Notes on the light
Hummingbird Nest Ranch is a 124-acre estate in the Santa Susana Mountains, about forty minutes north of Los Angeles, and its light is a hilltop light. The property sits high enough that the last hour of sun runs long and unobstructed, raking gold across the olive groves and warming the white stucco of the 1920s villa. We build the day around that final hour, when the ridgeline holds the sun and the whole valley below softens into haze. It is the kind of light you cannot rig, and it is the reason we love filming here.
The spaces, and how they film
The Villa is where the morning lives, a 1920s Spanish Colonial house with arched rooms that hold shadow and tall windows that do most of the lighting for us. Getting-ready footage here has weight and quiet: there is room to breathe, and room for the people who matter to be in the frame.
The Grounds are the estate's scale on display, with olive groves, bougainvillea against white walls, and a long entry drive that gives an arrival real cinema. We shoot portraits in the groves at golden hour, when the leaves go silver and the bougainvillea reads deep and saturated against the stucco.
The ceremony lawns sit out under open sky with the Santa Susana range behind them, and the ridgeline is made for a drone. We plan the aerials around the exact minute the sun drops behind it, so the wide shots carry the whole estate and the valley beyond in a single frame.
Because the property is private and vast, the day never feels crowded or rushed, which is the real luxury here and the thing that lets a film breathe.
The films, so far
We have made thirteen films at Hummingbird Nest Ranch: Edmond & Lauren, Luke & Anna, Dave & Alex, Evan & Kelly, Faraz & Nassim, Ryan & Kristina, George & Wendy, Daniel & Alexis, Melvin & An, Jordan & Leana, Marcel & Lauren, Sean & Lindsey and Ryan & Cynthia. Thirteen weddings at one estate is enough to know its rhythm cold: where the light lands at each hour, which grove holds up at sunset, how the ridgeline reads from the air, and which wild corners past the lawns are worth the walk. The more we film a place, the less we miss, and the better yours will be.
Timing the lights
Hummingbird Nest Ranch hosts one wedding at a time, so the estate is entirely yours, and we can work every space without a second party to edit around. That freedom matters here more than most places, because the property is large and the best moments are spread across it.
The last hour of daylight belongs to the olive groves and the hilltop, where the sun rakes gold across the leaves and the villa. A late-afternoon ceremony leaves time for portraits in the groves while the light is low, and puts the aerials over the ridgeline right as the sun drops behind it. That window is when Hummingbird Nest Ranch looks most like itself, and we build the coverage around it.
Have you filmed at Hummingbird Nest Ranch before?+
Yes, thirteen times. Hummingbird Nest Ranch is the venue we have filmed more than any other, and every one of those films is linked on this page. We already know where the light lands at each hour, which groves hold up at sunset, how the ridgeline reads from the air, and which corners past the lawns are worth the walk.
When is the best light at Hummingbird Nest Ranch?+
The last hour of daylight, up on the hilltop. The estate sits high and open, so the sun runs long and gold across the olive groves and the white villa before it drops behind the ridgeline. We build the day's coverage around that final hour.
Where do you film couple portraits?+
In the olive groves, at golden hour. The leaves go silver in the low sun and the bougainvillea reads deep against the white stucco. The long entry drive and the open hilltop give us wider, more cinematic frames when we want them.
Can you film aerials at Hummingbird Nest Ranch?+
Yes. The ridgeline and the 124-acre grounds are made for it, and because the estate hosts one wedding at a time, we have the room to fly. We time the drone work to the minute the sun drops behind the ridge, so the wide shots carry the whole valley in gold.
Planning notes, and the numbers
Checked July 2026
Hummingbird is priced by the site rather than by the property, which is why quoted figures vary so widely from one guide to the next. The numbers below are per area, and every one of them moves with your day of the week and your caterer.
- The sites
- The estate publishes eight event areas: the Villa, Grand Prix, Sitting Bull, Lakeside Barn, Lakeside Lawn, the Vineyard, the Garden Pavilion and the Dressing Suites.
- Capacity
- Grand Prix lawn to 1,000. Lawn by the lake to 500. Villa exteriors and Sitting Bull exteriors to 300 each. The barn to 200. Choose the site and you have chosen your guest ceiling.
- Site fees
- Quoted per area, not per estate. Villa exteriors on a Saturday runs eleven thousand dollars, or nine thousand with a preferred caterer. Sitting Bull exteriors runs nine thousand, or seven thousand with a preferred caterer. Friday and Sunday sit lower. 2026 rate
- Catering
- A preferred list, or your own caterer with approval and a likely additional fee. The preferred list is the cheaper route by roughly two thousand dollars on the site fee alone. 2026 rate
- Curfew
- Two in the morning, with amplified music permitted. That is the latest finish of any venue on this site, and it changes what a wedding here can be.
- Staying over
- Fourteen nightly accommodations on the property.
- What the curfew means for the film
- Most venues take the night away from you at ten or eleven. Here the ceiling is so late that the limit becomes your own stamina rather than the contract. We have filmed thirteen weddings on this estate, and the ones that used the extra hours well planned for them rather than discovering them.
Site areas and on-property accommodation as published by Hummingbird Nest Ranch. Capacity, fees, catering and curfew as published by Woman Getting Married, updated May 2025 and checked by us July 2026. Rates move every year. Confirm your date with the estate before planning around any figure here.
