Kevin Laxalt-Nomura

Review of Optimists Volunteers for Youth

My wife and I had our wedding at OVY over Labor Da...

My wife and I had our wedding at OVY over Labor Day weekend in 2019. Simply put, it was perfect. The venue is a kids summer camp, so it s a little rustic, and pretty removed, which was exactly what we were looking for. The only tough part was handling food and drinks, none of which are provided. But the venue more than makes up for this. It was great to have the place for multiple days, allowing us to have a big BBQ for friends and family the day before the wedding (turned taco party), and to have the on site cabins for more adventurous folks to stay in. We had plenty of people staying in the cabins and they had a great time.

Moreover, the venue is stunning. We had two ceremonies, one Indian and one western, and this venue was perfect for both. For the Indian ceremony, requiring more of a stage and requiring a place to have a small fire, we used the Amphitheater, which easily fit our ~150 guests (with room for more) and all the necessary parts of the ceremony. The Amphitheater was nicely shaded for the audience and not far from the main lodge area. For the western ceremony, we used the Redwood Grove in the late afternoon. The light filtering through the huge redwoods was absolutely perfect, there was, again, ample room for our guests, and there is an outlet and electrical system run out to the grove so our speakers and microphones were simple to run. We opted not to use the platform, instead standing in front of the small grove of three redwoods, and were very happy with it.

Finally, Matthew at OVY was wonderful to work with. He was a great resource as we were planning our events, and does a great job running the venue. It was a blast to meet and get to know him over the course of our wedding.

If you want something off the beaten path, and don t mind a little extra legwork, OVY is an outstanding wedding venue and we can t recommend it enough!