I stumbled across Heather before I was even engaged. I saw a friend's wedding pictures online, and was completely blown away by her work. When it was my time to look for a wedding photographer, I still remembered Heathers work because of how beautiful and unique it truly is. I am SO happy we went with Heather. First of all, it is impossible to even pick out my favorite photos because each and everyone one is so stunning. Her style is so moody and romantic. I love how deep and vibrate the colors she captures are. I feel like they really stand out against the other wedding photographers. Next, Heather was an absolute pleasure to work with. I was very uncomfortable having my photo taken during my engagement shoot and she was able to get me to relax and pose in a comfortable way. It also was very difficult to shoot my wedding because it poured. Heather still was able to get incredible shots and stayed over what I had hired her for so she would get it perfect for us! I can honestly say that choosing Heather left us with incredible photos and a great friend! read more

I cannot say enough about Heather Lauren Photography! We first met Heather through our engagement shoot, which was another story because it was during red tide season and we had to reschedule 100 times but our pictures turned out amazing and we bonded so well with her! We then decided we wanted her to come to Pittsburgh with us for our wedding since we loved our engagement pictures SO much! Her work is so unique and not like all the other photographers! The whole experience with her has been amazing. She feels like she's one of my friends now and my entire family loves her too! We love you Heather! You're amazing! Thanks for coming all the way to Pittsburgh for us and dealing with us crazies! read more

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What an amazing artist! She orchestrated a perfect shoot and made us laugh while doing it. I am so happy with the photos that we will have forever to cherish!! She was also super quick getting photos back, just in time for our anniversary!! There's no doubt she is to best of the best!! read more

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We used Heather for our wedding. And it was the most exceptional photographs ever done. Very professional, returns phone calls immediately, and her work is amazing. She was recommended to us by other people who have used her services, and we are so glad that we used her! If you're looking to get top-notch photography done for your event, family portraits, or corporate events, she is the one! read more

If you want someone to show up to your wedding, "capture the precious memories", and NEVER receive your photos, Heather Hawley (Simpkins) is totally your girl. She was very professional upon meeting her. Contract was signed, she was very nice, responded within a timely manner, even spoke the day of my wedding to check in (so nice, I know right! I thought so too. But there's more...) So, she shows up to my wedding, takes photos (so I thought), and leaves happily. Here's where it went downhill. We had an agreement that she would deliver to us 1-2 photos so we could use them for reception invitations (that we had at a later date due to family being out of town). She said she could get them to us within 24-48hrs. NEVER HAPPENED. We emailed/texted her multiple times. NEVER heard anything from her (I have all the dates/messages to back this up btw). Weeks later, we reached out to her again (giving her time to respond), never heard anything (so professional for someone who is with Donors of Distinction right? You would think she'd do better). A few days later, messaged/emailed, no response. Same thing as above, a few more times. At one point, she actually messaged back and said she would have them to us by the end of the week. We waited until the following week; nothing was sent to us. We followed up with her, of course no response again. Now, it has been months since our wedding, and we have to start getting the system involved since we have had little to NO contact with "Heather Lauren Photography"/Heather Hawley (Simpkins). We reached out to our local Facebook page "Sarasota Word Of Mouth" and later found out that MANY people had the same problem with her (you can search her name there and find this information), some actually received their photos though. Most people reached out to us privately and gave us A LOT of information on her (which I also have documentation of). Other photographers in the area reached out to her on our behalf (after seeing our post), telling her she was being unprofessional and offering to edit our photos for her if she was incapable and she wouldn't respond. These memories are ones you can NEVER get back. Those precious moments with your loved ones. Gone. Or wherever she says they are. Now we get law enforcement involved (because it's the next step so we can proceed with Civil Court). They reached her and she stated that she "GAVE our photos to another photographer" (without informing us) and she has no legal responsibility now (we have a copy of the recording when she spoke with the officer). She refused to give the officer the "new photographer's" information. (Sketchy right?) We messaged/emailed her asking for the "new photographer's" information, no response. We messaged her about once a week for a few weeks, no response. Now we go to court. She gets served by SSO, doesn't show up for the first date. Gets served again, doesn't show up for the second date, so we have a default judgement. We send her copies of the judgement, requesting payment in full. Still no response months later. We still have an ongoing case, but I wanted to share this information in hopes that NO ONE ever uses Heather Hawley (Simpkins) or Heather Lauren Photography again. If you need more of a reason to not use her other than my review, just look her name up. She has other court cases with the same situation (we found this after this all happened, and we realized we needed to go to court). Sadly. She seemed like a reliable person. Boy was that a joke. DO NOT TRUST HER OR HER "COMPANY". read more

Heather is an absolutely amazing photographer! She has done photos of my family and is wonderful with kids. Its not easy to capture great photos of two wild toddlers but she manages to somehow get photos that are so beautiful and natural looking. Her photography style has such a soft, romantic, intimate feel to it. You can tell by working with her and from the quality of her work that she is very passionate about her craft. I highly recommend Heather Lauren Photography if you're looking for someone to not only capture a moment in time but to create for you a personal work of art. read more

I can't say enough wonderful things about Heather. She is an amazing photographer! Not only did she create an amazing set of wedding photographs but she stepped in and emcee'd when the DJ no showed. She completely saved our wedding day from disaster. Love love love her!!! read more

Heather Lauren Photography - Amazing photographer! - Event Photography Near Me

Lost Reception Photos, $0 refunded, $2,281 Legal Judgment Against Heather Lauren Photography I was married on February 25, 2017 and on May 10, 2017 I was notified that our reception photos were lost and that the sd card was corrupt. It took over two and a half months to acknowledge this by Heather Lauren Photography. Imagine this is you, you have no photos of your first dance. No photos of your father/daughter dance, or bridal party speeches, or the prayer your father in law spoke. You have no photos of the cake cutting (that cake you loved) or the flower toss your cousin won. And the worst, you have no photos of your guests and family, some from St. Nazaire, France who flew across the world to be with you. To date, I have received $0 in compensation from Heather, or the respect or dignity of a simple phone call/sincere apology. Upon receiving the news via email, I asked who the manufacturer was (I was going to do EVERYTHING I could to receive those photos). There are highly qualified data retrieval companies who specialize in corrupt SD cards, of course with a fee. I finally asked if at all possible to receive the card, I was willing to pay for this. My questions went unanswered, the photographer, Heather, offered us $300 of compensation for a $2,000 package, for which we received exactly 3 hours of this 6 hour package. No money ever came. Communications ceased when we asked to send off the SD card, for which she insisted she sent off to the manufacturer at no avail. We waited until July to receive notice, or compensation. In July we sent a demand letter, asking for half the compensation of the package with proof- any type of evidence that the SD card was corrupt and this was not due to negligence. We would be happy with that, we understand life is not perfect and if in fact this was due to manufacturer error there would be some kind of documentation from that manufacturer that she said she reached out to. The letter went unanswered. We filed in Small Claims Court. She showed up and we mediated. We even offered to pay half the court costs to get this nightmare to end. At court she said the manufacturer had "gone out of business." What a coincidence. She agreed to pay half the cost of the package by January 1st. She did not pay. I filed more paperwork and a judgment was issued against her for the full amount $2,281. You can find this judgment on the Pinellas County Court House Records Search. The sad part is if she would have just been honest, and professional, and honored a refund, I would not have had to spend hours filing in court, writing letters, and taking the time out on my Sunday to write this review. A review for which I held, to give her every opportunity to fix, until now. Now, imagine this was you. The feeling you get when your heart drops the moment you hear your wedding photos are gone. The confusion and disrespect felt when notified via email months later, offered a laughable compensation, and then ignored. Gaining the courage to walk into court, having to fight for what should have been an obvious resolution. You don't have to feel this way, all of this can be prevented just by calling someone else read more

Heather Lauren Photography - Event Photography Near Me

She was very professional . I hired her for my destination wedding in Jamaica. Not only did she work all night the day before my wedding with the lighting, given I chose to have a sunset wedding, but she also got to know everyone in the wedding party to make sure everyone was comfortable with her. The pictures turned out amazing. I could not be more pleased. I have referred her to several of my friends and given the pictures they saw and her personality they all hired her. I highly recommend her. read more

Family photos are opportunities to create memories, lasting impressions. Heather with Heather Lauren Photography not only created memories with my family photos she created an experience like no other. I searched for the perfect photographer, one that would paint a picture of that day and create a moment. Heather not only met these expectations but exceeded them beyond my imagination. The atmosphere was amazing. Heather has a vision, an art and every piece of her heart and soul go into making your pictures beautiful. My son hardly ever smiles for pictures and in everyone of these photos he was genuine with his smile. I can honestly say out of all the previews there was not one we all didn't love. Thank you for your personal connection and most importantly thank you for putting love, laughter and soul behind all you do. I look forward to having you capture all our Family photos and memories. You are simply THE BEST!!! read more

Heather was amazing from beginning to end. She was very calming. She gave great direction while making us feel comfortable. Our photos came out natural. I could not love them any more. I would recommend Heather to anyone and everyone! read more

We love working with Heather at several different venues, and not only is she professional, friendly, and talented, she is truly an artist at photography. read more