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December 2023 by shaye hughes
My partner and I really wanted to get more information to book this venue for our wedding, but we’ve reached out 5+ times via email, form submission, and called them to no avail. It’s a bummer they don’t prioritize potential customers.
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November 2023 by Ashley D.
I have been trying to contact OVY for the past month via phone and email but have not received any response, is this the norm?I would love to have my wedding there next year but need to at least know the pricing before moving forward.
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October 2023 by Colette Borsodi
OVY Camp and Event Center is the best possible place for your wedding. Everyone says your wedding goes by too fast, well we had ours at OVY and had a whole weekend of festivities. The beauty of OVY is unparalleled. We had our ceremony under the redwoods with 200 people. We had dinner under string lights and dancing in the beautiful main hall. We had a campfire and our friends staying in cabins and tents on site. This venue blew everyone away.Our wedding party arrived on Friday to the Willow Glen house, which was in pristine condition and so accommodating to a party of 20 people! We spent the weekend playing drinking games, having a pool party, making campfires, roasting marshmallows, and really taking in the beautiful scenery.If you are considering OVY for your wedding, I'm going to go into detail about our experience with this venue.Our contact with the venue prior to the event was seamless, flexible and accommodating. OVY is a summer camp during a lot of the year, yet there was never a lull in communication and we always felt like a priority. They are very professional and well-versed with weddings, and also have a great suggested list of vendors that you can pick from if you would like.First, I want to compliment on the venue manager, Joe . What an incredible guy. He was very responsive and flexible, always there to answer our questions. He was friendly and happy to be there, adding a layer of calmness and joy to our special day. He knew the site like the back of his hand, and was available to help us whenever needed. However, he was also in the background, and it really felt like we had the place completely to ourselves.Next I just want to talk about the venue itself. Of course it was gorgeous, every cabin and space that we used was very clean and well-maintained. The pool was a lovely addition as the sun came out every day breaking through the fog. When we huddled around the campfire, roasting marshmallows, and talking, it was everything you would dream of. The phone service was a little spotty as expected, however the Wi-Fi runs smoothly, so it was easy to get in contact with anyone we needed.Lastly, I want to address the concerns I had going in, as you may share some of my concerns.First, I was worried it would be too much work, to hard to organize. Well I used a lot of OVY suggested vendors who had done OVY weddings before. I tell you...it was flawless. Not only were they affordable and high quality vendors, but they knew each other and the venue and worked in lock step, where I didn't have to worry about anything during this amazing wedding weekend.Second, I was concerned about the cost. All said and done, I had a weekend of activities and the wedding of my dreams for CHEAPER than the lowest price all inclusive 200 person venue you can find in the Bay Area.Lastly, I was concerned it wouldn't accommodate a 200 person wedding (with wheelchairs and five 80+ year old guests) in the way I needed. Boy was I wrong. Parking was easy, everything was accessible and elegant. As long as you don't wear stilettos, you'll be fine!To wrap it up, I couldn't recommend it more.It was the best weekend of our life.It wasn't just the people, it was the space, the redwoods, the creek, the simple elegance of OVY.If that's not enough, your venue fee goes to support underserved Bay Area youth. Their mission statement is the following "To Make Overnight Camp Accessible for All Bay area Youth. At OVY Camp, we provide youth with a safe, enjoyable, and educational summer camp experience at little to no cost; while offering character building opportunities and promoting service, volunteerism, and leadership within the community."What better way to start your life together?
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September 2023 by Vivi F.
Beautiful natural setting for any summer event. The service not great but depends on your choice of catering company
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September 2023 by Colette B.
OVY Camp and Event Center is the best possible place for your wedding. Everyone says your wedding goes by too fast, well we had ours at OVY and had a whole weekend of festivities. The beauty of OVY is unparalleled. We had our ceremony under the redwoods with 200 people. We had dinner under string lights and dancing in the beautiful main hall. We had a campfire and our friends staying in cabins and tents on site. This venue blew everyone away.Our wedding party arrived on Friday to the Willow Glen house, which was in pristine condition and so accommodating to a party of 20 people! We spent the weekend playing drinking games, having a pool party, making campfires, roasting marshmallows, and really taking in the beautiful scenery. If you are considering OVY for your wedding, I'm going to go into detail about our experience with this venue.Our contact with the venue prior to the event was seamless, flexible and accommodating. OVY is a summer camp during a lot of the year, yet there was never a lull in communication and we always felt like a priority. They are very professional and well-versed with weddings, and also have a great suggested list of vendors that you can pick from if you would like.First, I want to compliment on the venue manager, Joe . What an incredible guy. He was very responsive and flexible, always there to answer our questions. He was friendly and happy to be there, adding a layer of calmness and joy to our special day. He knew the site like the back of his hand, and was available to help us whenever needed. However, he was also in the background, and it really felt like we had the place completely to ourselves.Next I just want to talk about the venue itself. Of course it was gorgeous, every cabin and space that we used was very clean and well-maintained. The pool was a lovely addition as the sun came out every day breaking through the fog. When we huddled around the campfire, roasting marshmallows, and talking, it was everything you would dream of. The phone service was a little spotty as expected, however the Wi-Fi runs smoothly, so it was easy to get in contact with anyone we needed.Lastly, I want to address the concerns I had going in, as you may share some of my concerns.First, I was worried it would be too much work, to hard to organize. Well I used a lot of OVY suggested vendors who had done OVY weddings before. I tell you...it was flawless. Not only were they affordable and high quality vendors, but they knew each other and the venue and worked in lock step, where I didn't have to worry about anything during this amazing wedding weekend.Second, I was concerned about the cost. All said and done, I had a weekend of activities and the wedding of my dreams for CHEAPER than the lowest price all inclusive 200 person venue you can find in the Bay Area. Lastly, I was concerned it wouldn't accommodate a 200 person wedding (with wheelchairs and five 80+ year old guests) in the way I needed. Boy was I wrong. Parking was easy, everything was accessible and elegant. As long as you don't wear stilettos, you'll be fine!To wrap it up, I couldn't recommend it more. It was the best weekend of our life. It wasn't just the people, it was the space, the redwoods, the creek, the simple elegance of OVY. If that's not enough, your venue fee goes to support underserved Bay Area youth. Their mission statement is the following "To Make Overnight Camp Accessible for All Bay area Youth. At OVY Camp, we provide youth with a safe, enjoyable, and educational summer camp experience at little to no cost; while offering character building opportunities and promoting service, volunteerism, and leadership within the community."What better way to start your life together?
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September 2023 by 喬明理
Attended my first American wedding here, great experience
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September 2023 by Jennifer Fisher
We just got married last week and had an amazing experience at OVY camp! Everyone there was super nice; Matthew was helpful in planning the wedding from out of state, and Joe was great helping us the weekend of! Had about fifty guests, and I was extremely happy when Joe made it work where everyone could be seated at the platform redwood grove. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lawn games and bonefires for S'mores after dinner. We were able to accommodate our whole wedding party at the main cabin too so prep in the morning was easy. Great place for a wedding and to help support a wonderful cause!
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September 2023 by Karly Hampshire
In our search for wedding venues, we were looking for an outdoorsy place in the Bay Area that could accommodate around 200 people and would allow us to book for the entire weekend. OVY Camp was the first venue we toured and it immediately felt right- I loved that the proceeds were going to support camp for underserved youth, there was space for up to 120 people to stay onsite, and the flexibility was great for our DIY Indian/Western fusion wedding. Not to mention Matthew (the venue manager) is a saint of a human. We used basically all the sites throughout the weekend- held our Sangeet on the field, had yoga at the amphitheater on Saturday morning, did first look photos on the coast and wedding party photos next to the Great Oak tree on the upper fields, had a baraat from the main hall to the ceremony, had our ceremony in the redwood grove under a Mandap/Chuppah constructed by my brother, held our Saturday night dinner and reception in the main hall (with special dances and dessert outside in between for a room flip), and did a quick Sunday morning brunch for onsite wedding guests (about 50) in the lodge. I was worried about the space not being “nice” enough for Indian guests used to hotel weddings or some of the older guests, but many people told us afterwards that it was the best wedding they had ever been to. This venue does definitely require more work than venues with more cookie-cutter packages, and it was overwhelming at times to keep track of so many details (especially because my husband is a resident physician in NY and I was doing most of the planning), so I would say this is probably not the place if you are looking for a straightforward, easy wedding (though ours was particularly complicated). Some other tips: 1. highly recommend wedding photos in front of the great oak tree 1. the overhead globe lights provided by OVY were beautiful, but the space was still a little dark so if you’re looking for a well-lit space, I would plan for additional lighting. Overall though, it was awesome and we had a great weekend!
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August 2023 by Jennifer F.
We just got married last week and had an amazing experience at OVY camp! Everyone there was super nice; Matthew was helpful in planning the wedding from out of state and Joe was great helping us the weekend of! Had about fifty guests, and I was extremely happy when Joe made it work where everyone could be seated at the platform redwood grove. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lawn games and bonefires for S'mores after dinner. We were able to accommodate our whole wedding party at the main cabin too so prep in the morning was easy. Great place for a wedding and to help support a wonderful cause!
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June 2023 by Kelsey A.
OVY Camp provided a gorgeous setting and great camp amenities for celebrating our wedding with friends and family in May 2023. We highly recommend OVY for couples who want a DIY wedding in the redwoods!My husband and I got married on a Saturday with a headcount of 165 guests, including 10 children. We invited guests to stay on-site and participate in camp activities from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, with 70-90 guests sleeping on-site between the three nights.The venue is do-it-yourself, which gave us options for personalizing the weekend. We had our first look and group photos at the Redwood Grove, ceremony at the amphitheater, reception inside Scheid Hall, barbecue and craft afternoon at the BBQ area, and other meals at the gravel area outside Scheid Hall. The amphitheater provided a beautiful redwood backdrop for our ceremony, and every moment felt magical.The official OVY recommendations of vendors were excellent. We ended up using OVY-recommended Chiara DeJoy for day-of coordinator, Kitchenina for catering, DJ Jezzy Rae from Heart of Gold DJs for DJ and emcee, and A Festive Affair for rentals of patio heaters and ceremony arch. For the Friday welcome dinner we used Vatos Tacos, a taco cart that another couple had used for their wedding weekend at OVY and recommended on Yelp--and they were great too! We found our photographer Stephanie Secrest through a friend, made our own wood flower arrangements instead of using a floral vendor, had Sprinkles cupcakes for dessert, and used San Mateo Catering Company for drop-off breakfast burritos on one of the days.The lodging on site was ideal for a camping weekend. Most of the wedding party stayed at the Willow Glen Lodge, while guests stayed in cabins, tents, and camper vans. The cabins, shared bathrooms, and showers were very basic but we prepared guests for this and encouraged folks who wanted hotel-level amenities to stay at one of the Half Moon Bay hotels or an Airbnb or VRBO nearby. Guests who stayed on-site enjoyed camping with friends, waking up at the campground, taking hikes or walks during downtime, and not having to drive between locations on windy Highway 84. It created a fun community vibe for the weekend.The success of the weekend was made possible by the camp / venue director, Matthew. He has been the director of OVY Camp for 10 years, during which he has grown the wedding business from about 2 weddings per year to 20 per year. The revenue from the weddings helps to pay for the youth summer camp. Matthew is calm, thoughtful, a clear communicator, a logistical and coordination genius, an expert on every detail of his venue, a quick problem solver, and very kind. He was incredibly helpful throughout the process, from giving us a structure to organize our planning, to providing all of the facilities rules and capabilities, to offering excellent vendor recommendations, to helping us think through how we would use the space, to answering our endless questions, to being on-call, working closely with our coordinator, and helping with planned and unplanned venue logistics over the entire weekend. When we had rain over on Friday and the wedding day, he helped our coordinator and us think through decisions about alternate plans (consulting five different weather forecasting apps!) and supported us in making those decisions. We ultimately moved the reception inside but kept the ceremony outside, and fortunately, the sun came out for the ceremony! Matthew's management helped make our weekend fun, beautiful, and a wonderful time to connect with guests.OVY was the perfect place to celebrate our marriage with friends and family! It was everything we were hoping to have for our wedding weekend when we first started on the wedding journey.
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June 2023 by Dustin Cantrell
One of the best wedding venues!. I've captured numerous weddings at OVY Camp and every wedding is unique. Bonus - very friendly staff
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June 2023 by Susan Austin
My daughter's wedding at OVY camp earlier this month was beautiful, fun, connecting and magical! Matthew was attentive to every detail. Mother nature had her way and rain was part of the weekend; Matthew's guidance and support in shifting plans to accommodate the rain was stellar...and truthfully the rain didn't detract from the specialness of the weekend. Part of what you get at OVY is a recommended list of vendors, including wedding planners, who know the site and have worked there multiple times; these vendors were all fantastic. Matthew is a kind, thoughtful and supportive soul who was there at every turn - though completely unobtrusive - to make sure things were going well. For anyone interested in a camp wedding, I couldn't recommend OVY more highly.
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May 2023 by Susan A.
My daughter's wedding at OVY camp earlier this month was beautiful, fun, connecting and magical! Matthew was attentive to every detail. Mother nature had her way and rain was part of the weekend; Matthew's guidance and support in shifting plans to accommodate the rain was stellar...and truthfully the rain didn't detract from the specialness of the weekend. Part of what you get at OVY is a recommended list of vendors, including wedding planners, who know the site and have worked there multiple times; these vendors were all fantastic. Matthew is a kind, thoughtful and supportive soul who was there at every turn - though completely unobtrusive - to make sure things were going well. For anyone interested in a camp wedding, I couldn't recommend OVY more highly.
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April 2023 by S.I. TL. (Stellaaahhh)
My husband spoke so highly of this place after his cousin's wedding that I always wanted to visit. We fortunately got a job assisting with the entertainment at a wedding. We just finished hosting dance karaoke here. It was lovely. Gorgeous venue. ? Can't wait to return again someday.
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February 2023 by alexa stevinson
OVY Camp was an awesome place to get married. It was storming on our wedding day but it went smoothly and was still an awesome experience! Throughout the planning process Matthew (who runs the venue) was helpful and communicated thoroughly. He was always quick to respond and open to chatting. The weekend of the wedding we were supported by another camp employee, Joe. He was great and went above and beyond to support us and our planner to make sure everything went well, even in the pouring rain. We were even able to do our welcome dinner and a farewell brunch on-site. I do recommend paying for the post event cleanup (an additional $750 currently for the entire property). We did not and that would have made Sunday WAY less stressful.Lodging: I had many friends stay on-site in cabins and said they were cozy and warm even through the rain. They said some bathroom stalls were tiny but did not have any issues. They were able to stay comfortable Fri and Sat night! We also had a full lodge which was cozy and warm - a great place for family to hang and for the bride to get ready. For those who did not want to stay on-site, Half Moon Bay is close and guests had no issues coming and going to wedding events.Reception Hall and Kitchen: So beautiful - our wedding was in December and as mentioned, happened to be during the wild rain we have been having recently. The hall was warm, comfortable and provided us with everything we needed throughout the cocktail hour and reception. The kitchen also had everything we needed and was fully stocked - your caterer will love it. My father in law also used it to cook brunch for those on site Sunday and it was easy to use and work with.Ceremony: The only time it stopped raining was from 3:00-4:00pm, our ceremony time! (We had been PRAYING!) - We got married under the redwood grove and it was beautiful. Everyone loved it and we did too. Couldn't imagine a more magical place to get married than surrounded by your closest loved ones and giant Redwoods!They also can provide games and other fun things like the pool. We did pay for games but due to the unfortunate weather we couldn't use them much. They would have been great otherwise!All in all, I recommend OVY Camp for your wedding!
