I shot a family wedding on Saturday. Bride and Groom were family on a limited budget so asked me because I have a "good" camera and take "good" photos! Now, apart from informal shots on holiday I have never done people shots, so was a little concerned.
Anyway, after my one day experience of being a wedding photographer I think it went quite well and one of the bridesmaids has asked me to do her wedding next year! Not so sure about that one!
I only have a 450D and just used three other pieces of kit that were essential to the day. Without these it would have been a lot more difficult.
I shot the ceremony on a Sigma 30mm f1.4. I was lucky in that the ceremony took place just in front of a window and I shot the service mainly on f2.0 at 400ISO. For the register signing with the window to the outside as the backdrop I used my 430EX flash. That also came in handy throughout the day, even for the outside shots. After the ceremony I switched to my Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 and apart from another brief indoor spell with the 30mm, that lens was the one for the rest of the day.
I found I did not need anything longer than 70mm. I also took my 50mm f1.8, but that didn't get used.
On the whole it was a successful shoot. I took 550 shots throughout the day and have so far whittled them down to around 300 keepers with further whittling down to be done.
Key things I learned after the event; use the histogram. I was using the flash outside but forgot about the fact the camera will set a minimum shutter speed of 1/200, so some of the group shots are overexposed. I probably would have spotted that with the histogram. The other is, as mentioned above, be aware of your flash sync speed limitations.
Of course, I know about these things and regularly use the histogram but, in the heat of the moment it is easy to forget. Flash was also good for fill-in.
I would suggest that the 18-55 will be OK for outdoor shots but a fast 28/30/35mm prime is essential if she is going to shoot the ceremony. I would suggest that if the B&G want some nice shots on the cheap, then they offer to pay to hire such a lens and also a flash. It will transform the shots on the day.
Also, make sure all shots are taken in RAW format. If they have not used it before, take RAW+JPEG. That way there will be latitude for rescuing shots in a way that is not possible with JPEG. I took one of the groom, best man and ushers in the pub before the ceremony. The first one I bounced the flash off the ceiling but it was dark so the shot was dark. Everybody was looking at the camera and smiling, however. I took another correctly exposed with flash but the expressions were no good.
I was, however, able to use the first shot by rescuing it in RAW, so that, in my opinion, is a must.