How Our Pricing Actually Works
Two ways to book. One editing studio. Nothing hidden.
Here's the part most wedding photographers make harder than it needs to be. We've never believed in hiding the numbers — our pricing has lived right here, in the open, since the beginning. Now we're taking that transparency a step further.
Every Wedding Day Love Story we deliver — whether Sam shot it, Katie shot it, or one of the independent photographers in our network did — is personally edited by Sam and Katie. Same hands on the edit. Same heart. Same standard we've protected for the past 14 years.
And because we'd rather show you than make you wonder, here's exactly where your investment goes. 42.5% pays your photographer for capturing the day. 42.5% covers the editing that finishes your wedding in our studio. The remaining 15% keeps everything else running — consultations, planning, advertising, your wedding album, and the whole experience around your day. Every one of our contracts spells this out, line by line.
So your choice isn't really between two different studios. It's about who you want capturing your day — and whichever way you go, your wedding comes back to our studio to be finished. We'd rather walk you through that than let you guess.
What's Identical · What's Different
Most studios won't say this part out loud. We will.
| ✓ IDENTICAL | → DIFFERENT |
|---|---|
| The Windy City Production editing and brand standard, on every wedding since 2012. | The wedding-day eye — variety of shots, emotional range in the small in-between moments, creative risk under pressure. The kind of seeing built over 14 years and thousands of weddings. |
| Sam and Katie personally edit every Wedding Day Love Story. | Better gear, more frames — Sam and Katie shoot with higher-end equipment and additional techniques, and deliver notably more images per wedding. |
| The same wedding-day coverage — 8 hours of contracted continuous coverage, single shooter, same scope from getting ready through reception. | Delivery speed — a 14-day guarantee with Sam or Katie; with a network photographer, editing typically runs 4–12 weeks (a guideline, not a guaranteed deadline). |
| The same structured experience from booking to gallery — early creative intro, same planning system, same online gallery, same digital delivery. | Experience and accolades — Sam and Katie are internationally awarded, with 14 years inside wedding days. Each network photographer is an experienced professional with 50+ weddings behind them. |
| Full transparency on your shooter — you know exactly who's capturing your wedding, by name, before you ever sign. | — |
Here's the honest read: the standards in the left column hold for both ways to book. The differences on the right come down to experience and what experience produces. The photographers in our network aren't new faces — many started with us years ago, some as interns, and have grown alongside us into the seasoned professionals they are today, each with 50+ weddings behind them. They've delivered beautiful, dependable work for our couples for years, and we're proud to pair you with them.
And Sam and Katie have spent 14 years inside wedding days. International accolades. Thousands of moments under pressure. Weather that fell apart, timelines that imploded, light that couldn't be saved. That experience shows up in the kind of shots that get noticed and the small moments that almost got missed. The honest framing: for the photographers in our network, this is work they're excellent at. For Sam and Katie, this company and these weddings are our lifeblood. The standard on the edit is the same. The eye on the day is honestly different.
Either way, your wedding comes back to our studio to be finished. The question is simply who you want behind the camera on the day itself.
14 Years. Zero Canceled Weddings.
In 14 years of running Windy City Production, Sam has never canceled a wedding.
Not after a surfing accident in Costa Rica that required stitches the night before — he was on the wedding the next morning. Not days after his children were born. Not on his anniversary, his birthday, Christmas, New Year's, or any holiday he could have taken. Not in the middle of every business challenge that came up across more than a decade of weddings.
Katie shares that same standard. And the photographers in our network have shown up reliably across hundreds of weddings, too — but we won't pretend the track records are identical. They're professionals who are excellent at what they do. Sam is the founder, the lead artist, the editor, and the person whose name is the brand. That reliability difference simply comes down to what this work is to each of us.
That's the honest reason the two ways to book exist. Either way, your wedding comes back to our studio to be edited and finished. But if you're someone for whom "the photographer didn't show" is the unspoken nightmare, booking Sam or Katie by name is the strongest answer we know how to give.
Want to Max Out Your Savings?
We know weddings come with a lot of moving pieces, so we love creating simple ways for couples to get the most value from their investment.
Available Savings Options:
5% Cash Discount — Applied to any portion of your balance paid in physical cash. No minimum, no limit.
Pre-Payment Discount — Up to 6% — Applied to any amount paid early. 0.5% off per full month in advance of your wedding date, capped at 6% (12 months early). Pay sooner, save more.
$50 Referral Credit, per service — When you’re referred by a past couple, friend, or venue. Book photo and video and it doubles to $100.
$100 Reaction Video Credit, per service — When you share a Post-Wedding Day Love Story Reaction Video with us. Per service — share one for photo and one for video, and it’s $200.
Stack any combination that applies to you.
A quick, honest note: these savings apply to your Windy City Production editing and booking. Your photographer is an independent professional who sets their own rate for capturing the day, so that portion isn’t part of these discounts.
Associate Photo Package$2,600 $2,286 (a total savings of $314) Fri / Sun / Off-Season Sat
(Nov–April)
Sam or Katie Photo Package$3,700 $3,176 (a total savings of $524) Fri / Sun / Off-Season Sat
(Nov–April)
Associate Photo Package$2,600 $2,286 (a total savings of $314) Fri / Sun / Off-Season Sat
(Nov–April)
Sam or Katie Photo Package$3,700 $3,176 (a total savings of $524) Fri / Sun / Off-Season Sat
(Nov–April)
We believe your wedding memories deserve thoughtful, beautiful, professional coverage — and we also believe the process should feel clear, honest, and full of value.
If you have any questions about how to take advantage of these savings, we’re always happy to walk you through the options.
Associate Photo Package
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam & Katie Overseen Edit
- Personal Online Gallery
- Generally 4-12 Week Delivery
- FREE Bonus: 10 X 10 Romantics Wedding Album
Sam or Katie Photo
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam or Katie Personally Shooting
- Personal Online Gallery
- 14 Day Delivery
- FREE Bonus: 12 X 12 Romantics Wedding Album
Associate Video Package
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam & Katie Overseen Edit
- 1-2 Minute Teaser Film
- 4-6 Minute Cinema
- Generally 4-12 Week Delivery
- FREE Bonus: Premium Video Book
- FREE Bonus: ALL Raw Footage On SSD Drive
Sam or Katie Video
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam or Katie Personally Shooting
- 1-2 Minute Teaser Film
- 8–12 Minute Cinema
- 14 Day Delivery
- FREE Bonus: Premium Video Book
- FREE Bonus: ALL Raw Footage On SSD Drive
Peak Season Saturday Savings (May – October)
Associate Photo Package$4,000 $3,597 (a total savings of $403) Peak Season Sat
(May-Oct)
Sam or Katie Photo Package$5,500 $4,793 (a total savings of $707) Peak Season Sat
(May-Oct)
Associate Video Package$4,000 $3,597 (a total savings of $403) Peak Season Sat
(May-Oct)
Sam or Katie Video Package$5,500 $4,793 (a total savings of $707) Peak Season Sat
(May-Oct)
We believe your wedding memories deserve thoughtful, beautiful, professional coverage — and we also believe the process should feel clear, honest, and full of value.
If you have any questions about how to take advantage of these savings, we’re always happy to walk you through the options.
Associate Photo Package
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam & Katie Overseen Edit
- Personal Online Gallery
- Generally 4-12 Week Delivery
- FREE Bonus: 10 X 10 Romantics Wedding Album
Sam or Katie Photo
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam or Katie Personally Shooting
- Personal Online Gallery
- 14 Day Delivery
- FREE Bonus: 12 X 12 Romantics Wedding Album
Associate Video Package
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam & Katie Overseen Edit
- 1-2 Minute Teaser Film
- 4-6 Minute Cinema
- Generally 4-12 Week Delivery
- FREE Bonus: Premium Video Book
- FREE Bonus: ALL Raw Footage On SSD Drive
Sam or Katie Video
- 8Hrs Continuous Coverage
- Sam or Katie Personally Shooting
- 1-2 Minute Teaser Film
- 8–12 Minute Cinema
- 14 Day Delivery
- FREE Bonus: Premium Video Book
- FREE Bonus: ALL Raw Footage On SSD Drive
So… which one is right for you?
If we were sitting across from you over coffee, this is exactly how we'd talk through it.
Most couples who choose a network photographer are…
…couples who love the Windy City Production brand and the Sam-and-Katie-edited standard, and who recognize that an experienced photographer with 50+ weddings behind them — hand-picked by us — is genuinely excellent at what they do. Some are working within a budget that makes the associate price the right fit. Others have room for either and choose the associate route because they want a creative collaborator with more scheduling flexibility, or because they value the dependably beautiful work our network has delivered for years. They're comfortable with a 4–12 week editing window, and they love that their wedding still comes back to our studio to be finished.
Most couples who choose Sam or Katie are…
…couples who want internationally-awarded eyes capturing the day, who care deeply about the variety, emotional range, and creative risk that 14 years of pressure-tested experience brings to a gallery and film, and who want their fully edited photo gallery and cinema film delivered within 14 days of the wedding, guaranteed. Booking Sam or Katie by name means booking the lead artists whose work is the reason Windy City Production exists — and the people whose track record on wedding-day reliability is the strongest one we can offer.
Neither answer is the right answer. There's just your answer — and if you're not sure, that's exactly what the consult call is for.
One honest note on cancellations: a retainer reserves your date, so — like most of the industry — it's non-refundable. Every photographer in our network books on the same standard terms: if you reschedule and your photographer is available, your retainer carries to the new date; and a photographer can only step away for a true emergency, in which case they'll bring in a qualified replacement so you're never left without coverage. When Sam or Katie are your photographers, we go further than any contract requires — across 14 years, we've refunded couples wherever we possibly could, with the receipts to prove it. If the details matter to you, bring them to the consult call.
What Couples Are Saying
Real reviews from couples on both tiers. We did not cherry-pick — we picked honest.
Couples who chose a network photographer
I wanted to send a MILLION thank you's to Sam and Jaime. Words cannot even describe how amazing of a job you both did shooting our wedding. Drew and I felt so at ease, and truly felt that you captured the joy and emotion of our special day.— Natalie & Drew
Couples who chose Sam or Katie
Katie and Sam were absolutely incredible. We love it — it truly tells a story. Their calming presence made us feel super comfortable, and our guests couldn't stop commenting on how amazing the team was.— from The Knot & WeddingWire reviews
One question worth sitting with before our call:
When you imagine watching your wedding film ten years from now, who do you want to have been holding the camera?
There's no wrong answer. Just yours. Bring it to the call — we'll take it from there.