The venue's most popular block of hours gives you a natural ceremony time. Your month, and which of the two ranches you book, shape the light it lands in.
Schedule a callStart with two choices: which ranch and which block of hours. Lower Ranch and Upper Ranch sit over a mile apart with their own ceremony sites, so your ranch decides your portrait options. Your block decides whether the ceremony lands in good light for your month.
From the venue's own pages
Spruce Mountain Ranch is a family-owned 450 acre property in Larkspur that runs as two separate venues. Each ranch hosts one wedding a day, and a Spruce Mountain property manager is at every event. Your rental covers the whole day on one ranch, and a few venue rules decide your timeline and who you hire.
All of this comes from the venue's rates and venues page, wedding FAQ, guest FAQ, partner page and about page. Photographers aren't on the required partner list, and the FAQ welcomes drones and asks that everyone stay out of the pastures. Your tour is a great time to ask anything else.
Book the ranch whose ceremony site you love, because the rest of your day follows it. They're separate properties, so your ceremony, cocktail hour, reception and portraits all happen on the one you pick. Lower Ranch leans garden, creek and hillside meadow. Upper Ranch leans big rooms, a lake and a grass vista.
| Site | Ranch | What's there | Guests (venue's count) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grace's Chapel | Lower | Outdoor garden ceremony under an old willow, with a creek, wildflowers and a view of Spruce Mountain. A garden, not a building. | 200 |
| Mountainside | Lower | Outdoor ceremony in an open meadow on the hillside, looking over the ranch and a pond | 200 |
| The Courtyard | Lower | Outdoor, rock walls, log pergola entrance | 200 |
| Albert's Lodge | Lower | Ceremony or reception. Wood-burning floor-to-ceiling fireplace, big doors onto a courtyard strung with market lights. | 175 to 200 banquet |
| The Colorado Room | Lower | Indoor and outdoor fireplaces, a stream, a dewpond, wildflower gardens | 80 to 95 banquet |
| Trey's Vista | Upper | Outdoor ceremony. Wooden doors open onto a large grass vista. | Up to 500 |
| Lakeview Terrace | Upper | The most intimate space. Stone gazebo and fountain at the edge of Angus Lake. | 40 to 60 banquet |
| The Ponderosa Room | Upper | Indoor, with a stage and an indoor/outdoor fireplace | 400 to 450 banquet |
| Ponderosa Courtyard | Upper | Outdoor | 400 to 450 banquet |
| The Spruce Room | Upper | Glass overhead doors to a lit courtyard, floor-to-ceiling fireplace | 175 to 200 banquet |
| The Aspen Room | Upper | A large overhead glass door framing mountain views to the south | 150 to 180 banquet |
Lower Ranch has two outdoor ceremony sites in open settings. Grace's Chapel keeps everyone close to the creek. Mountainside sits up the hill, and when you choose it the venue runs a 24 passenger shuttle to carry guests to and from the site. Build that ride into your timeline. The Courtyard, with its rock walls and log pergola, is a third outdoor space on this ranch.
Trey's Vista is the outdoor ceremony site on Upper Ranch, with room for up to 500 guests. The venue offers Lakeview Terrace for rehearsal brunches.
It depends on your month more than anything. The venue's most popular block runs 1 PM to midnight, with guests arriving at 4 PM and the ceremony at 4:30 PM. From May through August that leaves 3 hours or more before sunset. From November through January your vows land within half an hour of sunset, and February leaves about an hour.
Other blocks work too, and nobody on your team comes in before it starts. In the popular block the ceremony comes about three and a half hours after your block opens. Move the block and the ceremony moves with it.
| Mid month | Sunset | Ceremony to sunset |
|---|---|---|
| January | 5:00 PM | 30 min |
| February | 5:36 PM | 1 h 6 min |
| March | 7:06 PM | 2 h 36 min |
| April | 7:36 PM | 3 h 6 min |
| May | 8:05 PM | 3 h 35 min |
| June | 8:27 PM | 3 h 57 min |
| July | 8:24 PM | 3 h 54 min |
| August | 7:54 PM | 3 h 24 min |
| September | 7:07 PM | 2 h 37 min |
| October | 6:20 PM | 1 h 50 min |
| November | 4:44 PM | 14 min |
| December | 4:37 PM | 7 min |
These are flat-horizon times for the town of Larkspur on the 15th of each month in 2027. Hills and trees can take the light at a site before the flat-horizon time. Walking your site late in the day shows you exactly when the light leaves it.
For a mid December date, a 2:00 PM ceremony keeps about two and a half hours before sunset, close to what September gets on the popular block. Count back three and a half hours and your block runs 10:30 AM to 9:30 PM. Guests arrive around 1:30, and portraits start around 3:35 PM, about an hour before sunset.
Your rehearsal is the day before, 9 to 10 AM, a time set around other events and the cattle operation, so plan your morning around it. You can book a brunch at Lakeview Terrace right after, from 10 AM to noon.
On the ranch you booked, at spots you've walked at the hour your portraits would happen. We've worked at Spruce Mountain Ranch before, and this list draws on the venue's descriptions of each ranch's gardens, meadow, lake and vista, so use it as what to look at on your tour.
One rule shapes every option: everyone stays out of the pastures, so plan portraits away from the Angus herd. The venue explains why: mother cows protect their calves and may charge.
The old willow and the creek at Grace's Chapel. The Mountainside meadow, looking back over the ranch and the pond. The rock walls and log pergola of The Courtyard. After dark, the market lights outside Albert's Lodge.
The stone gazebo and fountain on Angus Lake. The open grass past the wooden doors at Trey's Vista. The Aspen Room's large glass door with the mountains behind you.
Portraits are prompt-based, so they feel effortless, and the rest of your day stays candid. See it in our work.
Sample photo + video timeline · June 15, 2027
Here's a sample on the popular block for June 15, 2027. With about 4 hours between the ceremony and sunset, portraits move out of cocktail hour and into the reception. The times below are a starting point to adjust on your call once your ranch, your block and your must-have moments are set.
Keep the same rule in any month: portraits start about an hour before your sunset. In mid September that lands near the end of cocktail hour. In mid October it falls right after family photos. Through the winter months, an earlier block makes room for it, which is why the winter shift above moves everything earlier.
Know your indoor room ahead, because the venue says its weather Plan B can start as early as the day of the wedding. On Lower Ranch, Albert's Lodge is built for indoor and outdoor use. On Upper Ranch, the Aspen Room and Spruce Room have big glass doors, so moving inside keeps some of the outdoors in your photos.
Sparklers, Chinese lanterns and fireworks are all off the list because of high fire danger. Open flames have to sit in glass, and flameless candles are always fine. A religious fire element is allowed if it's contained, depending on the Douglas County fire ban stage. Stage 1 needs a Larkspur Fire Department fire watch. Stage 2 moves the ceremony indoors.
You get ready on site in the bridal cottage or loft and the groom's lounge, which are included in your rental and part of your block. Sound is the bigger planning item. The venue has no on-site AV, so your DJ or band usually brings the ceremony sound system, and the venue can refer an outside company if you need one.
We talk with your DJ and officiant ahead of time about how your vows get picked up and where the speakers go. We handle that back and forth with your planner and the venue too, so you're never the go-between. If you choose Mountainside, ask your DJ how they'll run sound out on the hillside.
Three things on this ranch shape your wedding video. Drones are allowed, so aerials are an option worth deciding on early. Cell service is limited, though most ceremony sites have Wi-Fi for streaming. And with no lodging on site, the night ends with guest rides, so plan your send-off around them.
We assist the day, we don't run it. You'll always know we're there, and the rest of the day stays candid around you. If you want film stock in the mix, Super 8, 16mm and 35mm are all options, and 16mm is shot by Brandon.
The ranch has no on-site AV, so your DJ or band brings the ceremony sound. Our audio rolls all day. Your officiant wears an outward-facing lav mic with a windscreen, the groom wears a hidden lav, a very directional mic mounted on one of our rigs faces whoever is speaking, and we tap into your DJ's equipment when there is one. We like three to four audio sources running at any moment. We talk with them, your planner and your officiant ahead of time, so you're never the go-between on how your vows get recorded.
Drones are allowed here and we fly them (more in the FAQ below), so tell us on your call if aerials matter. Most ceremony sites have Wi-Fi for streaming. With no lodging on site, time guest rides to your exit so your send-off stays full.
Yes, the property carries the FAA approval the venue describes in its wedding FAQ. On your tour, check where flying works best around the cattle. Where aerial shots sit in your timeline is something we work out together on your call.
Portraits stay out of the cattle areas, for the safety reason the venue gives. On a tour, ask which ranch the herd is on and where it's visible from guest areas, then plan your portraits around the gardens, meadow, lake and vista on the ranch you book.
The venue closes its front gate once the day's events end, so plan rides home before the night ends. The venue's guest FAQ says cars left after the event are towed at the owner's expense. Rides from Uber and Lyft are limited out there, so ask guests to prebook a ride home well before the reception starts instead of hoping for a pickup at the end.
Lower Ranch has the willow garden at Grace's Chapel, the Mountainside meadow and Albert's Lodge. Upper Ranch has Trey's Vista for big ceremonies, Lakeview Terrace on Angus Lake and the Ponderosa Room for the largest receptions. Because they're separate properties, you stay on one all day.
We frame coverage by the kind of day you're having. Half Day suits elopements and smaller weddings. Full Day fits most weddings. Multi-Day is for celebrations that run longer than one day. We'll work out which fits your day at Spruce Mountain Ranch on your call.
Brandon and Aby are husband and wife and run Motus Weddings together from Bailey with the Motus team. Over 6 years they've covered more than 100 weddings, in digital and in real Super 8, 16mm and 35mm film.
Send us your date, your ranch and your block. On a 30 minute call we'll line up your sunset against the venue's clock and sketch how your photos and your wedding video fit inside it. Every Motus wedding starts with that call.
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