Wedding DJ Lighting: 7 Presets to Build Once and Reuse (2026)

The Wedding Formula

Every wedding reception follows the same rough shape: ceremony, cocktail, dinner, speeches, first dance, open dance floor, cake cutting, bouquet toss, grand exit. Your lighting has a job at each moment, and those jobs are consistent across venues.

The trick to mobile DJ lighting is realizing you can pre-build those moments once and reuse them forever. In CueSync, that means saving a wedding show with a full CuePad of tap-to-fire pads, each firing a Look or a console cue. Every future wedding starts from that show: open it and activate the venue profile for the room.

This guide gives you the seven presets every wedding DJ needs, how to build them in CueSync, and when to fire each one.

The Rig

These presets assume a standard mobile DJ rig:

• 6-8 RGBAW LED pars (wash)
• 2-4 moving heads (ADJ Focus Spot series, Chauvet Intimidator, or similar)
• 2-4 LED uplights (for room accent)
• Optional: 1-2 LED bars or battens
• Optional: low-output hazer (check venue policy first)

The complete mobile DJ setup guide covers the full stack — this guide focuses on the creative presets once the rig is running.

Preset 1: Ceremony

When: pre-ceremony guest seating, processional, vows, recessional.

Look: warm amber wash at low intensity. No movement. No color change. No beat reaction. The focus is on the ceremony, not the lighting.

Build it: record the look on your console as a cue (or, for a rig fed straight from an Art-Net/sACN node, as a DMX Look in CueSync's Palette). The recipe:

• Fixture group: Wash + Uplights
• Color: amber (CTO 3200K equivalent)
• Intensity: 30%
• Movement: none
• Triggers: none, fired by a pad press only
• AutoPilot: off

In CueSync, save it as a Look named "Ceremony" (Palette → + New Look) and put it on a CuePad. Tap it before guests are seated, leave it running through the recessional.

Preset 2: Cocktail Hour

When: post-ceremony cocktail hour, mingling, appetizers.

Look: soft blue/lavender wash. Gentle color shift over 2-3 minutes between cool tones. Very low intensity, no beat sync. Background lighting, not event lighting.

Build it (a console cue or a DMX Look):

• Fixture group: Wash + Uplights
• Color: blue/lavender palette rotation, programmed as a slow effect or chase on the console (about 60 seconds per color)
• Intensity: 40%
• Movement: very slow pan on movers (if any)
• Triggers: none for the base look; optionally a cue with an Energy Level trigger that fires a slightly brighter Look (DJ and Production editions)

Save as a Look named "Cocktail" on a CuePad.

Preset 3: Dinner

When: seated dinner, first course through dessert.

Look: warm gold. Low intensity. Absolute minimum movement. Photographers will be shooting candid shots at tables — lighting should be stable, warm, flattering. No surprises.

Build it (a console cue or a DMX Look):

• Fixture group: Wash + Uplights
• Color: warm gold (amber + magenta tint)
• Intensity: 35%
• Movement: none
• Triggers: none, and AutoPilot off

Save as a Look named "Dinner" on a CuePad. Great for speeches too — this preset holds through the entire formal portion of the reception.

Preset 4: First Dance

When: first dance, parent dances, any spotlight moment.

Look: isolated warm spotlight on the couple, soft wash around them, rest of the room dark. This is the most emotional visual moment of the reception.

Build it (one console cue or DMX Look covering all three groups):

• Fixture group A (moving heads): narrow beam, warm white, pointed at the dance floor center
• Fixture group B (wash): warm amber at 20%
• Fixture group C (uplights): very low blue-purple accent
• Triggers: none, so nothing reacts to the beat (the music is romantic, not energetic)
• Subtle slow color shift on uplights only: a slow effect programmed on the console

Save as a Look named "First Dance" on a CuePad. Pre-aim your movers to the dance floor center before the event — check during sound check.

Preset 5: Open Floor (AutoPilot)

When: after formalities, open dance floor, peak reception.

Look: full energy. Beat-synced intensity pulses on washes. Moving heads fire with energy. Phrase boundaries trigger color palette rotation. This is where CueSync's AutoPilot takes over, reading the beat and phrases from your Pioneer decks over PRO DJ LINK or from your own files in Local Audio.

Build it:

• AutoPilot: ON, with a profile you duplicated from a built-in one (Auto Pilot → Profile Editor)
• Beat → wash intensity bump (20-40% dynamic): program the pulse as an effect on the console, then add the console's speed master under Profile Editor → BPM Sync → Add Sync Target (grandMA3 speed masters and Resolume are supported) so it follows the deck's tempo
• Energy → moving head intensity follow: Looks with energy affinity, which AutoPilot can choose for high-energy moments
• Phrase → color palette rotation (4-color cycle): four color Looks with phrase affinity
• Drop → brief full-rig flash (capped strobe rate for photographers): a flash Look on the drop moment, with a low strobe speed set on the console cue
• Beat (downbeat of every bar) → slow pulse on uplights: a second console effect on the same BPM-synced speed master

This isn't a discrete CuePad cue — it's your base AutoPilot profile. Enable AutoPilot at the start of the open floor and leave it running until the grand exit.

Preset 6: Cake Cutting

When: cake cutting ceremony, typically mid-reception.

Look: bright warm wash focused on the cake table area. Minimal movement. Full visibility for the photographer.

Build it (a console cue or a DMX Look):

• Override wash intensity to 80%
• Color: warm amber
• Moving heads: aimed at cake table if possible (check sound check)
• AutoPilot: paused for the moment (MANUAL on the panic bar pauses AutoPilot only; your pads stay live)
• Duration: ~60 seconds, then return to previous state

Save as a Look named "Cake Cutting" on a CuePad. Tap it at the moment, then tap a Resume AutoPilot pad (Cue Pads → Advanced) when cake cutting ends.

Preset 7: Bouquet Toss + Grand Exit

Bouquet toss:

• Full rig intensity
• Color chase through bright palette
• Moving head sweeps
• Brief energy burst
• Duration: 30-45 seconds

Save as a Look named "Bouquet" (a console cue or a DMX Look) on a CuePad.

Grand Exit:

• Settle to warm amber at 40% intensity
• If your console or media server fades between looks, set the 10-second fade on that cue and let CueSync send the GO
• Moving heads home to rest positions
• AutoPilot off, no beat or phrase triggers
• Optional: sparkle effect on movers during guest send-off

Save as a Look named "Grand Exit" on a CuePad.

Building the Wedding Profile

In CueSync:

1. Add your rig's output in Network → Outputs → Add Output, with its host and port
2. Build all seven presets as Looks on CuePads (see above)
3. Build the Open Floor profile for AutoPilot (Auto Pilot → Profile Editor: duplicate a built-in profile and edit it)
4. Save the show as "Wedding - Generic", and the room's outputs as a venue profile (Settings → Venues; CueSync DJ keeps 3 venue profiles, Theatre 25, Production unlimited)
5. At each new venue, open the generic show, activate that room's venue profile, tune intensities for the room size, save as venue-specific (e.g., "Wedding - Hilton Ballroom")

Over time you'll accumulate a library of venue-specific wedding shows, so a repeat venue starts from the show you saved there.

Pro Tips

Strobe caps: keep the flash cue's strobe speed on your console around 2 Hz or lower, and if you run CueSync's pixel wall, set the venue profile's Strobe cap (Settings → Venues → Output policy) to match. Wedding photographers will thank you.

Battery fixtures: battery-powered wireless fixtures eliminate cable runs, which dramatically reduces setup time at wedding venues that prefer minimal visible cables.

Haze policy: always check venue haze policy before setting up. Some venues prohibit hazers entirely; some require warning signs; some don't care. Know before you load in.

Outdoor vs indoor: build separate profiles. Outdoor evening ceremonies need battery fixtures and warm washes only — save a slimmed-down "Wedding - Outdoor Evening" profile.

Rehearsal: if the wedding has a rehearsal and the venue lets you set up, test your cues during the rehearsal. You'll discover issues before the real thing.

DMX addresses: use the same DMX address layout across all your fixtures, so the patch on your console or node and the channel numbers stored in your DMX Looks carry over between venues. 8-channel fixtures should all start at 1, 9, 17, 25... with predictable gaps.

The Payoff

Once your wedding show is built, every new wedding starts from it: open the show, activate the room's venue profile and tune intensities for the space. That's the real value of CueSync for mobile DJs: the first show is the work, and every wedding after it reuses that work.

Download CueSync free and run the demo show and tour the app in read-only mode, then subscribe to the DJ Edition to build your first wedding show. Need the full rig stack first? Start with the mobile DJ setup guide.