Hey guys I've been crazy busy...as opposed to just crazy..
further to my tip about marketing and thank you cards at the wedding here's a sample of what I printed out a distributed in stead of business cards last night. (about 100 4x6's)

also a white sheet (groundsheet for bride) a first-aide kit (with bandaides and safety pins and bobby pins lint brush, sewing needle and b+w thread, scotch tape and crazyglue, black mascara, hairspray, wet wipes, tissues).
make sure your bride has runners in the trunk for the park..she'll thank you later when she see's her mother-in-law struglling to hike through the park in heels while she's got sneakers on...lol

I agrre with Matt and Niblue...A background is great to have available, but don't use it unless you absolutly must. (I personally believe that even if hell freezes over; there's gotta be some fantastic photo ops there...)I'v only set mine up on location, twice in the last 4 years....once when a mishap (drunk relative) knocked over a beautiful display thet they had built. this couple didn't have much money and had planed a Justice of the Peace to marry them in thier reception hall. I set up my backdrop (18x30'), brought an arbor in from the garden and some lights and salvaged decorations from the broken display, and we built a set in the rec hall for them. even with a set, we still shot most portraits outdoors.
the other was a new years eve wedding and it was -35 that night and we still did an outdoor shot of the couple, (x-mas lights at the park and added snowflakes to final image)but had planned in advance to shoot the groups indoors at the hall before the reception.

goto the rehearsal and learn the lay of the land, get your timing down so you know where to be for the best shots, and check with the clergy about house rules re: flash and pics during the show...i mean wedding.
use that time as an opportunity to share with the party YOUR rules regarding other picture takers. You're not getting paid to take 300 photos of the back of weird uncle Wally's head, so people need to be aware that YOU work for the BRIDE and GROOM, and YOU get the right of way when taking shots. If your camera is at your eye they need to wait till you shoot before they get thiers, and to try not to block your view. Most people get that, but it doesn't hurt to POLITELY remind them.

wow we should've started a thread on wedding photography.
this is good.
You got digital, make it work for you...
at the park/or/church, have an assistant, and small memory card handy...
when you get a good shot of your couple set up put the small card in the camera, and take a few "test" shots, then swap cards back. get your assistant to layout your logo on one of the shots and print you up one 8x10, 2 5x7 and a whack of business card like wallets on your inkjet printer. give these out at the reception when the cake gets cut. make a point of presenting your "gift" to the couple, thier parents and wedding party. Have lots of business cards handy, because if you work the reception for dance photos and candids, that'll be where you'll get asked for your cards....
remember to have the 8x10 frame engraved.

Ok here's another tip:
Build your shot.
With groups and with the couple.
start with a simple lighting set-up....
pose your bride. take a shot.
add your groom. take another shot.
add your female entourage. take a shot.
add the male entourage. take another shot.
do the same for each family.
try to avoid firing squad line-ups and if possible, keep diamond/multi diamond head arrangements, and avoid all black suits on one side.
when I say take a shot I mean:
wide angle, then 3/4 length, then head and shoulders then close up, both horizontal and verticle for each step in the build up.
work quickly and be nice.
make everybody else go away then do the bride and groom alone.

pay carefull attention to samsung, the future is predictable.....
I see faster imaging processors, HUGE flash-ram buffers and in camera, fully programable "photoshop" like actions....
imagine a camera that'll make suggestions on how to fix the images in it's memory, show you a "soft proof" and wait for you to ok it, before it uses it's downtime to process the raw files for you.

the 360 works great with my old 50mm 1.7, and my old 85mm soft focus.
my 500 ftz did not.
the 500 ftz tends to overxpose by 1.7 stops at all times on newer lenses (fixable by adding -1.7 stops in the flash exp menu).
when tethered to the 360 the flashes will do contrast control, on my ds2.

I'm not sure, i thought they all did.
press the blue playback button, then the Fn button, then press left on the 4way rocker switch for a filter menu (on my ds2 anyways) for a b+w, sepia, soft, distort.

Brian,
Here's what I see...I see a talented eye with a strong sense of composition.
I see a desire to improve. I see you mastering your tools and in the future I see you using the tools to make the image fit your vision.
Don't give up. you have talent.
The guys here have given you some good advice, and it'll be hard to add to that but here goes:
your slr has a convert to b+w option...never use that for a final image (it creates a new file without erasing the original) use it instead, for estimating a scenes potential for b+w when out in the field.
There are ps plug-ins that may make doing b+w easier, but with practice, and perserverance you won't need them. Read up on "old school" chemical darkroom techniques to become familiar with the terms and techniques that the software developers tried to incorporate into thier programs when writing "photo" software.
use the "add noise" filter to give it a grainer film look.