Marky;

As much as I love my K20D I would recomend upgrading lenses before body, I was fortunate enough to be able to do both, but in hindsight seeing how superb DA* lenses are I would have been quite happy to forgoe the K20D

If I were in your shoes and had sufficient cash I'd be tempted to opt for a K10D with a 16-50DA* alternatively if yours is the K100D Super then it should I believe work with SDM lenses so just buy some great glass and think of getting a cheap K20D this time next year

If it ever arrives late you can bet your last penny its the Postmans fault.....

......he probably read it first

AFC is OK once the focus has locked and the subject does'nt stray too far, otherwise the AF will tend to hunt again.

As Peter said, start saving your pennies for SDM lenses, there quicker and extremely quiet.

Difficult question to answer without really making your 18-250 partially redundant. But heres my two-penneth:

Save up some more cash and got for either;

Pentax 16-50 DA* get some fast top quality glass in front of the camera.
Sigma 120-400 (I am seriously considering this myself) will extend your range

You could always ask these people for advice;

http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/hedgehogs.html

Nice shots Cliff, the hedgehogs fantastic, but why was he awake and foraging around during the day? should have been tucked up somewhere nice and warm in hibernation

Are you sure it was a focus problem and not camera shake? the SR on the K20D is good but its not perfect, and remember the 300mm becomes 450mm on your K20D.

Shooting birds in flight is a major problem for Pentax users You'd do better to switch to Canon or Nikon for a higher FPS, alternatively you could stick with the Pentax and get the shots using patience and skill

You simply have to do the maths

Wedding + K10D and Kit lens = no problem

Simply leaving the camera in program mode will produce some great shots however if you want to go that little bit further and produce better stuff than the "competition" your going to have to be a little more arty-farty with the camera.

The biggest problem you have to watch out for is EXPOSURE, blowing out the details in the brides dress is a major no no, forget everyone else looking nice just get a nice snap of the bride and dont forget to get a decent one of her mother either

Dark suits and white (even ivory) dresses do not mix, your camera will tend to expose for the surroundings and the dark suits which means blowing the highlight in the dress, this becomes a nightmare if the sun is bright (have I put you off yet) unless you want to mess about adjusting exposure for every shot I would suggest setting the camera to underexpose by 1/3 of a stop.

The best possible advice though is to shoot RAW+jpeg, even if your not into RAW shooting yet do it anyway, at least you'll have some files that have a bit more leeway with exposure adjustment and the Pentax PhotoLab that came with the K10D is quite capable of dealing with it.

Welcome to the forum (both of you)

Nah! Santa was here last month, dropped mine off early so I could take it to Dublin