Conch Republic Photography Reviews
Conch Republic Photography
Summerland Key, FLReviews
1.5 out of 5 rating
1.5 out of 5 rating
19 Reviews
29% recommend it
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![Casey]()
Casey C. Sent on 10/28/2021Can’t wait to see the final product!
Kristen was the ultimate professional & a dream to work with! She was warm, knew what she wanted & very efficient with our time during the wedding. Her portfolio is amazing & I cannot wait to see
How out pictures turned out. -
![Samantha]()
Samantha S. Sent on 05/18/2021Fantastic photographer!! 💗
Our wedding was 9/12/2020 and we had Covid restrictions/policies and on top of that Tropical Storm Sally was very present at our wedding. Kristen was so friendly and patient with us despite the weather and chaos. She made us feel so comfortable. After our wedding, we were even more amazed at how well our pictures turned out. During our wedding, it was cloudy and dark with torrential rain almost the entire time. Kristen didn’t miss a beat and captured so many great memories! Our pictures are bright and beautiful and you would never know how terrible it looked outside of the tent. We are complimented on our pictures often! They are definitely pictures we enjoy showing off and putting on display in our home. Highly recommend this photographer!!! 💕💕💕 -
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![Justine]()
Justine O. Sent on 12/07/2022Horrible Experience
I would not recommend Kristen. Her photography business name is also called Conch Republic Photography. Yes her pictures turn out beautiful but they are not worth the whole experience with her. My husband and I eloped to Key West on April 2022. The first problem was she would not respond to my wedding planner regarding the timeline so I constantly had to reach out to her myself. On my wedding day, she was like 30-45 minutes late, so we were running behind and she did not get any first look pictures or pictures of me getting ready. She also did not get any pictures of just my dress on my custom hanger. Thank god my videographer was there and early. When she did get there, she was taking pictures and smelled of cigarettes. She also had a coughing fit when we were trying to do some video stuff with the videographer. She gave good instructions when she was taking our pictures. Our contract stated that I would get my photos in 8-10 weeks. After sending her multiple messages on multiple platforms everyday after about 12 weeks, and after multiple excuses from her, we finally received our online album in 15 weeks. I even had to threaten her with a lawyer a couple times. She was also supposed to send me the USB with the images, which after saying she shipped it twice, I finally received that 4 weeks later after sending her multiple messages daily again. I have had multiple people that have also reached out to me because they have had the same experience with her and are still waiting on their pictures from months ago. -
![Maysie]()
Maysie H. Sent on 10/25/2022Don't be another victim
PLEASE don't be another victim of this scammer - I'm currently pursuing any legal avenue I can to seek restitution from Kristen Hudson, who stole $1500 from me.
If you've been wronged by Kristen Hudson, I urge you to submit a complaint to the BBB: bbb.org/file-a-complaint
And the Florida Attorney General: myfloridalegal.com/conta…
I booked Conch Republic Photography back in June 2022, to shoot my elopement in Key West on September 2, 2022. I communicated with her via email, signed a contract and paid a $300 deposit (via Venmo *red flag*) to secure the photography date of September 2, 2022. The remaining balance ($1500 - Harbor Package) was to be paid in full by August 15 per the contract. On June 4, just a few days after paying the deposit, Kristen Hudson (aka Conch Republic Photography) began pressuring me to pay the full balance. She sent me numerous emails urging me to pay my invoice immediately, although it wasn't due for another few months *Red flag*. I paid the $1500 in full, via quickbooks, just to get the annoying invoice emails to stop.
I attempted to contact with her closer to the wedding to discuss the details of the photo shoot. I had a difficult time reaching her over email and phone, and when searching online for another phone number to call, I stumbled upon numerous yelp reviews from recent months (Jan-July 2022) where customers explained that Kristen was difficult to contact, was flaky/late to weddings, and in some cases never even delivered photos that were promised and paid for I was eventually able to schedule a call with her on August 9, 2022, where I informed her that I would be canceling the photo services, and I requested a refund of the balance minus the deposit ($1500). I was clear that I did not expect the $300 deposit back, just the remaining $1500 for services not rendered. She agreed she would pay the balance back. I followed up every few days until I finally heard from her on August 30, when she sent me a refund receipt, stating she sent funds back when she did not.
Yes, it's Conch Republic LLC. No, she doesn't have a business license. -
![Bethany]()
Bethany W. Sent on 05/18/2022Do not book. Awful.
LONG POST, BUT BE SURE TO READ BEFORE BOOKING WITH CONCH REPUBLIC PHOTOGRAPHY.
We eloped in the keys earlier this year, and used Conch Republic Photography aka Kristen Hudson. I fell in love with the pictures she posts and promotes. I reached out to her and we communicated over facebook messenger to secure date, payment, time and ect. She was very slow to respond, and did not answer my questions directly. Now knowing what I know I should have taken this as a RED FLAG. When we finally did confirm a date and time we paid over paypal. We decided to do the “Harbor” collection which is “2 hour coverage for $1800 which included 50-100 edited photos per hour, high-res digital images online gallery, and print release”. The day of the wedding came along, and I did not hear from Kristen until I called her at 5pm, the time we were supposed to start pictures before the ceremony, she stated she was almost there and would call me when she was in the parking lot. To make a long story short she ended up being late and left early, only photographed for maybe 1 hour by the time by the time she got set up and found the good lighting/best areas to shoot. This was at Bahia Honda State park where Kristen is very familiar, shoots often and even got married at herself. I will say in person she was amazing, fun, great energy and is very good at what she does.... when it comes to shooting. We actually had fun while taking photos. KEEP READING IT GETS WORSE.
After our session she stated she would have the pictures back to me in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks and sneak peaks in a couple days. We got our sneak peaks a week later that we were so anxiously waiting to see, show family and friends as she promised a couple days....we loved them, they were gorgeous. I set up a reception and celebration back home with friends and family for a month later based on when she told me I would get the pictures. As that date neared I reached out and she told me I would have them in a week...then that passed, I reached out and she said she was doing the finishing touches and we would have them the next day..... and then that passed. A few days later I reached out yet again, and she did not respond, so I texted her personal phone in which she responded that they now would not be to me until 8-10 weeks, and referenced a contract....The thing is she never showed us a contract or had us sign one. We cancelled our vendors and rescheduled our reception. We just hit the 11 week mark and finally got our photos after about 10 dates she reassured us to have our photos. I was truly convinced she had lost them and was just buying time, or think I would eventually give up. She was not responding to messages, calls ect, even with knowing about the upcoming reception we needed our photos for. You can only imagine the stress and anxiety this put on us knowing she had the only photos and keepsakes of our special day. At one point she told us she sent the photos and to check our spam folder when she had not actually sent them.We lost money rescheduling our reception.
***The WORST PART of all this mess is when she finally sent us our gallery yesterday at 11 weeks she had not edited the rest of the photos. They look nothing like the sneak peaks she had sent 10 weeks prior. I now have paid to have another photographer to edit the photos before this weekend for the reception....more money out the window.
Kristen truly ruined our experience and something that should have been a fun, exciting process. I would not recommend her to anyone to use for any sort of sessions, especially elopement/wedding. She can be a great photographer and editor but she completely over books herself, allows her personal life to get in the way of her clients, and has no follow through or commitment to her word. In the end I would have been fine with waiting the 10 weeks if this was what was originally communicated to me so I could have planned our reception and events accordingly.
SAVE YOURSELF THE HASSLE, TIME, MONEY AND STRESS.... FIND A DIFFERENT PHOTOGRAPHER. -
Name A. Sent on 07/07/2022
Horrible experience
We got married in early December 2021 in Key West and every step of the way was problematic working with this vendor. Sneak peeks were promised at a certain date and late. Wedding photos were promised probably 10 different times and she always missed the date without even as much as messaging us, so we would message her and she would have an excuse and promise them by the next Saturday. Saturday rolls around and there was no message to be found from her. We finally got the edits back almost five months later and the edits were not what the sneak peek showed. We got married with the beautiful Key West sunset in the background and in the edits the sky was gone and only white. We politely said that we wanted the photos re edited, only to be dragged around and gaslit for another couple months of empty promises. Once, she said she had already sent the new edit link and must have sent it to the wrong email. This was a lie, because after pushing for them a bunch of times, she finally later on gave us the raw images and said we could call her if we needed help with edits. It was an absolutely horrible experience and I would never recommend this vendor to anyone. The photos show her edit and then a guest’s iPhone photo from what the sky really looked like that day. -
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