Street.

Other couples will walk through the same doors.

Other celebrations will fill its rooms.

But for one evening, Ottawa's castle belongs to your story.

• On the water, or with water views
• A ballroom or banquet hall
• A historic setting
• Rooms for guests on site
• In-house catering and menus
• Wedding packages
• Sound system and audio-visual
• Live music welcome
• A patio or terrace
• String lights and candlelight
• Open for weddings year-round
• Pets welcome