I understand your situation. I'm no pro but if asked by a friend, I would shoot a wedding, as long as he understood that I'd never done it before and could not guarantee pro results.

I don't think I'd use the kit lens though, under any circumstances. Not that it's a bad lens for what it is, just wholly unsuitable for a wedding. Plus I always preach to my DSLR-owning friends "get a good lens, you don't need a new body" (not that they ever, ever, take heed) so I'd want to be seen to practice what I preach .

Why not replace it with another 17-50?

I agree, you will need a standard zoom. I've never shot a wedding professionally, but the friends' wedding's I've shot at (and other formal events) demand the flexibility of a zoom.

This is the "budget" 50mm, it has the plastic build of the other brands but without the low price. It needs to be at least 80 quid cheaper.

These pics look nice & sharp & I like the colours a lot.

Is this the slow or fast version of the lens?

I delete stuff before and during processing if I find it's technically poor (out of focus, irrepairably over or under-exposed etc) and I'll also pick the best of a series of similar shots. What I keep, I keep the RAW and at least one processed jpg.

I have considered deleting the RAW files for the more mediocre shots because if I ever do come back with greater PP skill, it will be the better shots that I return to. However, with great PP, you never know what you might be able to do with a photo.

www.photoquotes.com

I was searching for the name (Robert Capa, but he changed this from Andre something just before he became famous) of the photographer who said "if your photos aren't good enough, you're not close enough".

95 each!?!?!? Wow, that's very, very cheap.

I'd have loved it but I already have one and just bought an ME Super. I already have more film cameras than I can use and I only started buying/using them in January...

Overcast conditions will lead to poor contrast and make focusing difficult. Couple that to the slow focusing of the 55-300 and it will be tough. If you're photographing planes, surely pre-focusing manually will do the trick?

I'd have put my card in it and fired a few shots to look at later.