We’re happy to be able to present Calgary’s Hotel Arts  as a featured wedding venue. In the last ten years of business, we’ve photographed a lot of blissed out couples at the Hotel Arts wedding venue. During that time, it’s always been a consistently great wedding venue. The refrain that we hear over and over, is that Brian, their wedding and event specialist, is one of the top reasons that our clients book this great venue. Brian is a passionate, hardworking, and experienced member for your wedding team!

Hotel Arts is also incredibly friendly and flexible. The staff are always looking to accommodate, and they have always been helpful when looking for great spots to use as a photo backdrop. This can be a huge benefit when you are getting married in the spring, winter, or you just have a rainy day.

Hotel Arts Wedding Venue: Food & Rooms

Hotel arts has two main areas for their weddings. The banquet rooms, and the hallway that connects them. It’s the perfect set up for a wedding. The look is very elegant, and because of the impressive art collection, it doesn’t look like your typical hotel wedding.

The banquet rooms are softly lit, so you can get some really dramatic accent lighting. The rooms feel intimate, even through you are in banquet sized rooms. With the intimately lit rooms, it is very, very, important that you get photographers who have mad lighting skills. And I don’t just mean flooding the room with light – you wouldn’t want to kill the intimate vibe.

This Calgary venue also has consistently good food, especially the soups, which is a weird thing to remember about a wedding, but it they are memorable. When couples decide on something a little different for their menu, the kitchen staff really shine and are always up for the challenge.

It also bears mention that the hotel rooms are spacious, comfortable, clean and stylish. Your guests will be happy with their accommodations.

I should also mention that the rooms for getting ready are really great for photos. They did some major updating a few years back and it was a needed update. They went from brown and a little dark, to being very bright. although this first photo is cheating a little because I used a flash, ha ha!

Hotel Arts Wedding Venue: Location

One of the highlights for Hotel Arts is its location. Hotel Arts is located in one of the best areas for photography in the city: Calgary’s beltline. I love the urban spots all around the hotel, and it really is the perfect place for people who want something a little unique and artistic. It also has easy access to the Central Memorial Library. This is one of Calgary’s great spots for wedding photography, but it is very busy and you will always see multiple wedding parties having their photo taken.
The bonus is that you really won’t need a car to take you and the wedding party around for the photography session, you can walk to everything you need.

Hotel Arts Wedding Venue: Tips

• Get something a little special for the food, it will be great!
• Get additional accent lighting for the ceremony. The rooms are better kept dark with some dramatic lighting.
• The ceremony set up in the corner of the room is my favourite
• When you have another wedding booked in the next room you might be able to hear it, so keep that in mind when designing the set up, keep the shared walls as far away as possible from your guests, and check about the plan for this with event coordinator
• Do your photos around the hotel and skip the cost of transportation
• Blue lighting looks great, but not for the ceremony — but balance it with some warm light in front, so everyone skin doesn’t look blue
• Family photos can be a challenging when weather dictates that they’re done inside. Schedule time with the venue to have a dedicated 20 minutes when your family can get photos. For large groups the Yellow Door Bistro is not large enough for the photos, and the hallway adjoining the banquet rooms will be filled with guests.
• The pool area is being redone and we are so excited to see it done because it’s already great!
• Check out some of these great Hotel Arts weddings: Val & Adam and Jannel & Tyler