If you can find someone with a portable mixer, you can get decent effects (I did a demo recording a few years back with a band, friend of ours had a digital 4track). Moreso if your chorus is comfortable singing parts without having everyone else singing behind them, or if you have monitor headsets enough for all in any given part.

"Live" recording is good, if you're on and the venue is good acoustically. But it's also a question of what you're recording for. If it's for a 'pro' release, you would probably want to investigate the possibility of doing a mixable tracked session as opposed to the live.

Note that this does not mean that parts cannot be done that way - just, in my experience, harmonies can be a bitch to get right, and being able to track and mix goes a long way to making the process a bit less stressful.

Again, though - a lot of this is "what is the recording for?". If it's for "souvenier" recordings or the like, you probably would be better served with the "live" angle. If it's for a demo, promotional materials or non-directly supported sales, you may want to consider a bit more advanced of a setup.

M