If you are going to buy filters, get good quality ones or they are useless. I don't even know how good it is to have a UV, mostly all it does is protect the lens, and I reisist stacking glass unless it is absolutely necessary. My lens hood protects my glass pretty well, and I try to be careful. I have two now and really don't like to bother with them, another slight learning curve. Another problem is that not all filters fit all the lenses, so I bought a graduated neutral density filter for my 10-22 and a polarizer for my 28-135, didn't like it, affects picture quality, you have to rotate it according to the direction of the sun, and you lose an aperture stop or two which can be critical. I'd get a better handle on beefing up your skills before I jumped into that.

B+W (not black and white, name of the company) from amazon.com are pretty decent quality filters. You can quickly get in over your head with all the choices.

With people who really know what they are doing, they can be great, one example is the blurred water effect which has to be done on a tripod and timed and tends to blow out the sky without a GND filter; I'm sure there are many more uses for them when you really know what you are doing.

As to the lens, the glass is everything. The better quality the glass, the more expensive. Some lenses aren't any good; I have to use budget ones mostly and if you look at enough photos, you can tell the difference, especially with pro shots who tend to use the top-quality lenses. Also post processing skills come into play; I'm a real lightweight with that and don't like to spend too much time messing with it but I just have to with my camera.

I've got a 28-135 which is on the cheaper end, pretty decent lens overall especially in good light, and it doesn't have enough zoom for me in many situations, but you can't have everything all at once, and the longer zooms tend to be heavier which is a consideration.

I do have one wonderful, marvelous quality wide angle lens, a 10-22, and a very sharp prime 50mm 1.8 in my series was a real bargain.

The lenses that don't zoom (primes) take better quality shots, but zoom and now IS is everything to me. Also, the more you change lenses, the more dust on your delicate sensor filter, and the more cleaning which is tricky and to me, scary, business so I don't like to do it any more than I have to.

Just to add a little to the above post:
The polarizer will take out a lot of the reflection glares.
The ND help reduced blown highlights.
To most begginers they may seem like the same thing but they are not. You will lose light which might give you some problems in a wedding since most wedding a in low light situations. Learn how to properly use the metering in your camera. This will probably be the most benificial to you.
If I use filters use B+W and Hoya filters. I do have UV filters on my lenses but as noted it is for protection only.

I use a Tiffen 812 warming filter for all of my sunsets and sunrises. The circular polarizer is a must!

JoanMN

Can I jump in with a question too? I have been researching possible add-on telephoto lenses for my Fuji S5100 for almost a year. Lens information is EXTREMELY limited for this camera. But I have found that either the Raynox 2020Pro (with an adapter sold separately) or the Olympus TCON17 will fit the 55mm size of my Fuji, and have good reviews for bird/nature photography, which is what I need. Does anyone know of any other lenses that will attach to the S5100, besides Fuji's own lenses (which have bad reviews)?

Also, I notice that Tiffen makes a 55 mm UV filter that stays on the camera all the time and protects the lens. My camera does have a cap which is great, but while I'm in the field the cap is off, so a permanent protective filter might be better for me to use. Is this correct?