Breanna Maxwell Photography

My sweet little baby is officially ONE!! We had so much fun celebrating this cutie with a puppy paw-ty this afternoon. We are so blessed by this little girl and we sure love her so SO much!! 🩷🩷 Happy birthday Addi Leigh!!🤍

It’s that time of year!! MINI-SESSION TIME!!🍁🍂🙌🏼

If you’re a part of my Email List, then you already got all the details AND first dibs on scheduling your mini-session. (And I’m so pumped about how many of you did!!) I have a few spots left open - are you going to grab one???

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13
3:30 - 6:00PM
Des Moines Metro🍁🍂

Check out www.breannamaxwellphotography.com/fall-minis to claim your spot!!

IG fans: go ahead and click that link in my bio.

Want to be first to hear about my Christmas minis?? 🎄🎄JOIN MY EMAIL WAITLIST!🙌🏼

I got to spend the evening with another gorgeous & glowing mom-to-be! This session was extra special to me because I was lucky enough to capture this sweet couple’s wedding a couple years ago. Now their sweet baby girl will be joining their family almost exactly two years later! Congrats to the Nielsens!

I can’t believe my baby is starting KINDERGARTEN!!🥺🥺 I know she’s going to rock it and will have so much fun, but I can’t help feeling like I’m sending her out into the real world all alone. She’ll now have to navigate the complexities of friendships, learning, & and whole new level of independence. I can’t keep her in my protective bubble anymore and that feels so scary to me. Anyone else feel this way when sending your kids off to school for the first time?? I swear, this girl is braver than I am about this whole thing!!

Oh, and as for her future plans, Emerson is quite undecided. As of this week she hopes to be a vet, a gymnastics teacher, a face painter, or a mermaid. 🩷

Everyone in Central Iowa is going back to school this week, which means it’s basically fall, which means YOU need to schedule your family for some updated portraits for the ol’ Christmas card. 🎄Lucky for you, I have mini-session dates opening up here REAL SOON! Want to be among the first to find out all the deats?? Join my email waitlist!! You’ll be able to secure your session before times are shared with the general public AND you’ll receive an exclusive promotion just as my way of saying THANKS FOR SIGNING UP!!🤍🤍

Visit www.breannamaxwellphotography.com/email-waitlist to join in!🍁

Congrats to these two on their upcoming anniversary!! Love looks good on them I think. 😉🤍

Another STUNNING senior I was honored to photograph last night. These amazing young women sure make my job easy! Congrats to Aliyah and the Class of 2025!🎓🤍

These cool temps are not at all what I had in mind for August sessions, but I’ll take it! Ava had THE PERFECT day for her senior session and she absolutely crushed it. AND you’ve got to keep scrolling to see her bedazzled soccer ball - it is seriously the coolest thing and she did it all herself!! ⚽️ Congrats to Ava & the new class of 2025!!

I love catching up with the same families year after year for their updated portraits. It’s always a great time with the Tebo family!

Got to celebrate this mama-to-be (times THREE!) yesterday! I’m SO EXCITED for baby girl Sicard to join the crew! 🤍🩷

It may have been approximately 7000 degrees last night, but that didn’t stop Rachel & Tim from having an AWESOME engagement session at Jester Park!! These cuties are tying the knot next summer and I’m so excited to be a part of it!🤍

I think I could spend all day photographing rings. Especially one as stunning as Mari’s! However my struggle is always picking a favorite - that’s why you’ll see so many options in your gallery! Which style / angle do you prefer?

More from this gorgeous day is officially UP ON THE BLOG! I’d love for you to check it out!!🤍

It’s easy to celebrate a couple like Mari & Ben - especially when pretty much every person I talked to had such amazing things to say about them, both as individuals AND together as a couple! They are so filled with love for each other, for their families, and for Jesus. It was an amazing day!! Congrats you two!🤍🤍

These high school sweethearts are getting married next year and I am SO EXCITED to be a part of the celebration!! We spent the evening exploring Ledges State Park, a favorite hiking location of Amy & Luke’s. Though most of the park is currently experiencing flooding, we found some gorgeous spots made even more beautiful by this sweet couple. Congrats again you two!🤍🤍

Turns out the third time was the charm when it came to rescheduling Hannah’s senior session - this Iowa weather has been NUTS! But I am so glad we waited because I could not be more OBSESSED with how these turned out!! 😍😍 This girl is a KNOCKOUT!🔥 Have an AMAZING senior year Hannah!!

Congrats to this insanely adorable couple! Autumn & Joe are the kind of people that make you feel like you’re best friends even when you’ve only just met. They are so insanely in love and were full of so many giggly kisses the whole entire day. They both shared how READY they were to be married & to celebrate with their favorite people. It was such an immense blessing & pleasure to be a part of this amazing day. Congrats you two!!🤍🤍

These amazing vendors made it happen::
Venue: Mainframe Studios
Florals: Something Borrowed Blooms
HMUA: Copper + Fringe Beauty Co.
Catering: The Tangerine Food Company
Dress: Modern Dress
Suit: Skeffington's Formal Wear
Rings: Owen Jewelry Design
Coordination: Party On Des Moines

The Brenton Arboretum is probably my favorite location for portraits in the entire Des Moines area. I swear, every time I visit I find a brand new spot that makes the perfect backdrop for a super sweet couple or family. If you haven’t been there before….. GO!! Seriously. Butttttttt maybe put on some bug spray - I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say I came home with about 27 itchy bites across my body. 😬 oh well. WORTH IT for these precious portraits!!🤍

Just delivered this insanely gorgeous gallery from Megan & Brock’s engagement session last week annnnd I’m definitely still obsessing over how STUNNING these all turned out!! 🔥🔥🤍🤍

Happy Father’s Day to the world’s greatest Appa! I don’t brag enough about my dad, but this man has dedicated his entire life to educating high schoolers and instilling in them an appreciation for the fine arts, specifically musical theater. A few weeks ago he was among four educators across the entire state of Iowa who received the Impact Award on the Des Moines Civic Center stage. He is the sole reason I have such a passion for theater and the performing arts. After all, my childhood was spent playing on high school stages and picking out epic Halloween costumes from the high school costume shop. My dad has taught high school students in two different states throughout his career and has been singled out and honored as an outstanding theater educator in both of them - a pretty epic & impressive feat! So Happy Father’s Day dad! I love you and am so proud of you!!

You’d think being a photographer would mean I take these milestone portraits of my own kids in a timely manner, but no, that is not the case. Oh well. This sweet baby girl is over NINE MONTHS OLD and I cannot believe how fast it’s gone. I sure do love my crinkly-nosed little babe (see the last pic for all those smiley nose scrunches!!)🥰🥰

I had so much fun getting to know these two last night and WOW the weather could not have been more perfect. ☀️ I am so incredibly excited to celebrate their wedding day this fall!

We had our first strawberry picking experience today! It’s been a busy start to summer, but we finally got our first Bingo square crossed off. And it was DELICIOUS!! 🤤

Happy anniversary to these crazy kids! Their wedding day so SO MUCH FUN and I still maintain that Danni has one of the most beautiful bouquets of all time. 💐 Hope you two are having an amazing day!!

This adorable little lady is officially T W O !! And she absolutely crushed it on her ✌🏻 year old session too. So nice to have you in front of my camera Miss Kaia!

CONTACT UPDATE!
A few months ago I set up a new email address, and it proved to be quite the undertaking that I was not prepared for. Have you ever changed email addresses? It’s a nightmare!! So I put moving everything over and actually using it on the back burner… but now I’m ready (& mentally prepared!) to make the change! So if you want to reach out, do so by emailing [email protected]. I can’t wait to hear from you! ☺️

P.S. Shout out to these love birds for celebrating TWO years of marriage yesterday!!🤍🤍

Summer break is upon us!! Em finished up four year old preschool last Friday and the big kids will be joining her on summer break later this week. ☀️ Every year at the start of break our family always creates (and then typically fails to finish…) a summer bucket list of all the fun things we want to accomplish before school starts. This year we’ve mixed it up by creating a Summer Bingo chart - which, as a 5x5 grid, is the PERFECT size for each of our five kiddos to pick five things to do! We printed a template (thanks Canva!), assigned a color to each kid, and had them choose their five ideas for summer. Then as a bonus (for me!), we will go get ice cream as a family every time we finish a Bingo. 🍦 I’m pretty jazzed up about this idea!! So BRING IT ON SUMMER VACATION!!! We’re ready! ☀️⛵️🏖️🍉🥎⚾️🍦

Does your family do something similar to kick off summer vacation??☀️

Happy FIRST anniversary to Annah & Jerome! I’ll always remember how incredibly joy-filled this day was - these two seriously had THE BIGGEST smiles ALL. DAY. LONG. It was so easy to see how in love they were and how insanely excited they were to finally be married. Definitely a day worth celebrating! Happy anniversary you two!!🤍

Happy Mother’s Day!🤍 So grateful for the big three for first bringing me the joys of parenthood and for two more little girls who call me “Mom.” Motherhood is an amazing gift and I’m so blessed to have these five crazy kids in my life! (Also eagerly awaiting new summer portraits with the whole family now that little Addi has joined us!)