Yes, airbrush is the best as they can concentrate extra spray on the areas that need it and feather the "joins" so you don't notice.

I did it 5 days before my wedding and it was fine. It only had colour coming off the first day or so (the first shower was interesting) but then stopped. Nothing transferred to my white dress.

Spray tans do come in different colours so discuss this with the salon before they start so you can see that they are just not loading a "standard" colour in, so avoiding the yellow look. However the technology has come a long way on the last few years and the orange and yellow look are not really the expected outcome anymore, as long as you go to a good salon (I suspect Jersey Shore crew go to a cheap, in their showerstall friend to get their tans done!).