Rancho Del Cielo

Unlike many other Unilocalers we did not plan an event at Rancho Del Cielo but rather stayed for a week in their guest cottage. We have been coming to Southern California for years and absolutely love Malibu. Having stayed in hotels and with family in the past, Rancho Del Cielo sure beat both!
While planning our trip we stumbled across
. Such a great alternative to hotels! The site had many choices but we decided on the Olive Grove Cottage at Rancho Del Cielo. My girlfriend handled most of the reservations with owners Jill and Sparky. Such nice people!
Unfortunately we missed our flight out of Newark to Los Angeles. We booked the next available flight which set us back about 3hrs. We called Jill and made her aware of this and she was super nice and understanding. She gave us detailed directions and said the place will be unlocked to make ourselves at home upon our arrival. By the time we arrived in LA and picked up our car it was already after 10pm. It was dark and feared we would have trouble finding it since its tucked high up on the mountain. With the directions Jill provided we were taken right to the cottage which was ready and waiting for us. It was almost like Motel 6. They even left the lights on for us! There was wine and snacks on the table also which was very nice. Not able to see too much other then some of the city lights to the south we unloaded the car and hit the sack.
Waking up the next morning we thought we were dreaming! Perched high in the mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean it was like waking up in a tree house. A high in the clouds tree house! I kind of felt like a kid and had to explore a bit! The property is amazing. Exactly as advertised! I will let the attached photos do most of the talking. Outdoor fireplace with plenty of firewood, his/​hers showers, Jacuzzi, dining area, chaise lounge chairs, sun deck on the hill above the cottage and views for days! There was even high speed wi-​fi internet! I can go on but you get the idea.
Rancho Del Cielo is super private and about a mile off the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) but is close to everything important. We found it best to go to Ralph’s Grocery Store the first day we were there to stock up on groceries for the week. We enjoy going out but found it very convenient to cook at the cottage as well after a long day in the California sun.
The owners respected our privacy but we always knew if we needed something we could reach them. One evening when heading out for dinner we bumped into Sparky riding his bike up the hill to the property. He gave us suggestions on local places to check out we would’ve never known about. He also assured us if we needed anything not to hesitate contacting them.
Having been on the property for a week I can see why it would make such an amazing wedding venue. It will certainly be at the top of our list when the time comes. Jill and Sparky are the nicest people you’ll meet too. We didn’t want to leave.
If your still reading this run on review i’m pretty sure you get that we enjoyed every minute of our time here. I have attached several photos of the property and area. One day when flying by helicopter back to Van Nuys we had our pilot circle the property to check it out by air. I am clearly not the best aerial photographer but figured i’d share a few photos anyway.
We can’t wait to be back at Rancho Del Cielo! Thank you Jill and Sparky for such great hospitality.

I am an event planner who worked at Rancho Del Cielo a few years back. I had the opportunity to work there again in August 2015 and saw their new team at work and it was a seamless experience. Cathy is outstanding, and she and the owners, Jill and Sparky, and the rest of the team at the venue work like a swiss watch. I am very particular about making sure the fellow vendors and venue managers I work with on events are total professionals; as picky as I am, I would not hesitate to work at Rancho again or refer the venue to brides and grooms!

Full disclosure first. My son was recently married at Rancho del Cielo. So I’m not one of their clients, just a participant in the wedding.
If you’re planning a big wedding you know that the process can be fraught with enough logistics, conflict and pain to make you sometimes imagine you are in the midst of a military campaign. But I have to say, once we showed up on the site, the fog of war was lifted and everything seemed to float as beautifully and perfectly as if we were all on a magical cloud.
I say perfectly, but I found out later that the few minor glitches, things we had overlooked, were seamlessly taken care of by Jill and her gracious staff, working so unobtrusively that I never knew they happened.
Many people told us it was the most fun and beautiful wedding they had ever attended. It certainly was one of the proudest and most wondrous days of my life.

I am a Los Angeles based Wedding Coordinator. Last night I coordinated a wedding at RDC. I have nothing but good things to say about the owners, staff, and site itself.
Jill and Sparky, the owners, are a dream team. As part of a family business myself, I appreciate how well they communicated and worked together. A family that can work together well speaks volumes about their business in my opinion. They are a well-​oiled machine.
The venue itself is very beautiful. Full of lush grass, ocean views, colorful flowers and soft breezes, RDC sets the backdrop for a romantic California chic wedding! Jill, a graphic designer by trade, has created an incredible and comfortable design atmosphere. It’s a home that anyone would want to live in!
Cathy, their site manager is amazing! She is a beacon of positivity and calmness. I have read other reviews on this site about their PREVIOUS site manager and assure you that any negative energy is long gone! Cathy is incredibly organized, communicative, hard working and gives her all to each client. Many site managers leave at the beginning of a ceremony, but Cathy was there, on site, till the bitter end.
As a coordinator who was brought on only 3 weeks before the wedding, I was playing information catch up. Jill and Cathy answered ever call and email with speed and accurate information.
Their preferred caterer, Monrose Catering in excellent. The food and well as their catering staff are on point!
All in all, there are not enough good things I can say about RDC. I hope to coordinate another wedding their very soon!

I had the wedding of my dreams at Rancho del Cielo. Thank you, Jill & Sparky! It was more than I could ever hope for. The guests loved our venue and couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful everything was. We wanted a beautiful intimate wedding and we got just that, with ocean views :) I will never forget our wedding day. My husband and I wish we could relive it everyday!

First, I want to say that I did not have my wedding at Rancho del Cielo. HOWEVER, this review is about my wedding planning experience with them. My husband and I saw Rancho del Cielo and fell in love with the views and feelings of calmness you get from the place. Unfortunately, due to communication issues with their previous site coordinator it did not work out for us there. They have since gotten new coordinating staff and the reviews have been positive. More important than that is Jill and Sparky’s commitment to do what they can to make your day special. While we did not have our wedding there, Jill and Sparky extended their kindness and generosity to us. So, if you are considering the venue, you are in the hands of good people.

We recently had our dream wedding at Rancho Del Cielo on July 25^th, 2014. We originally started our planning process with Avesta being the coordinator but they now have new staff, Kim, Cathy and Jake who are all very easy to work with and definitely get the job done! The entire planning process is very nice. When visiting their home, expect to be greeted with ear to ear smiles, espresso and biscotti’s and an adorable dog, Hoover. Jill was so happy when discussing the plans for our wedding and makes you feel like an old friend.
Of course nothing is perfect and we had a snag that came up a month or so about the wedding (which happens with every wedding) but Jill, Sparky and their team went out of their way to fix everything, truly made us feel like family and like they really cared about our day. Everything was handled with ease and turned out great the day of!
We opted for their Celeste package because we had a wedding of under 75 guests. This was perfect because it came with the tables, linens, floral, DJ, caterers, etc. At first I was a little nervous about how the vendors would turn out. I did not want a cheesy wedding florist or DJ and wanted to make sure my sense of style would be captured. Everyone they work with is very talented! Their recommended caterer, Monrose Catering, was by far the BEST wedding food I’ve had. Their presentation was amazing and with their price being so reasonable, my expectations were surpassed. Our package allowed us to bring our own alcohol (which saved us a lot of $) but we completely forgot about non-​alcoholic drinks for the wedding or even mixers with the alcohol! Monrose ran out to get everything we needed only hours before the wedding (without question) and made the problem effortless to fix for us the day of.
The florist was Ezai Floral in Santa Monica and they were very talented. I wanted to use all of my own vases and provide the décor for the tablescape and the florist made it really easy. She is definitely a floral designer and has a great aesthetic to her arrangements. The DJ is Jake, who is Jill and Sparky’s son. He was also fantastic to work with. We wanted to provide our own music to eliminate any cheesy wedding songs we wouldn’t want to dance to and he was more than happy to work with us. All the songs came on exactly when they were supposed to and the sound was great. We even made some goofy requests at the end of the night and he greeted them with a smile! We had Cathy be our officiant and she was a complete breath of fresh air. Her voice was really calming during the ceremony and she has a calmness about her that was good when I was nervous. Haha
Kim was our day-​of coordinator and she took everything on and made it run smoothly! She has a great sense of style when helping with décor and she told us when to walk, where to go, and helped navigate the day. She even brought us champagne on the cutest vintage tray with glasses, while we were getting ready in hair and makeup. This is totally the service you need on your big day and it was much appreciated!
Oh and the cherry on top! We wanted to have a tree ceremony at our wedding rather than a unity candle. When discussing the details with Sparky and Jill, they offered to donate one of Sparky’s Rancho Del Cielo Oak’s to us to use for this ceremony! Sparky raises oaks from acorns as a project of his. It was a gesture we will never forget and always cherish as we plan to plant it someday in our yard.
On our day, when our guests arrived, everyone was amazed with the view and how unique the venue was. We had many guests say it was the best wedding they had ever been to! The property grounds are so well kept with tons of beautiful landscaping and an AMAZING view! Even the drive up is an experience! This venue is so quaint, vintage, and eclectic with a family feel that I know I wouldn’t have had the same day at a huge hotel or at a venue with employees. Ignore any previous bad reviews about the service as they truly have made drastic improvements and if I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat! Like next weekend!
Thank again to everyone at Rancho Del Cielo who made our day our dream wedding. They are memories we will cherish for a lifetime!

Sorry to see that this place has so many poor reviews since that definitely doesn’t represent my experience here. Jill and Sparky, the owners, are the friendliest people you would ever want to work with! They are everything you would want in your venue hosts — friendly, accommodating, straightforward, honest and really helpful in making the day run smoothly. I see that Avesta is no longer working with them, so though we had some complaints about her service, those won’t affect anyone choosing this venue in the future.
I have now been a bridesmaid in two weddings at this venue, and it’s definitely where I want to get married when it’s my turn! The venue is absolutely gorgeous — it’s on a hilltop in Malibu and overlook the ocean and hillsides of Malibu with over 180 degrees of panoramic views. Both weddings were about as perfect as could be imagined. There are two outdoor spaces on the property, one that faces the ocean (where my brother and his wife and my friend and her husband chose to have the ceremony) and a larger grassy area where the reception took place. Looks like in some of the pictures that other couples switched the locations and it worked just as well. It’s cool that it’s so versatile! And surprisingly, the two weddings that I’ve been in up there were really different and unique despite being in the same location.
The house on the property is rustic and charming and is used for the staging area for the wedding party and catering. The upstairs is the bride’s area, with plenty of space for her and her bridesmaids to get ready before the wedding. The rooms up there are airy and bright and beautifully set up, so the pictures we took of the preparations all looked fabulous. After each ceremony, the bride and groom retreated back upstairs to have a few minutes alone before taking photos and there was a platter of hors d’oeuvres and champagne waiting for them up there.
The road up there is winding and can be intimidating for people not used to canyon roads, but for both the weddings, the guests all parked at a church at the bottom of the hill and some experienced drivers took us up in vans, so it wasn’t a big deal.

I was just there last night 7/​11/​/​14 for my cousin wedding. I’m not sure why this place will have any bad reviews. There are great panoramic views of the ocean. Everything was all-​inclusive food, drinks, dj, and photographer plus valet (wedding and reception at one location yet different areas on the property). Friendly staff, all you can drink plus a wine bottle for home. At night, the full moon reflects its light on the ocean waves and you couldn’t tell where the ocean end and the sky begin. The bathroom was clean plus the staff consider everything with breath mints, sewing kit, lotion, etc. for everyone comfort. It’s definitely a great place to get married. I was truly impressed.
I have two cons: First of all the drive on PCH to get there was taxing. Apparently, the city is doing road construction so I advised that you leave early for the stop and go traffic. I was uncomfortable with the winding road up a steep narrow hill if a car is going the opposite way there isn’t room to allow them threw luckily that didn’t happen. If your cars is old and have transmission trouble, it’s best to rent a car to tackle that hill. If the wedding goes to nighttime as my cousin’s wedding did please don’t drink too much. Best bet is to have a designated driver to carefully drive down the hill. The other con is the DJ was more of play your song list type of guy no scratching, no mixing just press play. He did not hype up the crowd per se. FYI-​Make sure the mic level is up enough for everyone to hear the vows and you are able to record audio. Overall, great place we were there from 2−10pm so I invested 8 hours of my life to enjoy this wedding and I was consistently happy with their service. Enjoy!

First off i am writing this review as a man under my wife’s log in, just so you know where it’s coming from…
My wife and I were married here back on 9÷1÷13 and i promised the owners we would give them a very honest review after the festivities were over, so here goes…
This place is amazing and we couldn’t have been happier with our decision. After now attending several of our friends and families weddings at other venues, we keep coming back to how perfect it was for us. The location has that wow factor for you and all your guests. The owner’s Jill and Sparky are extremely hospitable and treat you like family the minute you meet them. They were the final deciding factor in choosing this venue over many other very nice places.
Dollar for dollar we were extremely happy with what this place offers. The owners keep everything immaculate and give it that feeling that you have travelled far far away to a magical land. It has that laid back rustic rancho kind of style. They may have preferred vendors which others might see as a negative but honestly all their vendors were phenomenal and knew exactly how to work that venue. The photographer, florist, caterer, DJ, etc. no complaints at all with any of them.
All our guests couldn’t stop talking about what an amazing time it was and how it was the best wedding they had ever been too. now of course credit also goes to the bride for all the pretty little touches but this place gives you everything you need to work with to make the most out of that memorable day.
The only reason we didn’t go 5 stars and i mean the only reason is… Avesta. There are many harsh things said of her which many are very true; i.e. slow to respond to emails, gives specific meeting times but never on time, bad communicator, rude, controlling, bossy, etc. but the owners Jill & Sparky compensate greatly for her rudeness with pure grace. And on a positive not though, she does get the job done which is really what counts to me at the end of the day… but i’m a guy as i mentioned earlier.
Anyways, we look back on this place with extremely found regard and would recommend to our very best of friends… You won’t disappointed.

This review is based on very limited information, but mostly to let you know that before you book a wedding here, make sure you check out other venues in Malibu. This location is absolutely gorgeous and my husband and I were about to sign a contract for our wedding here, but decided not to as we realized that there are many hidden charges and too many required vendors that we would have had to choose (who would also drive the price up well beyond what we thought it would cost).
Just before booking, Avesta had told us that she was «saving our date» and that if anyone contacted her to book that date she would contact us before booking. We never heard from her and when we reached out to let her know we were ready to book, she told us that that date was no longer available as they had another couple who moved their wedding date due to an accident. Fine, so we could have chosen another date, but I am so happy that we didn’t.
Do your homework first before booking this venue. We ended up using another a la carte venue in malibu that was less expensive and with no mandatory vendors or hidden fees. We are SO GLAD WE DID! It was stunningly beautiful, magical and so much less expensive than a wedding at RDC would have been. They even provide gorgeous lighting at no charge so you really don’t need to do anything to decorate as the view of the coast and their lighting at night creates the perfect atmosphere.

Despite the ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE site planner, Avesta, this is an amazing location to get married. Our wedding came out exactly as we planned, but only because we took complete ownership of it and hired a very organized wedding coordinator.
That said, here are some warnings to help with planning at this site:
1. The lighting packages are confusing (as another person mentioned). The standard is «carnival lights» or bare bulbs. The lanterns are an upcharge.
2. You must bring everything, including the catering kitchen. This can be expensive. Make sure you get silent generators or you will hear them.
3. You must provide transport from available parking (I think it was a church at the bottom of the hill) up to the site itself. There are only a few spots available for wedding party/​caterers.

UPDATE AS OF 6÷19÷2013: I just wanted to follow up with my initial review since I have since gotten married and my wedding was at RDC.
Since I made it clear to RDC about the way they handled us as clients, Jill, the owner took over as the main point of communication with myself and my then fiancé. She was very accommodating and did her best to give us as many extra things as possible. However, on the day of the wedding, I noticed that lighting was not what I was told by Avesta. She told us that «standard» lighting are these spherical chinese lanterns. When I got to the property, all I saw was the light bulbs. When I asked for it, she skirted the question and said she would talk to Jill. Jill at first refused and after some cajoling from our on the day coordinator relented. BTW. the lighting/​shades made a huge difference in my pictures so I’m glad I stood my ground. My bridesmaids tried to talk me into letting it go but at this point after everything I had to deal with with this venue, I was furious.
Even though I had a great time on my wedding day minus this whole lighting issue and my guests had a good time, I still do not think it makes up for the 4 months of complete negligence on the part of RDC. I wish I was that sentimental to say that the wedding day was totally worth it — sorry, it wasn’t. If I could go back and pick another venue who I knew would have treated us with more consideration, I would do that again.
I want to be honest in my review since the owner did contact my new husband after reading this review and said that she was insulted. My intention is to warn other people because getting married is a huge milestone in one’s life and I don’t want anyone else’s experience tainted because I didn’t speak my mind. I chose not to hide behind some clever screen name when writing this review because I did want RDC to read it, my friends and guests have also read it and frankly, I am not going to lose sleep over the honesty of this review when I already lost a lot of sleep after paying RDC a bunch $$$ and being ignored for the better part of the year.
To the owners of RDC — thank you for trying to make up for how you were with us, I really do appreciate that. Unfortunately, that does not erase the fact that I had to resort to getting ready to cancel my wedding because of your actions — I cannot forigve that. I even called the Better Business Bureau because I was so lost in how to deal with the situation. If you knew what we went through, you wouldn’t be insulted, you would instead offer a sincere apology and so would Avesta — which I still haven’t gotten.

My wife and I have been married for 35 years. We were married in a wonderful outdoor, magical, setting. When we decided it would be special to renew our vows we agreed Rancho Del Cielo in Malibu would be the perfect spot and it is. It’s beautiful and intimate. Possibly the prettiest place we have ever been. Jake, Jill and Sparky are fantastic. In addition to being a beautiful spot to hold a ceremony we have stayed in the guest house. Talk about a room with a view! We recommend this beautiful spot to anyone looking for a very special day.