What mode do you shoot weddings in?

rdenney wrote in post #5922956
Rick "who finds that the rules governing the automatic modes are not always consistent with the task at hand" Denney

That really shouldn't surprise you, given that there are literally a bazillion different "tasks at hand" in photography. Not every lighting situation is the same, and the camera isn't always equipped to interpret those lighting situations correctly. Human photographers are, however!

Automatic modes are at the mercy of the camera's internal decision making. That means, the camera is making all the decisions, not you - which is kind of silly because last time I checked, you're the photographer, not the camera.

There are times when AV and TV and (ugh) P are useful, but in my thinking, M should be default mode.

There's no subtistute for knowing how to use your equipment, plain and simple.

tim wrote in post #5923475
Wedding photographers aren't beginners.

My point, in part. But everyone has to start somewhere, and those are the ones who usually ask these sorts of questions. The usual response from people with experience is to use M, but then there are complaints that this is too much to learn in a few days before a gig.

Bull. I could learn all I needed to know about it in an hour of practice. It's not like I have to wait for film to come back.

But my main point was that using M indoors with an automatic flash is actually easier, and far more predictable in the results, than using Av. I use Av outdoors, when I know that the camera won't drag the shutter.

Rick "who did many, many weddings back in the day with a non-automatic camera that had no light meter, and usually without even having a hand-held meter near to hand" Denney

Zansho wrote in post #5923522
There are times when AV and TV and (ugh) P are useful, but in my thinking, M should be default mode.

There's no subtistute for knowing how to use your equipment, plain and simple.

Knowing your equipment, however, also means knowing how those rules that govern automatic operation can serve you. I use an automatic flash, and it makes a range of decisions for me. But I know my equipment, and therefore I know when the flash's automatic algorithm is appropriate and when it isn't. At weddings, it's rarely inappropriate, within a few broad guidelines. One is that I never use direct flash for subjects closer than about six feet. Another is knowing the outer limit of the flash, especially with modifiers in use. This takes practice to learn, but not that much practice.

Outdoors, I'm very interested in the aperture, because that directly affects how the image will look. So, I set the aperture that gets the look I want (that takes experience), but then I can delegate the shutter selection to the camera. AS LONG AS the view in the scene contains the correct representation of light and dark scene elements. That takes experience. Most people who get poor results using Av would get poor results using M, because they would be pointing the camera into the scene such that the meter reading will be dominated by scene elements at the wrong illumination. The problem isn't the mode, but rather the metering technique. That takes a lot more experience to manage properly than learning to use an automatic flash, but you have to learn it, as we will agree.

On the other hand, we can know all that stuff and still make poor compositions with poor timing, but that's another discussion. And experience doesn't help as much there--that gets more into the innate artistic talent of the photographer. Many photographer have oodles of that sort of talent, but try as they might can't remember the difference between an F-stop and a shutter speed. My wife is one of those. Her timing and people skills often outperform my technical experience, and she has no shortage of experience.

Thus, I can understand the need for camera automation, and the value that it has. But a wedding is no place to experiment, and clients aren't paying for on-the-job training. That said, digital cameras make it easy to learn such techniques in a short time by showing you the results of practice in real time.

I think I'm agreeing with you, but with just a bit of qualification.

Rick "who, as a pro (at whatever), always looks for the tools that make it easiest to produce a salable product" Denney

Well stated responses "Rick "who, as a pro (at whatever), always looks for the tools that make it easiest to produce a salable product" Denney"...lol, love the sigs!
As the OP stated though, he's no pro and is shooting as a favor. No sales involved. I know I did a couple "freebies", poorly I might add, to learn more about what to expect and get. Education is heavily shadowed by experience in all aspects of photography. Good working knowledge of ones equipment though will help straighten that curve though. Photography is all about light and metering, IMO, and is the most important thing to understand in taking good shots. Knowledge of aperture size and effect, shutter speeds affect on light and composition all add up to making good shots great.

As a suggestion to the OP on his question and situation. Go to the rehearsal prior to the wedding and get some "practice" applying it to the job. Learn your metering and light applications and the rest will follow. Manual is not that hard to learn, no. Especially as Rick pointed out, given instant results you get with digital.

Thanks "Rick "who did many, many weddings back in the day with a non-automatic camera that had no light meter, and usually without even having a hand-held meter near to hand" Denney" for pointing out that M is not to be as feared as most of us beginners remember it to be when we started!