Need some advice before tomorrow....

Hi, a friend of mine recently got married abroad, now they are home they are having a reception party for all the friends and family that couldn't make it to the wedding in the Whitsunday islands. They have asked me to photograph the event and originally i declined, as i have no experience with this sort of thing and still feel i'm relatively inexperienced in photography all round.....

However they badgered me relentlessly until i gave in and agreed to do the deed! they had no intentions of hiring a pro, so if i don't do it they'd have no photographs at all. The couple are fully aware of what i'm capable of as i was at the brides sisters wedding and took some shots at their wedding [not as their wedding tog], they were glad i took my gear as the wedding tog screwed up! anyway, that's another story - long and short of it is they quite liked the shots i got hence i got asked to do this gig.......

Anyway, i told them i don't want anything for doing it, but again they insisted! and asked that if i wouldn't accept any monetary compensation for my time, would i allow them to pay for any new equipment i may want/need.... Well, that sounded great to me, so i ordered myself a 430ex as i had been procrastinating getting a flash since the beginning of time......

So, i now have my flash and i have been browsing the eos bible and Curtis N's 101 guides and have been taking plenty of practice shots and feel fairly confident in what i'm doing. However, i have one scenario that i'm not sure how to handle. One of the shots i'm going to be taking is the arrival of the bride and groom, getting out of the car. The party is an evening party so it will be dark outside so i will have to use flash, what i'm worried about is the flash reflecting off the glass in the car, i will not have anything to bounce off of to soften the light so it will have to be direct flash so i'm worried this shot could well turn out a disaster! I'm hoping someone may be able to make some suggestions on how to deal with this, how to approach it and not c*ck it up.......

sorry for the long post, hope someone can help me out and set me on the right track for this type of shot.......

Many thanks!

steve

never mind.......... i just spoke to the bride, they are no longer doing the whole arrival thing! they will be there already long before it starts so i can stop worrying about it!!!

But hey, carry on and give some pointers anyway - it will be handy to know for future occasions.......

Maybe Shoot at an angle to the car that wont reflect too much back to the camera.....the other thing would be to plan a getting out of the car scenario and you have everyone at the party with their P+S taking pictures with there flashes and you on the other side of the car getting the perspective of the bride and groom as they are bombarded by flash friendzy partiers.