Canon DSLR choice Help

I agree with you 100% and have already sent emails to a number of professional wedding photographers in my area. I just need to build my starter kit so I can relate, that's all. I want to be able to learn some things to practice on my own and what not, and I just don't know what to buy.

I'm enrolled in two classes at a community college here, and have purchased a number of recommended books; I'm trying to learn all I can, I just want the right equipment to go along with said knowledge...

Don't worry about the slow lens that you mentioned. Also, don't worry about a main body until you are about ready to do some serious work. What you can do is buy a body now that will later become your backup body.

Right now, the best bang for the buck is the Canon 50D. The lenses will be determined on whether you plan to go full frame later.

Here is a great resource for you showing a choice of lenses for wedding photography. The same lens would make great portrait lens.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Canon-Wedding-Lens.aspx

excellent advise. I like photography too but I'm not planning to be a wedding photographer, nonetheless I find your advise excellent.

Let me give a little extra explanation. For wedding or challenging lighting photography, the lenses and external lighting are more important than the camera body. There is not a whole lot the 50D can improve over the Rebel in wedding photos, unless you are shooting a running bride or sports theme.
So concentrate in getting the lenses, and you want larger aperture lenses with at least f/2.8. You should also get the most powerful external flash you can afford. In the case of Canon, the Speedlite 580 ex II. If you have extra money, then the Q-flash (from Quantum Instruments) is even better, which is what some pros use. You need a diffuser to soften the flash. The HONL kit has accessory snoot and other adaptors that modify/shape your light to create special effect, highlighting specific features of your choice.
The Elinchrom Quadra is a portable powerful strobe unit (400Ws) that can give you outdoor close-to-studio quality strobe effect. It is more light weight (but less powerful) than the Ranger or other portable units, light enough for you to carry without an assistant. The Octabank gives a very nice soft lighting, and it folds like an umbrella which is nice and easy to carry. This unit is probably nice to have for the pre-wedding outdoor on-location portraits, or if you set up a booth in the reception for some nice portraits of the guests. You can't carry this set up with you chasing after the bride and groom.
For the traditional studio portraits, the Elinchrom Quadra is not going to be powerful enough. Monolights are usually cheaper and powerful. The Alien Bees B1600 (640Ws) is more powerful than the Elinchrom Quadra, and is not expensive compared to the other high end brands. You can easily get 3 units. It has good quality and good value for those starting up. Studio lighting usually needs 3 or more lights (a main light, fill light and background/hair light). You can do with one but will have to use reflectors and deal with shadows. The studio lights use quite a bit of accessories to fine tune the lighting design. In general, if you want high quality studio photos, you should go for the strobes rather than the constant lighting. The hot tungsten lights are dangerous and uncomfortable, don't even think about those. The fluorescent or LED cool lights are too bright for your subjects to withstand for a hour or more. The Alien Bees remote triggers and Cyber commander is very easy to use, equipped with an incident flash meter and you can adjust the power of the strobes remotely from the commander mounted on the hotshoe of your camera.