Wedding photography is all about capturing the magic, emotion, and beauty of the big day. However, no matter how skilled a photographer is, post-processing is essential to elevate those raw shots into polished, timeless images. Lightroom presets can save time and ensure consistency across a wedding gallery, helping photographers achieve the perfect tone, mood, and atmosphere.

In this guide, we’ll explore the 20 best Lightroom presets for wedding photos, offering options for various styles, from classic elegance to dreamy romance.

What are Lightroom Presets?

Lightroom presets are pre-made photo editing settings that can be applied to photos with just one click. They automate the editing process by adjusting the settings like exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, colors, and more, helping photographers save time while ensuring a consistent look throughout their work.

Why Use Lightroom Presets for Wedding Photography?

Wedding photography requires attention to detail, from capturing perfect lighting to enhancing the emotions of the day. Using Lightroom presets not only streamlines the editing process but also helps photographers achieve specific styles and aesthetics quickly. Presets can provide:

  • Time Efficiency: Speed up the post-processing workflow.
  • Consistency: Ensure a cohesive look throughout the wedding album.
  • Customizability: Easily adjust the settings to fit each photo’s unique needs.

Now, let’s dive into the 20 best Lightroom presets for wedding photos.


1. VSCO Inspired Presets

Inspired by film photography, VSCO presets add a soft, vintage touch to wedding photos. These presets offer beautiful muted tones, giving images a classic and timeless appeal.

2. Luxe Film Presets

Designed for those who love the dreamy, cinematic feel of wedding photos, Luxe Film presets enhance natural lighting and soft hues. They’re perfect for outdoor or destination weddings with natural backdrops.

3. Dark & Moody Wedding Presets

For couples who prefer a more dramatic and moody aesthetic, these presets bring deep contrasts, rich shadows, and earthy tones. Ideal for indoor weddings or evening ceremonies.

4. Light & Airy Presets

These presets brighten images, enhancing whites and soft colors for a whimsical, fairy-tale-like effect. Perfect for outdoor weddings in bright, natural light.

5. Warm Golden Hour Presets

This preset collection is specifically designed for golden hour shots, amplifying warm tones and giving a soft glow to wedding photos captured during sunset.

6. Romantic Pastel Presets

Enhance soft, pastel tones like pink, peach, and lavender with these presets. Ideal for spring weddings, they bring a light, romantic feel to your photos.

7. Cinematic Wedding Presets

Inspired by Hollywood, these presets add a dramatic, film-like quality to wedding photos. They work well with both indoor and outdoor photography, giving a rich cinematic effect.

8. Classic Black & White Presets

Timeless and elegant, black and white presets remove distractions and focus on emotion, texture, and composition. Ideal for capturing the raw, authentic moments of a wedding.

9. Vintage Wedding Presets

For couples who love a retro vibe, vintage wedding presets add a nostalgic, old-school look with faded colors and soft grain effects.

10. Bohemian Wedding Presets

Perfect for outdoor, rustic weddings, these presets enhance natural colors and textures, bringing out earthy tones and natural light.

11. Fine Art Wedding Presets

These presets are perfect for high-end, editorial-style wedding photography. They highlight soft tones, elegant lighting, and fine details, making the images look like they belong in a bridal magazine.

12. Minimalist Wedding Presets

If you prefer a clean, no-fuss approach to editing, minimalist wedding presets focus on natural lighting and neutral tones, removing any distractions and letting the moment speak for itself.

13. Sepia Tone Wedding Presets

For a warm, old-world charm, sepia tone presets bring a vintage look to wedding photos while maintaining elegance and sophistication.

14. Bright & Bold Presets

These presets focus on enhancing vibrant colors and making wedding photos pop. Ideal for capturing lively celebrations with colorful decor and attire.

15. Rustic Warm Presets

Perfect for barn or outdoor weddings, rustic warm presets highlight natural light and earthy tones, giving your photos a cozy, intimate vibe.

16. Dreamy Matte Presets

Matte presets create a soft, muted look with low contrast, adding a dreamy and romantic effect to wedding photos, perfect for capturing quiet, intimate moments.

17. Elegant Wedding Presets

These presets are all about enhancing the elegance and sophistication of the wedding day. They focus on clean whites, soft pastels, and gentle contrasts for a refined, polished look.

18. Soft Romantic Presets

Designed to highlight love and emotion, soft romantic presets enhance blush tones, whites, and gentle lighting for a dreamy, emotional feel.

19. Bold Contrast Presets

For photographers who love playing with shadows and highlights, bold contrast presets bring out strong contrasts, giving your wedding photos a punchy, dynamic look.

20. Natural Light Presets

Perfect for outdoor weddings, natural light presets highlight the natural beauty of the environment, enhancing greens, blues, and warm tones without overpowering the image.


How to Use Lightroom Presets for Wedding Photos

  1. Install the Presets: Once you download the preset files (usually in .xmp or .lrtemplate format), import them into Lightroom.
  2. Apply the Preset: Open a photo in Lightroom and click on the preset you want to apply. You’ll see an immediate transformation.
  3. Tweak Settings: While presets give you a starting point, each wedding photo is different. Adjust the exposure, contrast, or white balance to fit the lighting and mood of the image.
  4. Batch Edit: You can apply the same preset to multiple photos at once, ensuring consistency throughout the wedding gallery.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What are Lightroom presets used for?

Lightroom presets are used to apply a set of predefined edits to photos with just one click. They help streamline the editing process and achieve a consistent look across multiple images.

2. Can I customize Lightroom presets?

Yes, presets are fully customizable. After applying a preset, you can tweak settings such as exposure, contrast, or color balance to better suit your image.

3. Are Lightroom presets suitable for all wedding photography styles?

Yes, there are a wide variety of Lightroom presets available, catering to different photography styles such as light and airy, dark and moody, classic, vintage, and more.

4. Do Lightroom presets work on mobile?

Yes, many Lightroom presets are compatible with the Lightroom mobile app. Once installed, you can apply presets directly from your phone.

5. How do I install Lightroom presets?

To install presets, simply go to the ‘Develop’ module in Lightroom, click on the ‘+’ icon in the Presets panel, and select ‘Import Presets.’ From there, you can navigate to the preset files on your computer and install them.

6. Can I use multiple presets on one photo?

While you can only apply one preset at a time, you can apply a preset, make adjustments, and then apply another if needed. However, be cautious as applying too many presets can result in over-editing.

7. Are there free Lightroom presets available for wedding photography?

Yes, there are many free Lightroom presets available online. However, premium presets often offer more refined and customizable options that can elevate your wedding photos.

8. Can I create my own Lightroom presets?

Yes, you can create your own presets in Lightroom. After editing a photo to your liking, you can save the settings as a new preset for future use.

9. Do professional photographers use Lightroom presets?

Yes, many professional photographers use presets to speed up their workflow and maintain consistency across their wedding galleries.

10. What’s the difference between Lightroom presets and Photoshop actions?

Lightroom presets are applied in Lightroom to adjust lighting, colors, and tones, while Photoshop actions are a series of steps executed in Photoshop for more complex edits.


Using the right Lightroom preset can elevate your wedding photography, helping you capture the magic and emotion of the day with ease. Whether you prefer a bright, airy style or a dark, moody aesthetic, there’s a preset for every couple’s vision.

This page was last edited on 23 September 2024, at 5:52 pm