Peace Arch Heritage Hall
Set in very pretty Peace Arch Park. The Peace Arch Heritage Hall is a well-kept heritage style building that accommodates small to medium-sized events… up to probably 120 guests
The venue is about one hour outside of Vancouver and located just at the Canadian and American border. It is on the Canadian side and travelling to the hall, guests and your DJ should be very careful they don’t get into the cue to cross into the American side of the border. You should get into the far right lane, I was told the same lane as the nexus lane, and take the final exit onto Beach Drive. I would highly recommend bringing your passport just in case. The border guard patrols may ask you for identification while in the park.
There is a large, free parking lot as you turn left into the park and the lovely greenery of the park is adjacent to parking. However, it is about 300 meters, or a quarter of a mile, from the parking lot to the Heritage Hall. Although the sidewalk is nice and flat, it is a bit of a long way to pull equipment on a cart. Be aware your entertainment may charge you extra for the work involved. Your guests will definitely need an umbrella if the weather is rainy.
I did notice some guests drove their cars over the lawn to the hall but I am pretty sure this is frowned upon. I don’t know that, if caught, you would be issued a fine or ticket, but I wouldn’t change it.
The hall itself is very neat and tidy. It is plain but with a bit of decoration, comes alive quite nicely. It has picnic benches outside and I think I noticed a fire pit for a BBQ. There is no washroom within the hall but there is a public one just a few meters walk from the hall which was clean and tidy when I was there.
There is no air conditioner and I didn’t notice any type of heating vents in the hall. I am not sure if they rent the hall in the colder months but on a hot summer day, I would consider bringing a few electric fans. There is a noise bylaw so if you want to do your wedding ceremony outside with music, you may want to check the rules and inside the hall, music volumes have to come down in level around 10 PM.
There is no projection system to show your slide shows or video presentation and no hall speakers or microphone for your speeches. These can probably be rented from your music provider and I would make sure to ask for professional quality microphones as the hall is a bit long and prone to microphone dropouts.
I would also recommend being aware of the placement of your DJ. I was placed to the right of the doorway. I was a little concerned that guests might trip over the speaker stands when coming in the door and on the other side of the DJ table, the coffee station was placed near to the DJ setup. This happened to be a congested area where guests tended to flock. I felt having the DJ set up in the right corner of the room of the entrance would have been better. You could then move the coffee station over to the other side of the room preventing people from congregating around the DJ table and speaker stand legs.
Overall, the Peace Park Heritage Hall is a nice location to have your summer wedding or event. As you can see it is wheelchair accessible. The beautiful park and location are peaceful and lovely to stroll around for your guests. I am sure there are some great spots for wedding pictures as well. With a little elbow grease, the hall can be decorated to personalize your event. I give the Peace Park Heritage Hall 3.5 stars out of 5.
Read my review of a similar venue, Roma Hall.