To me, the whole point of an SLR is to take advantage of features that normal point and shoot cameras just don't have - namely to be able to adjust depth of field, shutter speeds, and other similar features to improve the quality of the photo.
Simply buying an SLR camera and a decent lens while keeping everything on Auto is not going to substantially increase the quality of printed photos. They'd be better off purchasing a nice P&S camera instead of an SLR.
Luckily though, with the advent of digital settings and metering, simply flipping the dial to Av or A (Aperture priority/value) can give you a good deal of depth of field while making the camera work to accomodate your settings. Giving even a mediocre camera user an afternoon of playing with different settings and lenses might be all one needs in order to get a feel for those features.
That said, I should also note that if you go with teh SLR-purchase route to BUY AN EXTRA BATTERY. I'M PUTTING THIS IN CAPS BECAUSE IT'S FREAKING IMPORTANT. YOU DON'T WANT YOUR WEDDING PHOTOS COMPROMISED BECAUSE YOU'VE RUN OUT OF JUICE.
(Sorry about that)
Additionally, make sure that you know what kind of power source your resort will be using (i.e. North American 110v vs. UK/Europe style 220-240v) and get the required adapters if needed.
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