These exposure compensation numbers are just a reference but start at 0 and you will see their faces will more than likely be too dark so click the exposure comp to the plus side and when their faces are lite correctly this is where you want to be. You will see what I mean when you practice, and then the next day when you try these setting in different light they will be different but you will adjust them accordingly.

Now you can leave the faces dark and fix them in photo shop but try your best to expose correctly, because noise is very bad in dark images that are lightened in post. Photos that are not exposed correctly make it very difficult to have natural looking skin tones after they are heavily corrected, and you will end up with a lot of black and whites, and just remember the bride picked all of her colors to see them.

I might have been off on the exposure I gave you for your flash but you need to adjust your flash for the lighting situation your in, it could be + 1/3 -2/3 or -1/3 -2/3 once you have flash comp set for the lighting it should stay pretty consistent up to 25 ft after that your flash will be less consistent, and will need more fine tuning.

I know this is a lot of information but just do some practice and use what works best for you. Just remember the reason your using exposure compensation and adding so much is I'm assuming you will be at the beach and the light reflecting off the sand will make you camera balance the exposure and your subjects faces will be dark, so if you are shooting at the beach make sure you take some practice shots their the day before at the same time as the ceremony will be.

Oh I didn't mean to cause another concern with my blowing out the highlights comment. I was just trying to steer you towards simplicity so you were not combining all this advice with exposure compensation, flash, etc and getting a bad result because you were not practiced with the technique.

I mentioned highlights because they are the hardest thing to repair in post if blown out. Particularly on skin tone. My advise is to take Jerry's advice and expose for the face (face first if you will) and take Greg's advice in checking the histogram. It will show you if any highlights are blown. Take Bob's advice on exposure too, but only you know what you will be comfortable with without taking too much risk of doing this for the first time.

I think bracketing would be a very bad idea. You need to take three rapid shots of each and the camera will be messing with your settings in each. Combining them in Photomatrix which is HDR processing is not good in general for people and even worse for moving people.

Again, I implore you to go for a good exposure in each of the many situations you will be in, but only you know which technique you will be most comfortable with.

Forecast for Myrtle is high of 85 and partly cloudy for Saturday. Hopefully you will get some of that overcast diffused light. Also, hopefully you can find a technique you are comfortable with and practice at the rehearsal on Friday. Although... forecast is for thunderstorms on Friday:)

I think the key here is for you to find your comfort zone and don't try to do too much you are not familiar with. If you can avoid blowing out the highlights then much can be saved in post if your exposure is not perfect.

We are here for the post processing questions as well.

Go to the venue the day before the wedding and try the setting you have in mind Like tv 1/250 sec. if really sunny go more like 1/500sec. and use your exposure compensation to get your exposure were you want it. Now this is really important look at your histogram and verify your light is being capture correctly because during the event when you look at the back of you led screen in bright sunshine what you see is not what you will get so you must trust your histogram. I would use your 24-105 for all the ceremony shots . Just make sure you have their faces bright enough this may be +1/3 to +1 stop on your exposure compensation, I usually wont shoot a outdoor ceremony in manual and I will use av. because the light might change ie: a cloud coming over the ceremony. Just be aware that if you zoom out to 105mm that 1/500sec will work a lot better than 1/250 for movement of people. If you end up using a flash, I would use program priority since you don't have a lot of wedding experience and on a canon this will give you the ability to pick the focal point and the camera will set the aperture and shutter for you so with your flash on ttl you will just adjust the exposure compensation on your flash just adding enough flash to light their faces without it looking like you used a flash this is usually 0 to +2/3 on the back of your flash. Your iso during the day should be around 100 to 200 in bright to overcast sunlight if it is getting later in the day more towards early evening 400 to 800

Very good point. Hopefully, it is a bright day and you can use BCs advice of shutter priority 250. That should stop movement from walking without worrying about hand holding techniques. You have enough going through your head without worrying about which part of your forehead is holding the camera still. If it is a very bright day you may want to consider Ap priority at 7 or 8. Your camera will send the shutter speed even faster possibly 1/1000 or more. The key is a fast shutter speed.

Another tip for walking down the aisle is to ask the attendees to stop momentarily at a designated point and look your way or straight ahead. You get less movement and good expressions. They would have to be comfortable doing this without making it obvious. You will have to make that call if it would work with this group.

I knew that wouldn't sound right. I understood it when the voices in my head explained it, but the translation to the keyboard got lost.

You look through the viewfinder, and the top of the eye cup should be touching "something" (not your eyeball, but not your forehead...maybe I should have said your "brow bone"?)

Once you have it there, you'll soon figure where the camera is touching your facial area, and then it will make sense.

Those pesky voices in my head, assume everyone understands what they are trying to explain. I will hit my head against a brick wall a few times, just to punish them :shock:

Hard to over come harsh sun with a single 430 flash unless your within 8-10 feet. I wouldn't use flash outdoors and if you want to keep it simple use 'spot' exposure/focus on the Bride's face but remember if it's a bright background you will need to be very accurate. Even then check your exposure (chimping) and if need be add enough exposure compensation to lighten the faces until you think it's about right. Better to blowout the background and have the faces spot on. Actually blown out backgrounds are in right now, so no flash! If you need to push the ISO try and set at 640, a sweet spot on the t3i. It's 160, 320 or 640, pick only from those.

Use the 50mm 1.8 and the 24-105L (actually 38 - 168) on your t3i. I wouldn't use nothing else, just those two. The 24-105mm for the heavy work and maybe the 50mm (actually a 80mm) on your t3i for portraits time. 85mm is considered the professionals 'portrait' lens, close enough.

Never shoot a wedding in auto ISO as the Canon will typically favor the ISO over other parts of the triangle. You set your ISO based upon the environment your snapping in but remember each camera is different. I wouldn't snap above 640 on my cropped Canon but feel fine shooting at 2500 on my full frame, even higher during the evening/low light shots.

If you shoot in any form of auto (P, TV, AV) you will need to use exposure compensation depending on the lighting. If you don't the faces will be dark.

During the procession shot Al-Focus. At 15 - 20 feet I would shoot a 24 - 50mm vertically at 8 - 11 f/stop. You will want to snap faster than 1/125, I would suggest 1/250.

Summary: I shoot manual but for you, set to shutter priority to 1/250. Make sure your ISO is set high enough to get you aperture between f/8 and f/11 but not over the comfortable limit of the ISO rating for the camera, if it is, you have a problem and will need to start making compromises. Remember to use exposure compensation when needed to eliminate dark faces.

Wedding snapping is not for the faint at heart, it's tricky business and good wedding snappers are worth every penny they charge. Things happen quickly during a wedding, ever changing and if you don't know what your doing and can adapt in a second your going to be stressed out and the results will be questionable let alone a bunch of missed shots. Wedding snapping is way different than taking pictures in a controlled environment such as landscape photography.

Before I share more you should tell us the camera model and available lenses you have.