Oh, I'm so sorry you lost your camera at such an important event! I hope someone else got pictures they'll share.

Have you studied cameras at all, to see what would suit what you want to use it for? Mine is pretty "old" now but when I picked it out my husband, who is more knowledgable than I am about such things, said I had to first decide did I want computer pictures or "paper" photos. I chose computer since I like posting stuff.

I found this site: http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/ which has the basics. Did your old camera have a paper guide or anything that might teach you more than you know? I didn't read my camera book until recently and was surprised at how much information and how helpful it was about photography in general.