Mother-daughter in the business of ‘making amazingly beautiful celebrations’

Camarillo, California-based Maravilla Gardens is a family legacy that evolved from lemon orchard into wedding venue

For more than a decade, Jen Loller and her mom, Jo Maravilla, have jointly run a thriving outdoor wedding venue business while also juggling the joys and logistical challenges of a multi-generational family.

"There's really no other way to describe running a business with your own mother than to say, our business and personal lives are interwoven. We're not just coworkers, we are family, and support each other emotionally as well," said Loller, whose two sons grew into adults while she helped manage Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo, California. "It's like a big nest, as if we are birds collecting branches and building a nest to support both the business and our lives together."

The roots of Maravilla Gardens go back to some of Loller's earliest memories. When she was four, her parents - Jo and Tony Maravilla - purchased a lemon orchard in the Ventura County foothills. They turned it into a nursery, started up a landscaping contracting business and also built the family's home on the property.

Pinched by the early 2000s recession, her parents decided to diversify their business by adding a wedding venue to the scenic grounds. Her father, Tony Maravilla, who designed and installed landscaping for his business, methodically created the venue grounds. Jo Maravilla, meanwhile, enlisted her knowledge of gardening, a trade she developed during her many years of running a plant nursery on the property, and turned the wedding venue into a joint project they were excited to work on as a team. In addition to running the nursery, Jo Maravilla kept the office straight for all three businesses.

During that time, Loller lived in Sacramento and was busy raising her young family. But she stayed in close touch with her parents and found that her artistic eye - Loller holds a degree in studio art - could benefit their business. She helped create a website that showcased the wedding venue's scenic setting, doubling the number of ceremonies in a year. Within a few years the Maravillas decided to focus solely on weddings at the six-acre property. Loller and her family moved back to Camarillo in 2010 so she could jointly run the business with her mom, and today lives in her childhood home that overlooks the reception area.

"When people visit, they always comment on how the site has such an amazing flow - from the cocktail and reception areas the views overlook agricultural land that can't be developed" because the base of the valley is a flood plain, she said.

Maravilla Gardens' relationship with U.S. Bank began 15 years ago with predecessor company Union Bank. Over the years, Maravilla Gardens has worked with the bank for financing including a Small Business Administration loan, said Priscilla Valles, small business specialist at U.S. Bank.

"I'm honored that they trust me as an honest advisor who will always be here to support this family legacy business for years to come," Valles said.