To add to the point above: honestly, you can save some money by not going for the top-tier CF cards. A Lexar Professional 1066x 64GB CompactFlash is usually plenty for weddings and way cheaper tho. Use that extra cash for a Godox V1-C Flash for Canon instead. Lighting gear is more of an essential than a battery grip when youre shooting a dark reception hall... just a thought. Lmk if you need help picking a trigger too!

TL;DR: Skip the grip, prioritize dual-slot cards and extra batteries. Redundancy is your best friend at weddings. In my experience, the battery grip is a luxury you dont need right now, especially on a 400 dollar budget. It makes the 5D4 a total brick after eight hours of shooting. I would put that money toward data security instead. Running dual cards is non-negotiable for professional wedding work. I suggest getting a SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB CompactFlash 160MB/s for your main slot and a SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB SDXC UHS-I for the backup. The CF cards are sturdier and less likely to fail than SDs, which is why I use them as the primary write path. Batteries are your next priority. Skip the third-party stuff for your main power; I have seen them swell or report fake percentages too many times. Grab two Canon LP-E6NH Lithium-Ion Battery packs. They have better capacity than the older versions and work perfectly with the Mark IV. Since you are skipping the grip, get a Peak Design Slide Camera Strap to save your neck and shoulders during those long Seattle ceremonies. This setup keeps you under budget, ensures your data is safe, and wont leave you with a dead camera mid-vows.

• Memory: ~$130
• Batteries: ~$160
• Strap: ~$65

Total: ~$355

Stumbled on this... seriously, grab a SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash 64GB 160MB/s for redundancy. CF cards are absolute tanks. Having a backup is non-negotiable for weddings if an SD card fails mid-shoot.

^ This. Also, honestly dont stress too much about the grip. Being satisfied with just a few extra cheap batteries is definitely the way to go. I think I heard somewhere that the 5D4 is a bit picky with non-Canon ones, but there have been no complaints with the generic ones I found... works well enough for me. Tbh since you are in Seattle, you can probably just DIY a rain cover with a plastic bag and some rubber bands if the budget is super tight right now. Speaking of Seattle, I was just there last month for a weekend and man, the coffee culture is wild. Spending way too much time in this tiny basement cafe near Pike Place just watching people instead of taking photos was the highlight. Kinda makes me want to move there, but the gray skies might get to me after a while. Anyway, just make sure you have enough cards and you will be fine.

Had a moment to think about this more... @Reply #2 - good point! While cards are vital, I am very satisfied with adding a Think Tank Photo Emergency Rain Cover Medium to my kit. Since you are in Seattle, protecting that 5D Mark IV from moisture is essential for long-term reliability. I have no complaints about how it fits and it gives me a lot of peace of mind during rainy outdoor shoots. I also highly recommend sticking with the Canon LP-E6NH Lithium-Ion Battery. Using original batteries works well for me because they provide accurate power readings and consistent performance. I dont trust third-party brands for professional wedding work where a power failure could be a disaster. Honestly, having two or three genuine spares is much safer than relying on a cheap battery grip.

Bump - same question here