Looking for advice on choosing a camcorder, can anyone help?

Jai.

I need a camcorder to record a wedding (just the day generally not specifically the ceremony). I'm not looking for something pro level, but I'd really like something that's going to be able to handle indoor filming/sound. I've done a lot of research, but the more I read, the more the reviews seem to contradict each other. Here's what I'm looking for, and why I'm confused.

-HD I guess. Progressive or interlaced recording- I understand the difference but I don't know how much it's actually going to affect what I want to do or what I want to use it for except for 'one is better than the other'.
-A decent battery life/recharge time. This information is isn't shown on most things I've read.
-Decent (or some) image stabilisation as most of the filming is likely to be done moving around.
-Good optical zoom.
-Microphone port for future use.
-Somewhere around or below the £300 point.

The last is going to be one of the most problematic I guess. I was looking at the Panasonic V700 but it's just coming in above my price range. I'm willing to compromise some things, but the important thing is being able to get decent picture in low light and decent sound quality. If anyone can offer any advice, even if it's not to suggest specific models but just to help me with what features will most likely give me the best possible footage, I'd really appreciate it.

Btw sorry if this is in the wrong place, but it seemed the best place to get the advice I need, and when I went back through the thread there were questions about cameras so I hope I've picked the right section.

IrishGypsy

I recently purchased the Panasonic Limited Edition SD90 (in white) for £250, for the very same purpose you mentioned. It's limited to 2012 units, but you might still be able to find it for under 300 of her majesty's finest.

It's 1080p50 (pretty much max HD resolution - bar 10fps if you're being pedantic), so it's fairly future-proof, it has a 3.5mm mic jack (I've bought a Panasonic external shotgun mic to get better sound at my sister's wedding for £20 from Amazon), it's got really good optical zoom, small form factor and a reasonable battery (although nothing super-amazing).

Make sure you get a Class 10 memory card (SDHC) with ideally a 30-45mb/s write rate if you plan on recording 1080p.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Panasonic+Limited+Edition+SD90&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=2