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: https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint And the Florida Attorney General: http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Attorney_General 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. read more

Nooo stars is more like it. Don't be fooled by the beauty of the photos. Heres how the process goes. You get reeled in and are promised your photos in 2-3 weeks and a sneak peek in one day. Here's how our process went: 1. Got a couple excuses but did get out sneak peak almost 3 days later. 2.around 2 weeks I texted Kristen asking when I should expect the rest.... No response. 3. A week later she has the NERVE to post our sneak peaks on her Facebook for marking, yet still no response. 4.both my sister in law and I reach out to her by trying to call her and text her . 5. Later that day Kristen reaches out to my sister in law with a reason as to why she has not sent the rest of the photos. Promising her they'll be done be the end of weekend. 6. It is now MONDAY and we have not received anything and are blocked. Please do not get scammed like we did! Everything seems legitimate but we were scammed of the ONLY photos of our engagement day. I now only have 7 pictures to remember one of the most important days of my life. read more

I just wanted to share my experience with a local photographer Conch Republic Photography as a non local. About three months ago I went on vacation with my boyfriend and his family to the Florida Keys. At the time we were in the keys my boyfriend's brother signed a contract and paid the down payment to Conch Republic Photography to photograph the very special day as he proposed to his fiancé as we also had family pictures taken. As followed by the contract she was paid in full before the scheduled shoot. The day of the shoot there was a lot of trouble getting ahold of Kristen Hudson. After multiple phone calls, and messages from multiple family members and myself Kristen finally called us back maybe an hour before the shoot's scheduled time. Upon arrival, Kristen was 15 minutes late and we were promised extra digital copies. As stated in the contract she also verbally told us that our pictures would be released on the digital gallery for us within 2-3 weeks. Over three weeks went by with us yet to receive our pictures. Our family had reached out to her multiple times as we all were eager to see our pictures and it was past date for the digital release to be given to us. For the delay in release and the trouble contacting her, once again Kristen had promise us additional digital copies that would be added to our package. Almost three months later with trying countless times to contact Kristen, we have yet to receive any pictures and we have only received excuses such as "being sick" or "busy" as the excuse of to why we have not received any pictures. For example last week we contacted her and she said she was sick and would give them to us the next day and we have yet to receive them. As I myself am a photographer of over 10 years, I kept tabs on this situation and on her photography page to see if anything had been released but it wasn't and instead she was posting other sessions she had after us. I have heard from others that they have had the same problems with her continuously. I would absolutely NEVER recommend Kristen Hudson and Conch Republic Photography to anyone who is looking for a photographer in the Florida keys area. read more

Lesson learned, always read the reviews first. She took our family pics Oct. 11th, and I'm still waiting for proofs. Super disappointed and hoping she refunds me, but I won't hold my breath. read more

Zero stars. Scammer. She gave us the same runaround she's given every single person in these reviews. Asked for full payment upfront (repeatedly, even after I gave her a reminder that she still hadn't sent over the contract-never did). Told us 2-3 weeks (from package details graphic she sent me)/3-4 weeks (verbally) until photo delivery. Reached out after 4 weeks asking when we'd receive them after hearing nothing. Takes a few days to respond, says it'll be a few more days/she was in the hospital. A few days go by, no communication or photos. She promises by the end of this weekend on a Friday. Sunday night I reach out to her-nothing. Monday we are blocked and she is not responding. Only after blowing up her Facebook page and sharing the story publicly and loudly across multiple platforms does she cave and send us the photos. Gaslights us that we were harassing/bullying her. We see that we're very much so not the only ones she's done this to. Made such a momentous and special occasion (my brother and sister-in-law's engagement day) a huge sore spot and headache and sad vibes. $600 is $600 more than she deserves. read more

Our first impression of this photography business was positive. Kristen was a pleasure to work with on the day of my daughter's wedding. We received the sneak peek photos a couple of weeks after the wedding. 10 weeks after the wedding my daughter reached out to Kristen to ask when she could expect to get the link to view the photos. No response. 4 weeks later, my daughter reached out again. Kristen answered and said she was finishing up the edits and would send the link within the week. No link was sent. After 6 weeks of going back and forth with Kristen giving excuses and continually promising to send the link in a few days, my daughter finally received a link to the pictures- 4000 raw photos! We were happy to have access to the pictures- but none of them were edited. Since Kristen breeched the contract my daughter let her know she needed her to release the pictures to another photographer she found to edit them. It took 2 months for Kristen to send link to the new photographer. There are plenty of reputable photographers to choose from in the Florida Keys.... Do not hire this photographer. read more

LONG POST, BUT BE SURE TO READ BEFORE THINKING ABOUT 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. I have reached out to other clients of hers that are having similar communication issues, as well as her missing parts of their sessions being late. SAVE YOURSELF THE HASSLE, TIME, MONEY AND STRESS.... FIND A DIFFERENT PHOTOGRAPHER. read more

Avoid at all costs. Terrible communication. Late to our wedding and underdressed was the least of our problems. 6 Months later all I could get from her were the raw files (unedited) despite having paid for edited photos. Half were unusable. She's since ghosted me. Worst experience imaginable. read more

Kristen took a deposit from me prior to my executing a contract. After I sent the deposit she ghosted me... never sent me a contract so I booked with another photographer and emailed her to let her know I'd need a refund of my deposit. Only at that time did she then find the time to send a contract, obviously at which point I had no desire to work with her. It's been well over a week and excuse after excuse of why she can't send me back my $200 via Venmo. It takes longer for her to send me a BS email than it does to send me my money back. I'll be filing a police report and small claims suit here in Key West, and would encourage everyone else who has had the same experience to do so as well. read more

Please do not be fooled by her gorgeous work. Yes, it's beautiful, but you will put a down payment down and never hear from her again (second time we booked with her). Or you will book with her and she will need to reschedule (even though she knew we were in from out of town and were leaving the next time). Save your money, don't be naive like us and look at reviews before booking with any photographer. read more

SCAMMER! DO NOT USE! It's so sad reading all of these reviews because they are 100% TRUE! Poor communication, unreliable and unprofessional. Save yourself the trouble and use another photographer. read more

Stay far away from this scam artist. Failed to show on our wedding day - did hire a replacement for less hours and far less than we paid. Initially acted like she was going to refund us some - then as I pushed more and more she is ignoring my communications and has removed her facebook page and website. read more

Pictures are out of focus soft or just not focused on the subject. Not to mention the majority of them is just the back of my husbands or child's head. She is also very hard to get in contact with. It took over 2 months to get our photos after about a month of her telling us she was sending them that day over and over again. I am so upset I trusted her with my photos and money. We will end up have to get them redone by a different photographer. I hope you this review stops someone from making the same mistake as me. read more

Absolutely do not hire Conch Republic Photography to take your pictures. We had pictures taken at the end of June 2022 and we are now basically in September, as today is Aug. 29th and have now been blocked and did not receive our photos. We have been given excuse after excuse and have been more than understanding and now will have to seek legal action because she denied giving us a refund. We are not from the area and it is very sad that she is out here scamming hundreds of families out of money as it has been obvious we are not the only ones she is doing this to. read more

I wish I had seen all these reviews before booking with Conch Republic Photography. Unfortunately, I had the same experience as the previous reviewers. We signed a contract stating that 20 photos would be back to me within 2-3 weeks of the session I had in October. I asked her about this after our session to confirm, and she verbally told me it would be 3 to 4 weeks because this is her busy season. I didn't fight her on it but I should have. When it got to 4 weeks after our session, I had not received any photos. I messaged her about it and she did not respond. I messaged her again the next day and she said they were uploading and she would send the link the next day. The next day I had to ask again about our photos. She then uploaded only 5 of the promised 20 photos saying that the others were still uploading and that she didn't have internet at her home and was working off of a hotspot. I asked about the remaining 15 photos and she told me that someone was coming to install internet at her home. Another day passed and I still didn't have the rest of the photos so I requested that she refund part of my money since I didn't have what I paid for. Hours later she decided to upload all 400+ unedited photos from our session and make me choose which photos I wanted to keep. This bought her more time after she had told me the others were uploading, which led me to believe that she had finished editing 20 photos for me. I let her know I was very upset that she did not follow her contract to which she gave me more excuses about her personal life and why she was running behind. I sent her which photos I wanted and did finally receive the 20 I was promised, but they were late. If you are looking for a responsible photographer who takes her job and your time and money seriously, LOOK ELSEWHERE. read more

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. read more

do not hire this woman. tomorrow is 6 months since our wedding and we still do not have edited photos from our wedding day. we have received nothing but lies and horrible communication from her from the moment we hired her. she was three hours late to our wedding so we didn't get any of the photos we wanted before the ceremony. about a month ago we finally got her to share the unedited photos from our wedding and there were NONE of our family photos. all of the photos she took are awful and unusable. there are NO photos of me and my mom on my wedding day. there are NO photos of me and my family. there is not one photo of me and my husband that we are happy with. she has come up with excuse after excuse, lie after lie, and it is no way to do business. do not hire her. read more