San Jose Catholic Engaged Encounter

We went there not knowing what to expect out of the weekend, and thinking it would be boring, but we were wrong. From this retreat we have deepen our relationship and had learned some valuable skills that could benefit us in a long run. The presenting couples were funny, energetic and entertaining. The meals were good too! I would recommend this retreat to other couples, it’s a must go for couples who are ready to take the next step in their relationship.
Side note: don’t forget to bring shampoo!

My fiancé and I initially went into the Engaged Encounter weekend not knowing what to expect, and honestly thought it would be a little boring. We had to do this one weekend retreat for our parish where we are getting married, and we chose San Jose because it was close and easy to sign up for. We just got home from this past weekend, and our perspective was changed completely! I was particularly worried he would have a horrible time, since I was the «dragger», but we both made many new friends, had great conversations, and grew closer together (even though we have been dating for 3 years and didn’t think we could get any closer!). This weekend allowed us to be open and honest with each other on many different important topics, and most importantly allowed us to look past the wedding DAY and hear real life challenges real married couples face, at different stages. Ryan and Krista were great leaders, and gave us the «few years into marriage» perspective, and Julie and Jose gave us a perspective of a couple married 50 years. The food was really good at the Vallambrosa center, and each meal we changed tables to meet new people-​I loved this part!
We both had a very enriching experience, and thank you again to the couples who volunteered their time to share what works (and doesn’t!) in all of the different areas we will face in our marriage.
I highly recommend this retreat for any couple preparing for their marriage.

A weekend with Catholic Engaged Encounter will help bring you and your fiancé closer to each other. The weekend, as mentioned by other reviews, is pretty intense. Once you check in on Friday night, they immediately start their sessions. The Friday session lasted from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Saturday session was from 9 a. m to 9 p.m. The last session, Sunday was from 9 a.m. to around 1 p.m. Breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday started at 8 a.m. So, as you can see, you’ll be busy all weekend long. Each day you’ll focus on several topics that help to strengthen the relationship that you have with your fiancé and prepare you for marriage. It really gets you to know who they are as a person and what both your expectations are for one another in terms of love, communication, family, finances, faith, etc. No matter how long you’ve been with your fiancé you’ll definitely learn something new about them during the weekend. During a session topic (for example, communication), a couple who’s been married for several years shares their experiences in that particular area. Each topic begins that way with a presenting couple introducing the topic, and sharing their experiences. After this is all done, they ask that the couples separate from one another to write about their thoughts and feelings towards that area. Writing shows a lot of power in communicating with your fiancé during the weekend, since the topics are very personal and deep, sparking intense emotions. So… be prepared to write, be open in what you feel, and describe what you mean. That is what makes the weekend valuable between couples.
Past couples run the organization (as was mentioned during the weekend that I had attended). From the website, to the registration process, check-​in, creation of documents for the weekend, and so forth. This shows how truly dedicated they are in what they do. During the online registration, everything ran smoothly and when we had questions regarding certain situations before our event, they were always quick to respond. They were really helpful. The presenting couples at my weekend were very friendly and easy going. I liked how they were truly honest in sharing their ideas, and at the same time open to listening to that of others.
I highly recommend that you attend an Engaged Encounter weekend. It will be one of the most memorable experiences that you will share with your fiancé.

I promised myself I would come back after this weekend and write a review for the Engaged Encounter weekend, as there really wasn’t much to go on when I researched it online.
Firstly, well done for looking into it without just taking your Priest’s word for it. The cost for the weekend is around $ 350+ for both you and your fiancé, which is quite an investment considering all the other costs of other wedding prep we have to do! But it’s TOTALLY worth it.
The weekend is super intense… We started at 7pm on Friday evening ending late that night around 10.30pm. Every morning would start at 8am and go all the way through 10pm at night!
We went to the closest location — the Presentation Center in Los Gatos. The sessions were led by two couples, one older couple who’ve been married for around 26 yrs and a younger couple who have been married for around 6yrs. They shared intimate stories about their marriage, the ups and downs, with examples of how they worked through their differences and found ways to strengthen their relationship over the years. Each presentation was followed by the couples (around 30 of us) having to write pages and pages to answer in-​depth questions about how our partners have enriched our lives and areas that we think we need to develop. These would be written separately from each other, which helped us gather our own thoughts and let the words flow on paper without interruptions so that we could pour our hearts out and say what we really felt. Then we would have to go find our partners and share our answers with each other. The discussion times were too short, because we had to read through both sets of answers and discuss why we felt that way and how to resolve any conflict that was caused by each topic, but I guess you have a lifetime (if things work out for the best) to discuss them after the retreat is over!
The best part was that it helped us realize we’re not alone & we’re not that perfect :) we found areas where we were really strong and compatible and others where we had totally opposing views. Luckily the latter was a lot less, but it helped to highlight areas that we needed to chat about and clear the air. There were a lot of tears during the presentations as the couples shared some really heartfelt moments and emotions that touched the crowd. I’m such a blubberer that I was always sniffling, luckily there were enough tissue boxes in the room for everyone!
There were parts where God & the Church were mentioned, to help signify the Christian approach in marriage and recognize that God was present during the good times and the bad. But these were few and far between. The weekend is mostly about you and your partner to focus on your relationship and try to find out more about each other and your expectations from the future.
If you do go to the Los Gatos venue, definitely carry an extra blanket with you! The location is gorgeous, nestled in the mountains and it was super sunny and warm during the days. But at night, the old radiator heaters were really loud and don’t come on automatically, so you have to either freeze all night (without the warmth of your partner next to you as boys & girls are put on separate floors) OR turn on the heater and try to sleep through the clanging and banging! You also have to share bathrooms, so carry a pair of flip flops for the shared showers. The facility was super clean and I never had to wait to use the bathroom, so it all worked out well.
There are loads of cutesy surprises through the weekend, which I won’t spoil for you by telling you in advance. Just take it from me, it’s definitely worth going. Your fiancé will kick and scream about it beforehand, and he’ll probably be all packed and ready to go by the end of Sunday (you get out by 2.30pm) — but even he will find it worth it in the end. There are no distractions and you really get to spend quality time with each other discussing things you may not even know could be issues until your partner has told you about them.
My fiancé and I came back from this weekend feeling stronger and soooo happy about our relationship. We’ve been having rocky moments through the wedding day planning, as most couples seem to go through. So this weekend was a brilliant way to recognize WHY we’re going through all this and get back some of the honeymoon feelings of our time dating.
Have fun & don’t miss this opportunity to get back in the groove :)

The World According to Noelle
Allergic Girl’s Guide to Life
«A wedding is a day, a marriage is a lifetime.» Engaged Encounter
Our family priest said we needed to complete a weekend away at Engaged Encounter to be married in the Catholic Church. So my fiancé signed us up with San Jose Catholic Engaged Encounter.
We arrived at the Presentation Center located in the Los Gatos Hills on a Friday evening. We were warmly greeted by the Engaged Encounter team. We checked-​in and were led to our rooms. Men and Women have separate sleeping quarters. We are assigned roommates. The facilities at the Presentation Center are clean and comfortable. The Dining Hall is one of the first «Green Buildings» in Santa Clara County worth $ 7M.
Engaged Encounter is not for the faint of heart.
There are about 20 other couples that are with you at this retreat. We listened to series of lectures. We would listen to a lecture topic, separate from our significant other, take time to write our response to the topic, meet with our significant other and discuss the topic at hand. We had the opportunity to discuss and write at length about our ambitions, goals, attitudes about God, sex, money, children, family, and our role in the church and community. We also had small group discussions.
It was the experience of a life time. It was extremely hard work. It was worthwhile. I learned more about myself, my fiancé, ourselves as a couple. Words cannot express the experience we benefited from our time at Engaged Encounter.