Sure you've both heard this as well - another wedding dilemma

Been asked to be "official" photog at a wedding next year. This won't be the first time I've done this, but this time is different as rather than being for close friends and/or family, is for a couple we went skiing with two years ago and since then have been little more than Facebook friends.

Not sure if this makes it more, or less stressful - and also not sure if I should do it, or find a polite way of backing out.

Currently trying to work out if they're asking me in a "definitely can't afford a pro, so it's you or no pics" type way, in which case I'll be happier doing it, or a "we're cheapskates and think we can get a bargain from you, but we'll be expecting pro quality" in which case, I'm tempted to run a mile!

Any similar experiences/advice/etc?

Here's something you might have heard ...

... someone says they need a better camera and can you, with your big, swanky bag of lenses and serious demeanor, help? One of Sarah's friends asked me this today. She has a Fujifilm 6mp compact with 3x optical zoom, about two years old; sure you know the kind of camera. She wants something better. I asked what the problem was.

1. She showed me a picture she'd taken of some leaves (oh, how I'm sick of looking at them!) on a branch where the camera has set exposure for the sky (most of the picture)  and the leaves were too dark.

2. "Missed pictures" and "blurred pictures" - I think she meant shutter lag. 

She showed me the Argos catalogue and said she needed more mega-pixels. I said she probably didn't. I don't think any compact will cure (significantly) the problems she is having. On the other hand, do I recommend a DSLR (which might cure some of them)?

She is a self-confessed technophobe. What do you say?

More wedding etiquette...

Another wedding dilemma. While processing this pic of the back of the bride, noticed the tiny old lady, in my opinion,  spoiling the shot. As you can see old lady has been edited out in the version I intend to send to the couple, but is this the right thing to do? 

Wedding pro etiquette

You'd never guess I'm twiddling my thumbs with little to do other than wait for my sub to finish laying out the last three pages of the newspaper for proof reading!

Difficult situation presented itself at the wedding on Friday. Couple were married at small room at the back of the Left Bank bar (sure Toby probably knows it) and then posed in what is the carpark behind the building, leaning against a small wall which backed onto the river.

Background for photos was the other side of the river, which in my amatuer opinion wasn't the most picturesque (primarily some flats), but photog didn't have a huge choice of backdrops. However, what I did notice is that right behind the couple's heads (from the angle the photog was taking shots from) was a largish, bright yellow, for sale sign on one of the flats.

Worst thing in the world is some know-it-all sidling up and telling someone how to do their job. However, I know just how easy it is, from painful experience, to miss small details in the chaos of something like a wedding.

I was torn: what was worse, me looking like a patronising idiot but at least checking he'd noticed, or saying nothing, assuming he was either aware and dealing with it with shallow DOF, or not aware, but capable of solving the problem in PP (or even not capable and spoiling the couple's photos)?

What would you have done?