Anybody 'hire' Family?

Im not sure how to handle this. So far, FH wants to ask his Dad's cousin to marry us (he married FH's parents) and I'd like to ask FH's BIL to be our photographer (he does amazing work as a hobby.)

How would you handle prices? Do we ask them how much they want and then give them more since they'll probably not ask for much? We'd like to cut costs too but don't want to come off that we are looking for free services from them.

How would you handle this?

Anybody

I'm having a very close friend (who's invited to my wedding too) doing my hair. When I asked her how much she would charge, she said that she would call it my wedding gift and call it a day. Obviously I plan to give her something, and a photographer is obviously a more expensive vendor, but I think just having an open conversation about the cost with them and see what they say!

Anybody

We are actually having a close friend of ours marry us and she refuses to accept anything from us. So FH and I are going to get her something. As far as your BIL, I would ask what does his packages include: Albums, prints, etc. I'm sure he will definitely not charge you full price and you can work from there as to how much more you would like to give him.

Anybody

My sister is a hairdresser/makeup artist, so she is doing my hair and makeup for free. Which is expected.

My FMIL's friend is a photographer and we plan to give her something. FMIL thinks she may just do it without asking for money though. We do plan to offer her money anyway.

I agree with booie35, have an open conversation about cost and take it from there.

Anybody

Def have an open conversation about it. FH's dad is marrying us and I know he would not take any money from us. We are planning on buying him a gift to say thank you.

Anybody

Def have an open conversation about it. FH's dad is marrying us and I know he would not take any money from us. We are planning on buying him a gift to say thank you.

Anybody

We hired a family friend (who is invited to the wedding) to do our pictures. She isn't charging us anything because she loves what she does and they always have a camera any way taking pictures. She isn't charging us anything but we will be paying for a night's stay in the hotel room for her and giving her like $150 as a thank you.

Re: Anybody 'hire' Family?

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Posted by jlr5585

Def have an open conversation about it. FH's dad is marrying us and I know he would not take any money from us. We are planning on buying him a gift to say thank you.

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That is so sweet of your FFIL marrying the two of you.

Re: Anybody 'hire' Family?

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Posted by Kimberley2015

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Posted by jlr5585

Def have an open conversation about it. FH's dad is marrying us and I know he would not take any money from us. We are planning on buying him a gift to say thank you.

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That is so sweet of your FFIL marrying the two of you.

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Thanks :) I am so excited about it!!

Anybody

I'm not sure about the photographer, but my dad's best friend is marrying us (I call him my uncle, he also married my brother and SIL) and we are getting him a bottle of Grey Goose vodka since that's one of his favorites. We might get him something else, but he doesn't want any money.

Anybody

We're having FH's cousin marry us. She was so excited to do it. We haven't discussed compensation. Her daughters are going to be the flower girls too (super cute 5 year old twins!). I asked a friend who is also a clergy member, and they recommended getting her a small token gift-- I may get her a piece of Judaica or a nice necklace as well as donate to her discretionary fund at her synagogue. That way, she can use the funds for any pet project she'd like to do at work, but it's not like we're 'paying' her. We also expect that she and her husband will probably not give us a wedding gift.

I find the hardest part about using vendors that you know that are not doing something 'personal' like your ceremony (meaning photographers, florist, etc) is that it's harder to say 'no, I don't like this.' Especially when you're getting the service free or at very low cost. You just have to be VERY clear about you want up front and make sure that everyone understands. You don't want to ruin a friendship/relationship due to not liking the work you get.

Anybody

Our best friend is marrying us and we are paying for him to get ordained and a gift but he refuses any sort of monetary compensation for doing it.

Another good friend is doing our videography. He has 2 other people working the party but he will be on hand helping them out. We are paying just discounted prices of what they normally charge.

Anybody

FH's cousin (also a GM) is a florist and will be doing our flowers. I already told him I do not want to spend a ton on flowers because they aren't that important to me. I know he will take care of us even though we haven't discussed exact price yet. He will have a guy working with him so we will definitely have to pay him.