shooting weddings tips and how to?

Guys, I have looked all over for some of these answers and have not found enough information.

Firstly please take a look at my website to gauge my ability:
www.matterandmovement.​com

i recently turned down a nice opportunity to shoot a wedding because i did not feel experienced enough to undertake it.

my lighting experience comes from doing portraits so i use octoboxes and softboxes, but i cant imagine trying to have lights setup in the chapel, on the way to the limo, in the limo, in the reception hall already set up before they arrive.

will a camera mounted flashgun do the trick on most of these situations?

i know most of the time there is a strobe used on the dance floor and sometimes in the ceremony, but i am looking for advice from people who may have some insight.

i am a light control freak so i take my time to make sure the lights are dead on before snapping, on location shoots i have done i suppose differ much from a fast paced wedding.

I was really trying to find out some basic lighting setups for weddings

Many wedding photographers will use an on-camera flash but will bounce it behind them or to the side, when shooting in small rooms.

For larger venues like the reception, speedlights or monolights set across the room to provide side lighting works well, especially if you use a bit of on-camera flash to fill in the shadows. Some people like to bounce the light off the walls while others like to aim their lights at the center of the room. Regardless of what method you use, off camera lighting with two or more lights is the preferred method of lighting a large room by many shooters.

Shooting in a chapel or church typically is done with available light only as most churches have rules prohibiting the use of flash.

Pointing your flash directly at the subject is really only employed when you are outside and moving quickly. Even then, most photographers use their flash only to fill in the shadows.

You'd do better to post this over in the Talk section. Since I wandered over here from there . . .

Weddings are all about mobility and the ability to respond. Most of the time, you don't have the luxury of time to create true studio portrait lighting. You're trying to get the best/most creative lighting you can, but within the constraints of a runaway train of a day.

I never bring my studio lights out to a wedding. All speedlights. Sometimes on camera and bouncing when I can, off-camera with an assistant shooting in manual when not. I'll use some small umbrellas, but that's about it. Having an assistant does make all the difference in the world (IMO).

Here is my post about how I photograph a wedding.

How to photograph a wedding - Red Tie Photography Blog

That post also has a few other posts linked to it in the first paragraph that I think you may find useful.

Thanks for the tips. This is something I will be actively researching to hopefully expand my abilities

Great Blog post, RTP!