BuddyPress on hosted shared server

A couple of questions about a WordPress site I am building to replace my existing hiking group on Meetup.com, which has around 500-1000 active members. Members RSVP to events (5-10 per week), post photos and comments, email each other through the site, and use a message board. Some events require online payment, and we use Meetup’s WePay for that. The main plugins I plan to use to reproduce these features are BuddyPress, Events Manager Pro (with Paypal Gateway), bbPress, rtMedia, MailChimp, possibly NinjaForms, and a few others. I am developing this under GoDaddy’s shared hosting (basic plan), but I have read that BuddyPress in particular can be a challenge for shared servers, so I am concerned that performance will be an issue when we go live. I spoke with their support, and they recommended their Ultimate plan.

1. Any thoughts on the use of WordPress/BuddyPress with GoDaddy? Would it be worthwhile to switch to BlueHost or another service?
2. With the number of photos members upload, I am afraid we will exceed the basic plan’s 10GB limit. Should I use a CDN like Jetpack’s Photon or some other? Any recommendations?
3. Any other plugins/extensions I should consider?

Thanks!