[toni-a]

No, your way of measuring exposure just needs addressing. A D850 (there is no Canon 850D yet) does not give specifically more room in highlights. Your "expose for the bride's face" apparently underexposes. So, expose for the light present, and you get consistent exposures from image to image. And when that is not possible, learn to recognize mid tones and expose for those. Or alternatively, learn to guesstimate how metering on different faces will differ from a real mid tone, and use exposure compensation to... compensate.


The dress usually is not a nightmare, as most don't give light, but just are what our eyes say is "white". With standard tonal curves, and metering for mid tones, things work out ok. And even then, there is the headroom in RAW (the bright end) to work with still.


A D850's DR as a solution would work like this: Set the camera to ISO 100. Underexpose a lot (with ISO 100 that should not be an issue, unless in outdoor daaylight). Lift the entire tonal range to taste.

I have no issues with metering, when the picture is correctly exposed the dress is too bright without necessarily blown out highlights and when it looks too bright the details are not there when you look, will post photos tomorrow to explain