Zooms for outside/Primes for Inside?

Just curious how people feel about either or. Ive had a fascination with wedding photography ever since my wife and I & our friends got married a few years back. Been working out of town for the last 4 years and recently got transferred home, so Id like to just go out and shoot. Sold my 15-85 because I wanted a more specific lens such as the 17-55 2.8 or 70-200 f4 IS. My question is, for a 3 lens starter set, I was thinking :

-canon 17-55 2.8 IS (general wedding lens) just ordered
-canon 85mm 1.8 (indoor reception/low light/portrait lens)
-70-200 f4 IS (long church shots with low lighting, nice outdoor far off shots)

Just curious if this is going to get me on the right path.

Nice lens selection. Now you need..some lens back up.. a flash back up and a back up camera

I use zooms inside and primes outside....as well as primes inside and zooms outside.

If you plan on using the 70-200 f/4 for indoor church low light situations, you'll be wishing you had the 2.8.

I'd get the f2.8 version of the 70-200. Find a used 70-200 f2.8 IS MKI. You'll appreciate the extra stop for indoor ceremonies.

Primes inside and primes outside.

Zooms inside and out. I have two primes. The 100 Marco takes amazing Macro shots. The 50 1.4 is just slow. I wouldn't use it for weddings unless I absolutely could not use flash and couldn't get the shots I need from my 70-200 2.8 and need the faster prime. But since it's so slow in focusing it's hardly a step up and I'd much rather crank up my ISO with the 70-200.

Now if I had an L prime this would be a whole different reply!

That's a good start but if I were you I'd get the 2.8 70-200 - if budget is an issue get the Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS because it's a great lens and a tad bit better than the Canon MK1

A prime gives you 1-2 more stops, that won't really help all that much in a dark reception. You need to learn to light instead, and have appropriate equipment. I've detailed how I do it here.

My wife started with those two zoom lenses... But we eventually wished that we had the 2.8 version of the 70-200. (Though after she upgraded to the 5D mark iii, f4 was fine since she could go to higher ISO. She kept the lens, since the 2.8 is bulky/heavier)

Honestly, I'd hold off on the 85mm and get the 70-200 2.8. (The 70-200 does a good job as a portrait lens)

Once you have the cash, my next purchase would be a 100mm IS macro. Great for macro shots as well as portraits.

Obviously you'll need flash at receptions... And the 17-55 is the perfect reception lens. I really with they made an EF/L series version!

I second what tim said regarding lighting being more important for wedding work. That said, 70-200 2.8 is great for church ceremonies where flash is not allowed.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #14707742
Primes inside and primes outside.

That's what we do.

I use primes for the image quality over zooms, the difference in light is negligible, because with a razor thin DOF, you arent going to get moving shots.

I prefer primes inside and primes outside.