Bold Blooms and Ballerinas: Inside Our Malibu Garden Wedding Editorial

5 hours ago

5 min read

By Tionna Van Gundy, CSEP | Owner, CEO & Founder, Wedicity

The brief for this Malibu garden wedding editorial was simple: make it erupt. Not subtly beautiful. Not refined and restrained. Erupt — with color, with movement, with the kind of joy that stops someone mid-scroll and makes them want to be there.

We partnered with a remarkable vendor team to bring that brief to life at Cielo Farms in Malibu, California, and when the images hit the inbox, we knew we had something real. Green Wedding Shoes thought so too — the editorial was featured on one of the most widely read wedding blogs in the country. Here's how it came together.

The Setting: Cielo Farms, Malibu

Cielo Farms sits on a Malibu hillside with a Southern California mountain backdrop that needs very little help being beautiful. The challenge with a venue like this isn't making it look good — it's making sure what you bring in matches the scale of the landscape. A few stems and a minimal tablescape won't cut it here. You have to commit.

We wanted an outdoor ceremony and reception that felt like stepping into a garden that had decided to be bold about it. The mountains behind us. The sky above. And absolutely everywhere else: flowers.

The Florals: Eddie Zaratsian, Unrestrained

Eddie Zaratsian handled florals, and if you know his work, you know what that means. The color story ran through plum, lavender, mauve, peach, periwinkle, marigold, and chartreuse — not one accent color, but a full saturated palette working together at ceremony scale. The ceremony space didn't just have floral arrangements; it had an eruption of color, which is exactly what the brief called for.

Empty ceremony site at Cielo Farms showing the circular wooden altar platform surrounded by a towering wild bloom installation of red, orange, and lavender flowers with white iron chairs and Malibu mountain views

For couples planning destination weddings who want design that photographs well and reads as intentional, florals at this scale are a major investment — and a major statement. Eddie Zaratsian delivered both.

The Processional: A Moment Nobody Expected

This is the detail that made the editorial stand out. Instead of a traditional processional, we added two ballerinas — Brittany Yevoli and Toi-ya Leatherwood — performing alongside a live harpist, Ginger Rose Brucker, as the ceremony began.

The effect was exactly what we hoped for: guests (and viewers watching back through the lens) experienced something they'd never seen at a wedding before. It's the kind of decision that feels risky before you do it and obvious after. When you have the venue, the florals, and the light, you need a moment that earns all of it. The ballerinas were that moment.

The goal was never 'pretty.' Pretty is fine, but it doesn't stay with you. We wanted every person who saw this editorial to feel something — to see the processional and think: I want that. Not the ballerinas specifically, but that feeling. That's what we're always chasing for our couples. — Tionna Van Gundy, CSEP | Owner, CEO & Founder, Wedicity

The Reception: The Serpentine Table That Stopped the Scroll

The reception table was the other thing that set this editorial apart. Instead of the standard long rectangle, we used a serpentine — a curved, S-shaped lilac-purple banquet table that moved through the space rather than sitting in it. Dressed with Eddie Zaratsian's florals, Creative Coverings linens, and Premiere Party Rents pieces, it looked unlike anything you typically see in a wedding reception layout.

The serpentine table is having a moment in event design, and this is a good example of why: the curves create natural gathering points, force guests to turn toward each other, and photograph dramatically. If you're planning a destination wedding and want a reception that feels designed rather than assembled, table shape is one of the first conversations worth having.

The Details: Fashion, Cake, and the Vendor Team

The bridal look was a Pronovias strapless floral tulle gown — the right call for a garden setting with this much floral detail everywhere else. The groom wore a sharp black suit from Suit Shop, which let the florals and the bride carry the visual weight without competing.

The Butter End made the cake: three tiers with floral embossing that picked up the garden theme without over-explaining it. Command Performance Catering handled the reception. La Di Da Beauty covered hair. Megan Kay photographed everything, and Emma K Films captured it on video. Aisle Access handled content creation on the ground.

It takes a vendor team that trusts each other to pull off an editorial at this level — everyone contributing their best work, knowing the brief, and not pulling in different directions. That alignment is the job of the planner, and it's what makes the difference between a shoot that looks good in a few shots and one that earns a feature on Green Wedding Shoes.

The Feature: Green Wedding Shoes

Green Wedding Shoes — one of the original and most widely followed wedding editorial blogs — featured this editorial as "Bold Blooms and Ballerinas Made a Wonderland of This Malibu Garden Wedding." If you want to see the full gallery and every detail, the full feature is live now.

Being featured in Green Wedding Shoes is the result of the entire team's work: the visual coherence, the design risks that paid off, and the photography that captured all of it. We're proud of it, and we're proud of everyone whose name is in that vendor list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is a wedding editorial, and how is it different from a real wedding?

A wedding editorial is a styled creative shoot designed to showcase a planner's design vision, vendor relationships, and aesthetic range. It uses models and a curated vendor team — not a couple's actual wedding day — so every detail can be intentional and photographed at its best. The result is a portfolio piece that shows prospective couples exactly what we can bring to their day.

Q: Can Wedicity plan a destination wedding outside of Chicago?

Yes. Wedicity plans destination weddings nationally and internationally. The Malibu garden wedding editorial at Cielo Farms is one example of the kind of destination work we take on. We handle logistics, vendor sourcing, and design direction no matter where you choose to say 'I do.' Learn more about our destination weddings.

Q: How do I get Wedicity to plan my destination wedding?

Wedicity works with each couple individually on destination weddings — pricing and scope are shared during the inquiry process.

Q: What made this garden wedding editorial get featured on Green Wedding Shoes?

A few things set it apart: the bold, saturated color story (plum, lavender, marigold, chartreuse, periwinkle), the live ballerinas in the ceremony processional, and the curved serpentine banquet table — a layout that's still rare enough to stop a scroll. Green Wedding Shoes looks for editorial work that pushes past the expected, and that's exactly what the Cielo Farms team brought. Read the full feature in Green Wedding Shoes.

Q: What is Cielo Farms, and is it available for weddings?

Cielo Farms (also known as Woodstock Malibu) is a hilltop venue in Malibu, California, set against a Southern California mountain backdrop. It's available for private events and weddings.

About the Author

Tionna Van Gundy, CSEP, is the Owner, CEO & Founder of Wedicity, a Chicago-based luxury wedding planning company. With her Certified Special Events Professional credential and a client list that spans Chicago venues and destinations across the country, Tionna brings design vision and logistical precision to every event she leads.

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