The same heart. A new chapter — built for couples, our photographers, and us.

Why the Associate Tier Is Evolving

When Sam and Katie started Windy City Production in 2012, every wedding on the calendar was theirs to shoot. As demand grew beyond what two people could cover, we built the associate tier — talented shooters paired with our in-house editing, at a more accessible price. For years it served couples beautifully, and we're proud of every wedding that came out of it.

But we've learned a lot along the way, and we'd rather be honest about it than pretend nothing has changed. The clearest, warmest experience for a couple is knowing exactly who's capturing their day and building a real relationship with that person. And the best thing for a talented photographer is room to grow into their own name. So we're taking the next step in the journey.

Moving forward, every couple is matched with — and books directly with — an independent photographer from our network. You'll know exactly who's shooting your wedding, and you'll work with them directly from the start. And no matter who holds the camera, Sam and Katie still personally edit and finish every wedding in our studio. That part never changes.

This is the same group of photographers who've shot alongside us for years — the same talent, the same people you've trusted — simply stepping into the next stage. For them, it's the next natural step in their own journey: the chance to grow their own brand, earn their own reviews, and step forward as the professionals they've become. We're proud to help them get there.

And for us, it means pouring ourselves into what we do best: capturing the weddings we shoot, and bringing the Windy City editing standard to every gallery and film we deliver. Better for couples. Better for our photographers. Better for us.

Same heart. A clearer path. A better fit for everyone.

Chicago metro hosted 43,084 weddings in 2024 — the 5th-largest wedding market in the country. Roughly 75–80% of weddings happen on Saturdays, and Chicago is the 3rd most expensive wedding market in the U.S.

Here's what that means inside the industry: covering a single peak-season Saturday in Chicagoland would require 700 to 1,200 photographers shooting simultaneously — and that's assuming one shooter per wedding. After 14 years in this business, Sam couldn't name 10% of the truly experienced pool — 72 to 120 photographers — off the top of his head.

Demand dwarfs supply.

Couples don't see this part of the market. They see studios advertising rates and assume there's an unlimited pool of equally-experienced shooters at every tier. There isn't. The gap gets filled mostly by shooters working their first or second season — which is exactly why 85% of wedding photographers exit the industry within two years, and 60% in year one alone.

The associate tier lives inside that math. It was never a discount layer bolted onto a premium offering — it's how an established studio extends genuinely experienced coverage to dates the founders alone can't reach.

And here's what's new — and honestly, what almost no one else in this market offers. From the day you book, you know exactly who's playing what part: the independent photographer capturing your day, and Sam and Katie finishing it in the edit. Most studios won't promise that. The common practice is to keep the flexibility to assign your shooter at the last minute — to a newer hire, or even to another company entirely when they've overbooked — and you often don't find out who's actually showing up until the week of your wedding.

That's not us. The photographers we pair you with aren't strangers pulled in to fill a date — they're the people who've helped shape Windy City over the years. Matching you with one of them, by name, from the moment you book, is simply the next natural step: the same trusted talent, with more transparency than we've ever offered.

From day one, you know exactly who's playing what part.

Our path here has been years in the making. Many of the photographers we work with started with us long ago — some as interns, learning the craft of wedding days side by side with Sam and Katie. They've grown enormously since then. Today they're seasoned professionals, many with hundreds of weddings behind them.

What hasn't changed — and won't — is the editing. To this day, Sam and Katie personally edit every single associate wedding: every gallery, every film. That's the part of the Windy City standard we will never hand off, no matter who captures the day.

What's changing is access and transparency. Where the old model kept these talented photographers working quietly under the studio's name, this next step gives them — and you — something better. You're matched with your photographer by name, you work with them directly, and you know from the day you book exactly who's capturing your wedding. The talent was always there. Now you get a direct line to it.

Years in the making — the same seasoned talent, now with a direct line and full transparency.

This is where most studios stay vague. We're going to be specific — because going forward, this is built around your choice, not our assignment.

When you book a Sam or Katie package, you're booking them — guaranteed, by name, on your contract. Your wedding-day shooter is locked from the moment you book.

When you book at the associate price, you're not handed an unknown. When you connect with us, we present you with the photographers' full galleries and profiles, and you choose the one whose work speaks to you. And because we show full galleries and full films — start to finish, not a hand-picked highlight or two — there's nowhere to hide. You see exactly what a wedding day looks like in that photographer's hands, and exactly what they're capable of artistically, before you ever sign.

There's also an honest upside. On open Friday, Sunday, off-season, or last-minute dates — when the date is available and no Sam-or-Katie contract is holding it — Sam or Katie may elect to shoot at the associate price themselves. If that's a possibility for your date, you'll know it plainly and up front. The only way to guarantee Sam or Katie on your wedding day is still to book a Sam or Katie package — but on the right date, you might just find one of us among your choices.

Full galleries. Full films. Nothing hidden. You choose.

Every Wedding Day Love Story Windy City Production has delivered for the past five years has been overseen by Sam and Katie personally — every gallery, every cinema film, regardless of who shot it. Even as Katie's shooting load has decreased to spend more time with their three children, her hands remain on a huge portion of the editing work. She is, in many ways, the editorial backbone of the studio.

That's not a logistics claim. It's a quality claim. The editing is where a wedding becomes the Windy City brand — the color, the pacing, the emotional through-line, the tonal consistency that makes a Windy City wedding film recognizable. By keeping editing in-house and overseeing it ourselves, we make sure every wedding we deliver feels like a Windy City wedding, regardless of which shooter captured it on the day.

And no matter which photographer you choose, your wedding comes back to the same hands. A couple booking at the associate price gets a gallery and film edited under the exact same oversight Sam and Katie apply to their own work. That's the most important promise we make — and it's why every Windy City wedding holds its quality, no matter who's behind the camera on the day.

For years, there was a written agreement between every photographer and the studio. We called it the Blueprint — and it did its job. It set the standards of quality and professionalism Windy City has held since 2012, and more than that, it helped shape the standard our photographers came to embrace as their own. That history matters, because the standard didn't disappear when it stopped being a piece of paper — it became part of who these photographers are.

Here's the honest part. Going forward, no one — not us, not any studio anywhere — can truly guarantee exactly how an independent creative will show up on a given day. Artists have their own will, their own instincts, their own way of seeing. That's true of every associate team in this industry, and any company that tells you otherwise isn't being straight with you.

What we can promise is this. Sam and Katie commit personally — on every wedding we shoot — to the principles we lay out plainly on our FAQ page. That's our word on our own work. And with the photographers we pair you with, we bring something nearly as valuable: years of working intimately alongside them, and a long track record of the standard they hold.

And this is exactly why the next step matters so much. By connecting you directly with your photographer — by name, with their full work in front of you — you can have the real conversations before the wedding. You can talk through your vision openly, make sure you're aligned, and know exactly who you're trusting with your day. Transparency does what no agreement ever could. That's what makes this progression stronger.

Transparency does what no agreement ever could.

No agreement ever captured the real standard. The one Sam holds himself to goes further than anything you could put on paper.

If you've read the About Sam page, you know about the wedding Sam shot the Saturday before his second Ironman in 2024 — hybrid solo, photo and cinema both, with a same-day edit pulled in stolen 10-minute windows during the reception. He drove to Madison for three or four hours of sleep, then ran a 140.6-mile triathlon at sunrise and beat his Year 1 time by 90 minutes.

Here's the part that didn't make the About Sam page.

After the wedding, Sam refunded part of the couple's investment and upgraded their wedding album. The couple hadn't asked for either. Nothing had gone wrong. The day, as the couple experienced it, was a complete success.

But Sam felt the day had been smaller in scope than the Hybrid Package fee reflected, and his standard for what he charges versus what he delivers wouldn't let him keep the full investment. So he didn't.

The phrase that explains this is something Sam has said for years:

"I haven't met a couple who has a higher standard for my work than I personally have."

That standard isn't in any contract. It's simply how Sam and Katie work — and it's the same standard they pour into the editing of every wedding that leaves our studio, no matter who shot it. It's the hardest part to put into words, and the part that matters most.

We've kept this page focused on how it all works — the people, the transparency, the editing — rather than the numbers, because that's what makes this tier worth trusting. The pricing for both the Sam or Katie tier and the associate tier, including the off-peak Saturday rate, lives on its own page.