I just worry that the OP is looking for something special for the parents, might be disappointed with the reality of Niagra Falls?

NOTL is a beautiful place - have a great wedding!

But the falls themselves are amazing. Its just that one end of town that is horrible. We stayed at the Hilton for 3 nights, the best bed I have ever slept in!! and stayed around that end in the evening.
Niagara on the Lake really reminded me of pretty Cotswold towns.

If you are driving to NF there is another interesting place to see just over the Skyway. It's Lock #3, at least I think it's 3. Take the fist exit at the bottom of the NF side of the Skyway and follow the signs. It's only a couple of miles. It's got a movie theatre showing the building and history of the Welland Canal and you can watch the lock at work. They post the times that vessels will be in the lock. It's a drop of 80 feet and the big lakers have about two feet clearance on each side. I used to take my kids there quite often. An interesting diversion that not a lot of people seem to know about.

we have stayed at the Hilton, they have a fantastic resturant on the 65th floor, the tables are stepped so no-one blocks your view of the falls,
I took my mum and sister to see Niagara falls this June, booked online the sheraton fallsview at the falls (there is 2 , the other is ON the falls) we had a falls view room dead opposite the american falls and we got a voucher to have dinner in the hotel next door with falls view, splendid, also we were lucky enough to see the fireworks over the falls while we had our dinner , look on Mums face , priceless!

Mmm, Welland Canal and locks. Have to say I do have a bit of a thing for locks, dunno why. It is indeed Lock 3 that has the visitors complex and viewing platform. Have a look here for more info.

If you go here and click on the "Welland Canal" item you'll see any boats that are in the canal and where they are, handy for finding out if they will be going through the lock you'll be near.

I've yet to make it down for the emptying and filling of the lock (canal is closed during the winter months), but will do one day. It is worth seeing when it's empty as well, as the lock coffers are very large.

This is a picture from Lock 7, last year. It gives some scale to the size of the canal, the boats and how close they get.



Alas you won't be able to get that close there now as they have a large fence in the way. I can see why, you could injure yourself quite badly.

Lock 7 is an interesting one as well in the winter, as it has another set of gates that come across. I think it's the last lock and these gates are extra protection to hold back the water, probably so the main lock gates can be worked on in the winter, something that could not be done without the extra gates as they'd be holding back the water from the lake.

I understand what people are saying about the town, but it's not the town we are going for ultimately. As Albertabound says, the falls are amazing and that is what we are going for...

Besides, my parents have been to Blackpool several times and didn't seem to mind much

ha we live nr the welland canals , if you like boats its very interesting notl is lovely ,... and like has been said niagara falls is a bit of a shock ! you see it on telly and its beautiful .. which the falls themselves are but the town is very blackpool , lol