CYJ Retreat Center

I am a photo booth vendor, and I had a great experience at this venue working at a birthday party. Great communication with us. The place is really beautiful and there are tons of activities. Everything was very organized, and the group we were working with had a great time. Hope we can do many more events there.

Outstanding space for gatherings, parties, reunions, and events. Clean facilities (many are brand new), ample space for all types of activities, several sports courts, excellent food, and the most friendly and professional staff I’ve ever come across! We love CYJ and take every opportunity to come back.

We had a great time bringing students to this camp! The staff was helpful and prompt. The grounds and facilities were gorgeous. The adult cabins were clean and spacious. I was thoroughly impressed.

CYJ was the best possible place we could've gotten married. First of all, the concept is amazing: a full weekend wedding where everyone can stay on site and have all weekend to play, chat, and get to know each other. Then, their service and food are both outstanding too. Plus the convenience of having the venue, lodging, food, tables/chairs, linens, dishes, etc. included means the number of external vendors you need is really small!

Here's the basic outline of how we did our wedding for an idea of what's possible: Friday people arrived to a giant pool party, then we did a tie dye session, a whiskey tasting, had amazing Texas BBQ, then an opening ceremony with speeches, and ended the night with karaoke and a campfire; Saturday we had a yoga class, a hike, archery, pickleball, another pool party, a game show, off to the ceremony, a beautiful reception, followed by dancing in the large adjoining room and a campfire afterparty. This was basically the best adult summer camp and countless people came up to us to say that it was the best wedding they'd ever been to. That result was in HUGE part due to choosing CYJ as our venue.

I simply can't leave this review without singing the praises of the events coordinator, Wendy, who was on so many calls with us and our families, texting us at all hours, helped us design a wedding logo and a schedule, was deeply involved in the planning, and even helped with day-of coordination. Wendy was and enthusiastic, professional sense of calm through all the planning and the weekend. Truly the weekend wouldn't have been half of what it was without her care, guidance, and work.

Lastly, I need to shout out the amazing chef, Johnathen (and his wife Kristen who made a fabulous cake). Everyone let me know how much they enjoyed the food, and no one noticed that it was kosher!

I'll be forever grateful to CYJ for making my dream wedding a reality, and I highly recommend anyone looking for a unique full weekend wedding to take the leap with CYJ.

P.S. Neither of our families are Jewish, so don't think this spot is only suitable for Jewish weddings. We were worried about meeting kosher requirements but once we sat down with the chef and worked out a menu it didn't turn out to be much of an issue, and none of the guests even noticed!

GET MARRIED HERE!

My wife and I wanted a unique type of wedding where everyone could live together for a few nights, have a ton of fun, and actually build community. After a lot of searching, we found CYJ. It was the first and last location that we saw because the place was so perfect. It had everything that we could’ve wanted in plenty more. We easily accommodated 100 people and none of them had to stay in the cabins. The food, made by Jonathan, was raved about by everybody for every meal. The staff was unbelievably helpful at every moment. This absolute star of the show was Wendy, the site coordinator. She joyfully went above and beyond our wildest expectations in making the event memorable and effortless for us.

We had many, many people come up to us and tell us that this was the best wedding they had ever been to. We’re already talking about using this site again for our 10 year anniversary party! We are immensely grateful to everyone at CYJ for making this an absolute treasure of a memory for us.

Pro tips: Johnathans wife can make your wedding cake on site, and her carrot cake will change your life.