So for wedding receptions I want to go lighter. Would a 24 - 85 VR be good enough for use with on camera bounced flash for wedding receptions on a D800 shooting mostly in 1:2 crop mode. I would have my primes for when I need faster lens.

The 24 - 85 VR would be used for speeches, first dance, cake cutting and party shots.

Do you think the focus will be good for people dancing? What about the IQ? Wish I was in a position to try before I buy but I am not.

I have my wife as a second shooter with D600/24-85 VR combo plus SB 700 flash, works like a charm.
I still prefer a fast prime for dancing

Thanks Nick. Any opinion on the speed of focus compared to say a 28 1.8g or 50 1.8g?

Definitely a bit slower than the 28 and 50 in lower light
In daylight its hard to tell apart.

Good seeing you still around FM Mykal. I was looking for your website since I formatted my computer and lost some of my bookmarks.

Hey Vivek how is the D3 doing? Still going great I hope.

In lower light I would use the 24 - 85 VR with flash assist. That would make it faster to focus I think.

My website is http://saabwedding.com/

There can be a lot of tough to fix distortion at wider focal lengths... A face on the edge of the frame can look really badly mangled. Having said that, the lens is quite sharp, given its price, colours are good and it could be a nice compliment to faster glass (I have it, along with the 28f/1.8, sigma 85f/1.4 and 70-200vr2, with a D700 and D600, as my "event kit").

Just saw the mistake I made in the title lol. It should be GOOD and not goog. Is there a way to change it?

QWK SVT you think there will be distortion on the edges even though I will be shooting in 1.2 crop mode which will crop out the corners giving a 28.8mm field of view?

This lens is fast for the most situations, profile correction in LR4 can do miracles, just make sure you shoot a little wider for the group of people

Yes - either shoot in crop, or as nick53097 suggested shoot wider (and crop later). As long as you don't put people right at the edge of the frame, and watch out for off-angle straight lines (e.g., ceiling tiles), the 24-85VR is very impressive for the money.