Intro & questions (long)

outrunthemoon

Hey Ladies, 

I'm new to this board. My FI and I got engaged last year. We set a date of June 1st 2013. After the engagement we got pregnant & just had our baby girl about a month ago. Now that she is born and things are settling in it's time to really start planning this wedding. We are going for a simple laid back country/outdoors wedding. I have a few questions because I'm just starting to ask around for prices and creating a budget. And we are on a slim budget. FI's parents are giving us a small amount of money but I have yet to broach the subject with my parents. I'm setting our budget as if my parents aren't adding anything. I don't expect them to have to contribute and money is tight all around. 

So here are my questions if you don't mind asking:

-For the church they are charging $200 for the organist, $75 for the sextons & then an voluntary honorarium for the minister. What is a good amount for the minister? The ceremony is at the church & I am a member. We also will be having a few meetings with him prior to the wedding.

-I'm also looking for recomendations on:

-horse/carriage rental

-tent/dance floor retals

-photographers

Thanks ladies!

MoonlightSilver

Welcome to the board and congratulations on your baby and engagement! 

I am not getting married in a church so I will have to leave that question to others.

I want to mention that when I first started looking at photographers, I was shocked at the price tag. However, photographer is extremely important to me, and I really think you get what you pay for, so I was willing to pay for it. 

We decided to go with Jerome at Studio1923 (link). He's been extremely nice and down to earth. He has fantastic skills with the camera and with editting, and I don't think I could ask for better pictures from our engagement session. I'd recommend him a thousand times over.

We also met with 416th Street Photography (link) recently for a photoshoot. They are a new husband and wife photography team, so they might be more affordable. While they were extremely nice, they were a bit hesitant to tell us how to stand/face/move, so they are still learning. We haven't gotten our photos back yet either. 

Lastly, for horse carriage we are using Allegra Farms (link).  I don't know where they fall on the "affordable" scale, since I just booked them on site at a bridal show, but they are very nice people. They have multiple historic carriages (so they only use authentic, old carriages) and different horse teams. 

Good luck with your planning!