The weekend is held at a retreat center or hotel in the Atlanta area. Capacity at these facilities is limited, so all attendees share a room with another attendee of the same gender.
Note that since Catholic Engaged Encounter is a national ministry, CEE weekends are held in many cities across the United States. See the Resources link for links to other communities.
Content
The content presented at all of our weekend retreats is the same. Each
offers the same amount of time for presentations, writing, and dialogue.
Sunday mass is included as part of all retreats.
Schedule
Some of our retreats include one overnight stay and some include two. The
difference comes from a shift in the schedule. Those that start Saturday
morning go later on Sunday. The schedule for the weekend depends on the
facility at which the weekend will take place. See the Weekend
Schedule link for a complete listing of weekend dates and locations.
Cost
The cost of all our weekend retreats is the same. The schedule changes
were made in order to accomplish this in response to different facility
costs. The cost of the weekend is driven primarily by the costs for
facilities and meals.
Meals
None of the retreats include dinner on Friday.
Retreats that begin Friday night include the following meals: Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sunday breakfast.
Retreats that begin Saturday morning include the following meals: Saturday lunch, and dinner. Sunday breakfast and lunch.
Participants are asked to bring snacks to share throughout the weekend.
Catholic Engaged Encounter is a ministry dedicated to marriage preparation. Our motto, "A wedding is a day, a marriage is a lifetime", sums up the whole idea. Think of all the preparation taken for the wedding day. Most people spend months planning, and hundreds, if not thousands of dollars preparing for the wedding. But how much time and effort is actually spent preparing for a Lifetime of Togetherness?
See our Testimonials page which sites expert and couple feedback on the benefits of making an Engaged Encounter weekend.
Couples are encouraged to attend a weekend 6 months before their wedding date to obtain maximum benefit. Couples must plan to stay the entire Weekend to benefit from the experience thoroughly.
Although the weekend is put on by the Catholic church, couples of all faith expressions are encouraged to take part as they prepare for marriage.
Couples do not need to be officially engaged, nor have set their wedding date, in order to attend an Engaged Encounter Weekend.
Through a series of ideas presented by teams of married couples and a priest, the engaged couples are stimulated to dialogue privately on all aspects of married life, always from the viewpoint of their own relationship. Couples are given the opportunity to question, examine and deepen their relationship with each other. Through a series of writing and sharing exercises the couples are challenged to explore many aspects of their relationship in a much deeper, more honest way than they may have before. Personal reflection and dialogue are the main emphasis of the weekend, with the exception of meals and a few group activities interspersed.
The cost of the Engaged Encounter weekend is $275 per couple. This fee helps to cover the cost of the weekend including lodging, meals, and supplies. If you wish to attend an Engaged Encounter weekend, but cannot afford the cost, please talk to the priest/deacon preparing you for marriage and have him contact our registration team at (770) 975-1147 or registration@atlcee.org regarding financial assistance.
If there are no available weekend dates before your wedding date, you have several options.
Option 1: Catholic Engaged Encounter is a national organization with weekends presented in nearby cities such as Birmingham, Charlotte, Greenville, and Tampa. You can navigate to the national web site, http://www.engagedencounter.org to obtain information on weekends in other communities.
Option 2: If approved by your priest, you may attend a Precana class presented by the Archdiocese of Atlanta. To obtain registration information and learn of available dates for Precana, call 404-888-7819.
Option 3: Check with your priest to see if your parish runs a sponsor-couple program. The sponsor-couple program is a series of one-on-one meetings with a married couple in your parish.
Option 4: You may be placed on a wait list for Engaged Encounter weekends that are already full in case of cancellations. Please call our registration line at 770-975-1147, option 2, After the tone, leave the following information: your name, day and evening phone numbers, wedding date and the weekends you are interested in. NOTE: there is no guarantee that you will get on one of these earlier weekends so you do need to make alternate arrangements.
Attire for the weekend is casual (ex. jeans). You will want to bring snacks to share with the group as well as change for vending machines. You may also want to bring your checkbook since we make several of the books noted in the Resources page available for sale during the weekend.
Mass is held as part of the Engaged Encounter weekend program, fulfilling your Sunday obligation.
Although the content of the weekend is the same, the answer depends on the facility at which your weekend will take place. See the Weekend Schedule link for a complete listing of weekend dates and locations.
Weekends held at Simpsonwood and Hilton Garden involve one overnight stay. They begin with check-in at 7:30am on Saturday morning and presentations begin at 8am. The retreat will conclude around 4pm on Sunday.
Weekends held at our other facilities include two overnight stays. They begin with check-in at 7:30pm on Friday evening and presentations begin at 8pm. The retreat will conclude around 2pm on Sunday.
Sunday mass is included as part of all retreats.