I have been following this discussion with a lot of interest, I run a one person wedding videographer business and started in 2005. Based on your experience and money you want to invest I would suggest to go for the weddingbusiness only and in a few years make the step to something different.
I don't know what UK customers in general demand when it comes to wedding videography but I clearly see a difference between UK and f.i. Belgian weddingevents, mainly in the part that is being charged for weddings but also in regard to audio recordings when it comes to reading the vows (that's not a tradition in Belgium) That means you need to invest in a decent wirelless mic, I f.i. use a samson zoom H4 for recording audio at a distance which is most important at the ceremonie at the townhall and it works perfectly for my purposes.
The company which was mentioned earlier in the thread who charged 2900 pound for starters would have a very difficult time finding clients here in Belgium for that amount, and I even doubt if they would.
Your first and most important investment would be your camera, to be honoust,
I wouldn't buy a dvx, I own one myself but plan to take the step to hdv by the end of this year for sure. Sd will become more and more in the background and once your customers will own full res hd screen and blue ray players your dv produced by your pana dvx will look like crap compared to the image made by a good hd cam.
Working alone in wedding events is possible but really demanding and you really have to be a quite idealistic to succeed. The key is not only to be a good camera operator (consider sleeping with your camera) but how you edit your footage, when I'm filming f.i. I allready have a scenario of what i want to achieve when I edit, which is neccessary if you want to achieve a certain effect or want to apply a certain style. You need to be different then the rest, else you"ll just be one of many and nobody will notice you. I split a weddingday in about 7 parts and every part can be looked at like a short movie so it doenst get boring. Maybe it can be compared with "the best of" what has been mentioned here before but in Belgium that's the way they want it.
That's way you really need to make sure you know what your customers expect before you start.
Also don't underestimate the internet, 95% of my clients find me through my business site, I also spend a lot of time in assuring that they can find me and once there, that they also will stay around to have a look. This you can only do by offering different options or some fun stuff that they almost can't find anywhere else, if have f.i. a "shoutbox" which records best wishes unmanned. In about 80% of my weddings it gets hired as well.
I started in 2005 which was a slow year but this year is the first year I'm fully booked and now I slowly see a change in people who mainly found me trough the net to people who heared about me. That's something which takes years to develeop. That's why you heavily have to invest in time promoting your business through the web in the beginning.
I also found out that for other, less physical demanding, but more serious assignments like making an instructional film for a company requires a totally different approach. They don't take you seriously when you arrive with a sony vx2100 f.i. but expect big shouldercams and heavy duty equipment. Then working alone is not realy an option I think. It is possible but you need to present some realy good portfolio to get into that world. It took me almost 3 years to make the first contacts in company world and with a little luck I"ll be making my first instructional shorts for a big environmental company this year. Because the films will be streamed on the internet the demands on the type of equipment ythat was used were not so big. I"m just pointing out here that it is way easier to make an entry into the wedding business then working for companies if you only have starters equipment.
Especially if you want to live from it, set your price right from the beginning, invest a lot of time in making yourself visible and start with weddings only. Even if they can bery very demanding, it's the best learning school there is BUT be sure that you know what your doing, if you mess up a few time in the beginning you can forget a future in weddingvideography.  | 
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