Would you suggest hand holding the flash attached by sync cable or attaching it to camera via an offside bracket?
Thanks for that copious. I'll look into that. I might try the hand held too to see what results I get. But I agree with you, hand held might just make me want to work in a supermarket.
Thanks Nikon. I actually use a speedlight in the church and and also shoot without it sometimes depending on the mood (and the mood of the celebrant) but I'm thinking of using off-camera because of the better detail I can achieve. Especially for my outdoor stuff.
Hi Don. I've thought of that but here in New Zealand, there are many closed minded celebrants who don't even like having a photographer around let alone extra flashes "ruining the ceremony." I even had one celebrant tell me "This is God's house so I don't want you moving around or being seen." I agreed with her to shut her up then did whatever I wanted/needed once the cerimony started. I was tempted to say to her, "The bible says women shouldn't cut their hair short like a man or even be the head of a church."

I like using tiny cameras that are less intrusive, and using no flash. Intimacy is everything, and having discrete equipment sure helps. For digital, the Fuji Finepix F30 produces astonishingly grainless results all the way up to 800ASA. See the reviews and tests at the usual sites and you'll see what I mean. It's a one-trick pony, but for low-light portraiture there's nothing that even comes close. For film, there's no beating the legendary Yashica T4 Super, complete with "look down" (OR UP, held overhead!) viewfinder. One loaded black and white, the other color. As the T4Super has a 35mm fixed lens(Tessar T*, sharper than the dickens) you might, if you shoot film, have to lug an SLR around your neck to shoot the odd telephoto of the actual at-the-altar portion of the ceremony, or to make your client feel like you're "A Professional". But I say what's good enough for Annie Leibowitz, Jurgen Teller, and Terry Richardson is good enough for me.

I might not be their equal, but my photos taken with these tiny cameras have appeared in ELLE and been blown up into advertising billboards, as well as making wedding images that just blew the client away.

One nice thing is to create a "studio" near the reception area by just hanging a clean white sheet or seamless across a couple of stands or taped to a wall and soliciting each guest or family group to come and stand in front of that in their fine clothes. You'll get beautiful unity and a real "Irving Penn" look to go along with your candid shots.

Another thing I did was to ask the bride if I could go into the ladies dressing room for a time during preparations for the ceremony. With my little unintrusive T4, I got the most amazing things: mothers helping little daughters with makeup and hats in the mirror, bridesmaids pulling on brides corset-laces (of the gown!), intimate greetings, and so on. Priceless.