How to Prioritize Photo/Video When You’re Cutting Your Budget

Budget cuts are normal and no one wants to gut their wedding media because you don’t get a redo on this day! So if you need to scale back, here’s how to do it without losing what matters.

Step 1: Protect the core coverage

If you’re choosing where to spend, prioritize:

1. ceremony

2. portraits

3. speeches + key dances

These are the story pillars.
Everything else is bonus.

Step 2: Shorten less valuable hours

If you’re cutting time, the least painful places are usually:

• super-early getting ready (before anything meaningful happens)

• late-night open dancing (after the story arc is done)

You’ll feel very little difference in your final edit.

Step 3: Choose one film deliverable, not three

If you’re scaling:

• pick a highlight or a feature, not both

• skip raw footage unless you’re a true “archivist couple”

You can always add anniversaries edits later.

Step 4: Keep a second shooter if you can

If you’re deciding between:

• extra hour vs. second shooter

• fancy add-on vs. second shooter

Second shooter wins almost every time.
It changes what we can capture, not just how long we’re there.

Step 5: Be honest about what you care about

Ask yourselves:

• Do we want a film that’s emotional?

• Do we want a gallery that’s super candid?

• Do we care about dance-floor coverage?

• Do we need sunset portraits?

Your answers tell you where to keep the spend.

Bottom line:
Trim the “nice-to-have” parts of the day.
Protect the moments you’ll rewatch.

CTA block:
We’ll help you scale your media plan without sacrificing the parts that make your story yours.
Reach out to Toast Weddings — we’ll build a smart budget version together.