$3,150 starting price
About this vendor
Amanda Basteen
Owner
In business: 1+ years
Team: 1 member
Languages: English
Business: Woman-owned Business
Iowa & Worldwide Weddings and Elopements
Amanda Basteen is an experienced wedding photographer operating out of West Des Moines, Iowa. Over the last decade, this award-winning visual storyteller has traveled the globe capturing incredible events of all shapes and sizes. Passionate and personable, she adores the opportunity to document every special day and will provide you with captivating photos so you can relive yours forever.
A lifelong lover of creativity, Amanda Basteen treats her photos like individual works of art. She knows how quickly your wedding day flies by and will dedicate herself to capturing the moments that matter, from start to finish. Client satisfaction is her number-one priority, and she will provide you above-and-beyond service throughout every stage of your celebration.
As a destination wedding photographer, Amanda Basteen is available to document celebrations throughout the US and beyond. Whatever your photography vision may look like, she will help you bring it to life and have fun doing it. She offers a range of professional services and will assist you in designing the perfect photography package to fit your needs and budget.
Awards
Prices & packages
Photography Package
$3,150 starting price
Photography Package
$3,150 starting price
Contact for hours
Contact for hours
All Day Coverage
All Day Coverage
Online Proofing / Print Ordering
Online Proofing / Print Ordering
Online Slideshow
Online Slideshow
Full Resolution Digital Download of all images
Full Resolution Digital Download of all images
Free engagement session with all hi-res photos in a downloadable online gallery via dropbox
Free engagement session with all hi-res photos in a downloadable online gallery via dropbox
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- Photography Package$3,150 starting pricePhotography Package$3,150 starting priceContact for hoursContact for hoursAll Day CoverageAll Day CoverageOnline Proofing / Print OrderingOnline Proofing / Print OrderingOnline SlideshowOnline SlideshowFull Resolution Digital Download of all imagesFull Resolution Digital Download of all imagesFree engagement session with all hi-res photos in a downloadable online gallery via dropboxFree engagement session with all hi-res photos in a downloadable online gallery via dropbox
Starting prices may not include all fees a vendor may charge. Contact the photographer for customized services and quotes.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Boudoir
- Bridal Portraits
- Engagement
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Drone
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Social Media Sharing
- Wedding Albums
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.089 reviews
Review photos
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Amanda photographed our engagement pictures and our wedding photos. She is nothing short of AMAZING! For not being fans of the camera she made you feel so comfortable and captured so many shots and details that we will never forget! She truly is amazing at her job and you can tell puts her whole heart into her work! We look forward to using her in the future for our family photos!
Amanda recently photographed our wedding day and it was truly one of the best investments we made. She goes above and beyond to create the most incredible shots! We typically feel uncomfortable in front of the camera but Amanda was able to put us at ease throughout the day, helping us to relax and enjoy every moment to the fullest.
One of the most unexpected perks of having Amanda shoot our wedding was her quick turnaround. We had over 80 sneak peak pictures in less than 24 hours and the full gallery back within 5 days! It was so amazing to be able to reminisce on all of the details of the day as we relaxed on the Sunday following the wedding.
I cannot recommend Amanda enough, she is an artist and incredible at what she does.
Amanda is so talented and has plenty of wedding experience to make your day run smoothly! I couldn't imagine our day without her. She kept us on track and knew when and where we needed to be throughout the day. She even helped during the reception between dinner and dancing to keep everything going as it should.
Her communication skills are second to none! Amanda was by far the best communicator I had from any of my vendors. She was so quick to respond and was very helpful from beginning to end!
Amanda's ability to capture our day was just as amazing! We're both pretty awkward people, especially in front of a camera, but Amanda kept us calm and we had a lot of fun running around taking pictures in different places! I got so many compliments on our engagement pictures and am starting to get as many if not more on our wedding pictures!
Amanda Basteen is by far the best photographer that I have had the chance to work with and would recommend her to anyone I know!
Any questions?
I can not stop looking through our photos and have been receiving non-stop compliments about them! Amanda was so quick to respond and did great coaching us through our engagement session as we both felt weird in front of a camera. When it came to the wedding day, we were much looser and she captured so many more photos than I even knew! I wish we could do it again!!! The day was perfect and the photos encapsulate that just how I wanted <3
I've wanted Amanda to be my wedding photographer ever since I was a little girl and saw how stunning the photos are that she captures. Amanda is great with communication and does awesome with taking all the stress away from couples. She is so, so sweet and her turnaround time is unbelievable. Every photo is STUNNING! We can't recommend her enough! ♥
Amanda was truly amazing! We are so happy with how our engagement and wedding photos turned out! We have received so many compliments from people of how stunning they are! Amanda knows all the perfect places for photos and knows how to make you feel comfortable during the process. We couldn’t have been happier with Amanda and our photos! 1000/10 recommend her to anyone for any special day🤩🤩🥰🤍
We cannot say enough great things about Amanda! She is so fun to work with, knows how to make the day flow perfectly and has the best ideas for perfect pictures. We can’t imagine anyone else capturing our special day!
Amanda was amazing to work with. She made us so comfortable and kept us laughing. She captured every detail of our wedding and I could not be more happy with our photos.
I’m am OBSESSED! I had shown Amanda some inspiration images for this session and she delivered! It’s so hard to choose a favorite because they all turned out so good! She is truly amazing at what she does and always makes sure to get your good angles and find the perfect lighting! She was very quick with getting the images back to us and very professional. I could not recommend her enough!
Amanda is very professional and knows how to get “The Shot!” I told her what I wanted and she made it happen. We have soo many amazing pictures we can’t choose a favorite. She is very talented and amazing behind that camera. She was also quick with editing and getting the pictures to us. We had our pictures done and ready to print 3 days after the wedding! I recommend Amanda 100%. Easy to work with, very quick and professional, and pleasant to be around. Go check her Blog out! Her work speaks for herself. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Amanda is amazing at what she does! All of our wedding photos and engagement photos turned out 100x better than I ever could have expected! She is also so kind and easy going and she made our wedding day go so smoothly!
We just got our full gallery and they are nothing short of amazing! When looking for a photographer, my husband couldn’t tell the difference between a lot of photographers photos. Once he saw Amanda’s, he said hers aren’t just photos, they are art! We knew we wanted her, so we messaged her to see when she was open & we chose our date based off of her availability. We trusted her vision the whole day! She went above and beyond the whole day, whether it was just driving us around or moving furniture to get the perfect shot. So many amazing photos to choose from! We will definitely recommend her to anyone for their big day, and we will continue to use her for family photos, etc! So thankful for Amanda!
10/10 on absolutely everything. We could go on and on about how amazing she was by the moments she was able to capture, from her communication, her flexibility with everything. She is by far the best photographer for weddings and really anything, I would back that everyday. Amanda, thank you so much for everything you seriously did more than we could ask for and more. CHOOSE AMANDA BASTEEN PHOTOGRAPHY , you won’t regret it one bit. 💕
Amanda is truly AMAZING! She is so skilled at what she does! She captured our whole day perfectly! Amanda's experience and expertise greatly helped our day go smoothly. Her photos are unbelievably beautiful. We continue to receive compliments on our engagement and wedding photos. Not only is her work fantastic, but her turnaround time was so quick! We had sneak peaks the morning after our wedding and full gallery was received way quicker than I would have ever expected. Highly highly recommend Amanda! She is worth it!
We chose our wedding date based on Amanda’s availability and could not be happier. She is absolutely amazing and had our full gallery back to us SO quickly. The photos show how much fun we had, laughing the majority of the day.
We lucked out with snow on our wedding day and Amanda snuck us outside for some quick shots that are some of my favorites from our wedding.
Amanda is extremely professional, quickly ensuring we had all the photos we wanted and then some. We will be booking Amanda for any future photo needs and highly recommend anyone lucky enough to find a date Amanda is available book her for your wedding.
We were so thrilled with our experience with Amanda. She made taking photos so easy and natural, and we had so many options to choose from. She was so nice and easy to work with, and she got our photos back to us so quickly!
Amanda is a phenomenal photographer and truly the full package! She captured our engagement and wedding photos and I could not recommend her enough!
When searching for a wedding photographer, I knew it was going to be tricky to find someone with a classic editing style in a world of social media where heavy colored filtering is so common/trendy. When I found Amanda on Instagram, I was immediately drawn to her stunning photos. She edits her photos in a way that naturally enhances the original photo and her artistry of capturing candid moments is remarkable especially when you have a fiance who doesn't love posing for photos.
Not only is Amanda the sweetest to work with, but her creativity, experience, efficiency, and customer service truly sets her apart. She is VERY responsive and had sneak peak photos ready in under 24 hours and a full portfolio in just days!!!
We'll forever relive our special day through the photos she captured and I highly recommend her to any future bride!
Amanda is very skilled at her craft! Not only was she willing to drive several hours to a state park where we wanted engagement photos, but she also braved the cold and wind on our wedding day! Her turnaround time is very quick with sneak peaks back the very next day, and she got our full album of photos back to us in less than a week. She’s personable and makes the photography process comfortable. I would recommend Amanda for any of your photography needs!
10/10 would recommend. When my makeup artist cancelled the day of, she helped me put my eyelashes on and made me feel relaxed and supported throughout the day. We got sneak peaks the next morning and they’re incredible. If there’s one vendor you want to splurge a bit on, it’s your photographer. Amanda was worth every penny and so much more.
One of the best investments of our wedding! If you're getting married contact her asap to book, you won't regret it. Amanda was amazing to work with and it all starts from engagement photos all the way up through editing and finalizing our wedding day photos. She is personable and has amazing ideas for photos. She is also great at a quick delivery of photos so we can enjoy them with our family and friends.
We loved working with Amanda for our engagement and wedding photos! She is so fun to work with and made us feel comfortable in front of the camera. She captured the most beautiful moments from our big day and we couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out! We had sneak peaks from our engagement session and wedding the next day and ALL pictures back within a week which was fantastic! Highly recommend working with Amanda if you want your special day captured perfectly! 😊
Hands down the best photographer ever! She makes it fun and not awkward. She's also super quick at getting the photos taken and just as fast at getting them edited and sent back to you! She is super easy to work with, listens to her clients, and is there with you the whole time. I asked for specific shots during my wedding, and she nailed it! She was open to any ideas and requests we had and didn't hesitate to get them done for us. Our wedding day was the hottest day of the year, but we still had to get a few shots outside. She was quick at getting us out of the heat and made us look better than we felt in the heat. I 100% recommend her to anyone who plans to get photos done. She never disappoints! Thank you, Amanda, for helping us make our day magical and giving us the most amazing and gorgeous pictures we could have ever asked for! 💜
Amanda is amazing she really makes you feel comfortable in front of the camera, and I can't say enough about how quickly she gets photos to you and the absolute beautiful photos that she takes!
Choosing Amanda as our wedding photographer was one of the best decisions we made! Not only is her work amazing but she is truly great to be around, gets photos done quickly and had a sneak peak done the very next day and all the photos edited within a few days and they were perfect! She captured every moment and my guests were beyond impressed with her! A bonus for taking her along to Punta Cana with us is she shot a sunrise photo shoot for us and they were gorgeous! You will not regret booking her for your wedding or special event!!
I always dreamed of having Amanda as my wedding photographer since I met her in 2009. Fast forward 14 years and that dream came true!
Amanda is so relaxed and does a wonderful job at making you feel comfortable. I was worried about being awkward having photos taken but she provided reassurance that how I was feeling was common and lessened the stress. In result, we had so much fun. Between our engagement photos and wedding photos, we frequently talk about how those experiences and working with Amanda were our top favorite moments from our wedding. We had so much fun. We felt beautiful and confident and fully trusted Amanda’s vision. We look at our photos all the time and are so happy with them. Would recommend her 100%, always. 💛
Where to begin! Amanda was such a blessing to our wedding day, with all the chaos going on, she showed up & took over, doing what she is great at, creating magic. She thought of all the little things & got pictures of all of our decor (when I thought we had forgotten to).
We had a large venue with many different opportunities to take pictures at & she came up with ideas right away, wasting no time & getting us amazing pictures. She advised the best spots for pictures so we could get the best pictures & wow, they turned out amazing.
And the most amazing thing - we got ALL of our photos back within a week - all of my bridal party could not believe how fast we got our photos - and they were very beautiful 🤍
We could not have asked for a better photographer fit for us on our wedding day. She is amazing & we are so thankful for her & all of the magic she helped us create🤍
We booked Amanda as soon as we saw her work. We looked no further. I can't get over our wedding pictures! I keep looking at them. She is so quick with having poses lined up that there is no wasted time, which is perfect during the wedding day. She is so professional but fun at the same time. I am not very photogenic but she made me look good in every picture. Highly, highly recommend!!!
Amanda was a dream come true for my husband and I not only on our wedding day, but all throughout our engagement as well. We had two engagement sessions, a boudoir session, as well as our entire wedding day. Amanda was so good at making us feel comfortable in front of the camera which lead to the most authentic, romantic photos we could have asked for. As a plus size bride, it was critical that I find vendors (especially a photographer) who did not inadvertently discriminate based on my size. Amanda treated me like every other bride that has acquired her services and for that I will be forever grateful. Photos are the most precious memories one will have of their wedding day and I cannot thank Amanda enough for giving us these mementos that we will cherish forever. When you book Amanda as your photographer, you’ll come away with a friend.
Amanda was the perfect photographer for our wedding! I knew from the minute I saw her work at a friend's wedding she was exactly who I wanted for my own! Our pictures are so romantic and she did an excellent job at making us feel so comfortable and relaxed. The weather the day of our wedding was not ideal but that did not stop Amanda from getting great shots! She has such a creative eye. Our wedding party and family commented on how efficient she was which they all appreciated! We were able to capture all our our special moments and feel present in our day. Amanda got our pictures back to us extremely fast! We loved everything about having Amanda as our photographer!
We cannot recommend Amanda enough! My husband and I were initially anxious about taking such significant photos, but she made us feel relaxed, comfortable, and beautiful. We are thrilled that our love was captured so well in photos that will last a lifetime. I have admired Amanda’s work for awhile now and I am happy that we got her as a photographer. Having amanda as your photographer is definitely worth the investment! I’m addition, the photos were received in less than a week which is another major perk! We appreciate her so much. 💗
We are so glad we were able to work with Amanda for out engagement and wedding photos. Not only does she capture the most amazing images ever, she is also one of the kindest, funniest, most professional people we have ever worked with. She went above and beyond to guide us and make us feel comfortable throughout the day. We can’t wait to work with her again!
Amanda is SO easy to work with and her work is absolutely mind blowing! She has such a creative eye and every photo looks like it could've come out of a magazine! Wedding photography is a big investment and my husband and I are so glad we chose Amanda. Worth every penny. The day goes by so fast and she captures details you didn't even realized you missed, so fun looking back on the wedding day. Not to mention the turn around time is fast! No waiting months for your photos. I think we've found our forever photographer and am excited to have her take more of our photos along the way 🥰 Photography is one thing I highly recommend putting a little extra towards in your wedding budget, photos last a lifetime❤
When my partner and I got engaged, the one thing I wanted to invest on for our wedding was our photographer. I scrolled through countless hashtags on Instagram; every time I clicked on a photo I loved, it ALWAYS brought me back to Amanda's page. That's when I knew I wanted her to be the one capturing our wedding. I reached out to her and she replied so quickly! Any time I had questions, she responded within hours! If communication is important to you, you won't have to worry about that with Amanda. I had inquired about a date, and she confirmed it was the last date open of that month (I think it was meant to be). Keep in mind, we haven't booked our venue yet! At that time, we were short on the required deposit, but Amanda worked with us and we were able to book her. I was so thankful for that. I knew we had made the right choice. Amanda did our engagements photos and it turned out perfect. We're not very comfortable in front of the camera, but you can't even tell in our pictures! Amanda made everything so easy, she told us how to pose and what to do. The next day, we received our engagement photos. I was SHOCKED at how fast she got it done! They were all gorgeous and I couldn't stop looking at them.
On the day of our wedding, Amanda was not only our photographer, but she was our coordinator too. The coordinator I had booked ended up with Covid and couldn't make it, but Amanda basically took over that job, and we didn't even ask her to (tearing up as I type this). She made sure everything was going as scheduled, and we actually were ahead of schedule. She made suggestions to start our reception early, and I'm so glad we did. Because of this, we were able to take the most beautiful sunset pictures!! I can't forget about her toughing out all the bugs with us. The next day, she provided us sneak peeks and again, I could not stop staring at them.
I won't go into much detail on how talented Amanda is - her work speaks for itself. If I could give more than a 5 star, I would.
Amanda, I don't know how to thank you enough. You made our day so incredibly stress-free and amazing, and I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures. I already know they're going to be PERFECT. (I'll probably write another review after we get them, haha!)
Wow!! We booked Amanda for our engagement/ wedding day and it was the best thing we did!! Amanda is very talented and has the best eye for capturing the most perfect photos. On top of her amazing work and gorgeous photos, she is so fun to work with!! We were so nervous for our engagement session, as we don’t take a ton of pictures together, but the hour flew by and she made us feel so comfortable and made the experiment so fun and personable. We couldn’t wait to see her again for our wedding day! She responded within hours to any questions we had and helped me with my wedding timeline, which was more than I could have asked for! With both our engagement session and wedding she was quick to have everything edited and on her blog within a few days! If you need a good, professional photographer that makes your big day feel so fun, comfortable and exciting then Amanda is your girl!! We were so fortunate to have her and have received so many compliments ❤️
Amanda was truly incredible on our wedding day. She was simply the best! We felt like she captured our true selves all day, encouraged emotion and totally let us have fun too. And can we talk about how efficient she is- from our couple pictures to bridal party to the big family pictures and to somehow magically getting our sneak peaks back to us the morning after! We couldn’t recommend Amanda more for any special event. Her pictures are always incredible. We can’t wait to do Minis with her in the future :)
Looking for a photographer that makes your already awkward poses look natural and beautiful? Looking for someone who is flexible, fast to respond, and has the artistic eye to capture your most important days? Amanda is 10000% your girl!!! She made what I thought was going to be the most stressful day (our wedding) something that an anxiety ridden girl like myself would look back and laugh at with the knowledge of how seamless Amanda made it! She is fun, personable, and made our wedding day experience absolutely wonderful. Highly recommend to anyone who is nervous in front of the camera or is not the most photogenic - she definitely catches your good angles and makes you look like a natural. I can say from personal experience 😉
Professional, wonderful and timely. What more could you ask for?
I’m telling you now, book her. I don’t ever leave messaged reviews, but Amanda Basteen Photography deserves more than 5 stars. We were lucky and booked with Amanda for our wedding last weekend at Harpors Vineyard. A week later we have our full gallery, and I want EVERY single photo to hang in my house. To say the photos are incredible is an understatement. Not only that, to work with her is beyond amazing. I cannot say enough about Amanda and her work. If you’re going to trust any review, trust this one.
I am so happy that we had Amanda to take both our engagement and wedding photos. Just tell her what you want, and she will do it - we wanted lanterns in our engagement photos but she had the idea of taking them in a wild flower field, and they turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Definitely a true artist behind the camera. The best qualities about Amanda though are her punctuality and her personality. She is quick to respond to emails and messages and got our FULL wedding gallery to us just a few days after the wedding. And her personality is helpful and fun and kind-spirited. She did well at capturing difficult family photos and is willing to fix them to make them perfect after the fact as well. We just love the way that she captured our day in such a way that we can always remember the true love and beauty of the day. We definitely recommend Amanda Basteen Photography!
Amanda is so fun to work with and is an amazing photographer!! She is so quick to respond to any and all questions you have and gets all of your pictures back to you within just a few days!! She even sends some sneak peaks while she is working on your full gallery which I absolutely loved. Amanda took both our engagement and wedding photos and captured both so beautifully. I was so excited that she was available on our wedding day and absolutely love all of our photos! I can’t recommend her enough!!
If you want someone to capture your wedding day in a way that you’ll remember it for a lifetime, Amanda is your girl! From day one Amanda got to know my husband and I and get a real good feel of who we are as a couple. You can tell by the way she captured our story through her photos. We are so grateful for her amazing work and kindness through this past year. We look forward to getting to work with her in the future!
If you are debating on whether or not to book Amanda as your wedding photographer.... don't hesitate and BOOK her! (I literally booked my wedding based on her availability as her portfolio is outstanding)
I should clarify, I usually never write reviews unless someone goes above and beyond. Amanda exceeded my expectations. She is amazing photographer, I highly recommend going to her Instagram page or website to see her work as it speaks for itself.
Not only is her work outstanding she is a great communicator. She answered all of my questions, and is easy to get ahold of. She has done a lot wedding. I didn't stress at all or worry if I would get good quality pictures. I knew my wedding was in great hands with Amanda as our wedding photographer.
Another added bonus with booking Amanda is she gets your wedding and engagement photos to you in a short timeframe vs other photographers will keep you in suspense and wait forever. Amanda works countless hours and gets them back to you, in a timely matter. Plus you get all of your photos vs other companies charge you per photo!
When I got my photos back I was blown away by all the photos and loved each and every one. It brought tears of happiness to my eyes reflecting on the day.
I hope this review helps making your decision easier, you won't be disappointed. Message Amanda and you'll be glad you did. I am sure thankful I did!
Andrea Blumenthal
Amanda was such a pleasure to work with and is an outstanding photographer!!! She is so talented. We absolutely love our photos from our engagement shoot and from our wedding day that she captured and sent to us in such a timely manner! Her work is phenomenal and she is so fun to work with, as well. We cannot say enough great things about her and highly recommend her!!!!
We absolutely loved working with Amanda for our engagement and wedding photos! She responds super quickly and you can tell she has loads of experience. She provides a great 'Photo Guide' ahead of time for you to understand the process and get tips on what to wear/do. For our engagement, it was 90 degrees out, but looking at the pictures you couldn't even tell we were sweating to death! She has a knack for making everything look natural. For our wedding, she was punctual and knew all the photos she would need to take of everything to give us a great photo suite! She made everything stress free for the big day, and got our photos back very quickly! She even got some awesome golden hour photos at the end of everything. Picking out my favorite photos is the hard part, there are sooo many amazing ones to choose from. You can't go wrong booking with Amanda, she is awesome!
Amanda did both our engagement and wedding photos and they are both amazing. We had terrible windy weather on our wedding day that made taking pictures seem impossible, but Amanda worked her magic and captured the most beautiful pictures. Looking through our gallery brought me to (happy) tears. I am so happy that we chose to go through Amanda and will definitely being photo shoots with her again in the future!
5 years ago today Amanda was our wedding photographer!! She is such an amazing person and takes the most incredible photos! We have continued to use Amanda over the years for our maternity photos and just a couple days ago she did our family photo shoot in the blooms! We absolutely love her and know she is not only amazing when it comes to your wedding day she can capture beautiful milestones throughout your life and with your growing family!
I knew I wanted Amanda as our engagement and wedding photographer when I saw photos she did of a friend's engagement. I had been following her work for awhile and convinced my fiance we needed to fly her out to Arizona for our wedding. It was the best decision we could have made! The photos are even more beautiful than I could have imagined. Amanda did SUCH an amazing job. She captured every moment so perfectly, always had the most flattering light and angles and directed us through it every step of the way. Our photos are stunning, unbelievable actually. Amanda is the best! Don't settle for anything less!
Every so often you are lucky enough to work with someone who is a master of their craft - Amanda Basteen is that person. Kelly and I can't say enough good things about the quality of her work and her ability to capture the moment to perfection. After doing our engagement photos with Amanda, we already knew how good she was. She didn't disappoint on our wedding day. We came into our big day with peace of mind that our photos would come out perfectly. Amanda gave us a collection of photos that we will cherish for many years. Thank you Amanda!
WOW! What an incredible experience we had working with Amanda!! First of all, like many other couples trying to plan a wedding during the pandemic, we had to reschedule our wedding date. She was always accommodating and very understanding, which I appreciated so much! I would never agree to a new wedding date until Amanda confirmed she was available. Almost as important as my groom, I wasn't getting married without her!! We whisked her away to our Cabo, Mexico wedding venue and I wish I could describe exactly how perfect everything was, every step of the way! She went above and beyond to make sure we got every shot we wanted. Her creativity is unmatched. Her willingness to explore and adventure is next level! Not only did she capture our special day perfectly, but she also fit in like family! It was like having an extra best friend along for the ride!
Another thing I witnessed first hand is her excitement and passion for the job. We would finish shooting a session and she wanted to get the sneak peaks to us and on social media, almost immediately following! The quick turn around time for getting photos back to her clients is almost unheard of. (Trust me. Ive worked with other photographers that have a 6 week turn around time) She works quickly and efficiently and when you're extremely excited to see the photos, these things matter!
You will not find another photographer as amazing, creative, sweet and as fun as Amanda! She is stuck with us, for life!
Going on 4 years as a wedding videographer in Iowa I have worked along side Amanda many many times. Amanda is one of the most passionate and down to earth people I have had the pleasure of working with. I particularly like how Amanda makes all of her couples feel comfortable in front of the camera, which is no easy task! When you hire Amanda, be prepared to have a new best (photographer) friend, because for her it's more than just wedding photos, it's the connection she makes with all of her amazing clients.
Amanda is the one you want! I specifically arrange my schedule around her. There is no better feeling than knowing without a doubt that your photos are going to be incredible. She is super friendly, fun and takes the time to make sure you get the very best. She’s also very timely and you get your photos back quickly. If you’re looking for a photographer to entrust with capturing all of your special milestones, Amanda Basteen is hands down who you want to hire. You won’t regret it.
I am an event planner, and hire vendors as a career. I am also very type A and like to exhaust all options before making a decision...and doing that for a photographer is HARD. After reviewing (literally) hundreds of photos and chatting with a hand full of photographers, my eyes kept going back to Amanda's portfolio. Her photography has a warmth to it that stood above every other photographers, and I knew it was what I wanted. Even my husband said before and still says her photography is completely different from any one else.
Amanda was ALWAYS very responsive in every correspondence. If she was going to be delayed, for any reason, she would let me know in advance, "I am going to be on a plane".
Amanda entertained all of my crazy requests, and gave me suggestions that I would have never thought of. Although Amanda doesn't love cold weather, she took some amazing engagement photos on a windy wintery cold day in several inches of snow.
Amanda ultimately made sure I got every photo I wanted and many I didn't know I wanted.
On my wedding day, I looked to her to guide us through the day as she is the professional! She was calm, fun, rolled with everything! I thought I would be super uncomfortable having someone photograph me in emotional situations, and honestly, I often times didn't even realize she was around.
I loved that she was able to provide a few sneak peaks the following day. She turned the final product around SO fast! She was able to help me get the images on thumb drives when I was experiencing issues.
Everything about Amanda was worth every penny spent. Photos will be around FOREVER, do not settle on someone you might be disappointed in.
All I need to say is I booked my wedding date around Amanda’s availability. She is not only unbelievably talented, she is one of the kindest humans I’ve met. I am someone who does not like pictures of myself and because of her you would never know. As if she hadn’t impressed me enough, she had my entire wedding album edited and back to us 3 days later. Amanda has been apart of some of my life’s biggest milestones and that won’t be changing anytime soon!
Amanda is truly the best photographer we personally know! She’s so professional, timely, informative, sweet, caring, and captures every moment you can imagine and so so much more! I contacted her almost 2 years ago after seeing her gorgeous photos on Facebook and I told her as soon as I got engaged she would be our photographer! We scheduled our wedding date around her because I wasn’t going to give her up! Thank you so much Amanda for capturing our AMAZING engagement and now AMAZING wedding photos! You are so special to us! I’ll refer you to anyone and everyone because you truly are the BEST! ♥️🙏🏼
Amanda was the perfect person to hire as our wedding photographer. We eloped to Yosemite national park a few weeks ago. She made planning the trip easier and helped answer any questions we had. Our engagement session we had a few months prior with her proved that our decision to hire her for our elopement was perfect. Our trip out there with her by our side for three days was amazing. She is so personable, works around your schedule, and wants to make your vision come alive. She was so professional and fun, we can come away from our wedding thinking we even made a friend. That’s exactly what you want for your wedding! Someone you can be comfortable with, who you can trust, who listens, and is nice as can be.. Finally but not least, her work and talent is impeccable. It’s almost impossible to pick the photos we want to print. She is incredible! She puts all her love and energy into her photography and it shines bright!
Amanda was the photographer at a recent wedding I was in and she was amazing! So professional, understanding of family dynamics, and creative with her shots and ways to get smiles from people. Her turnaround time was very fast and the images are ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!! I genuinely wish I had seen Amanda's work before my own wedding because the end product is incredible.
Amanda was both our engagement and wedding photographer. It's no secret that both my now-husband and I were not looking forward to the pictures: He detests pictures and I was/am self-conscious. With that in mind, I can tell you that Amanda is worth everything you invest in her. Her talent, work ethic, skill, patience, ideas -- all of it -- guarantee an amazing outcome. Not only are WE obsessed with our pictures, everyone who attended our wedding and are in the pictures are obsessed with them and everyone who couldn't attend are also obsessed. Trust her wholeheartedly and you will not go wrong. Thank you, Amanda, for everything. We're so grateful you shared your talents with us and that we have these amazing pictures of our special day for the rest of our lives!
Amanda did an amazing job at by September wedding! Amanda is very experienced, so she did a great job managing the timeline for our photos. I was stressed because I wasn't ready when I thought I would be, but she reassured me, and we got amazing photos! While Amanda takes beautiful and unique photos, one of my favorite things was that she was able to capture the love my husband and I have for each other. We will be able to cherish these photos forever!
Amanda was AMAZING to work with. ❤We hired her to do our wedding and couldn't have asked for a better photographer to capture our day. My husband and I are not big fans of having our photos taken but she made us feel super comfortable in front of the camera. She was one of my favorite vendors from my wedding. Book with her -- you won't regret it!
Amanda photographed our engagement session and our wedding in July and hiring her was the BEST decision we made. I was first drawn to her portfolio of picture after picture of stunning photos - I mean Art. Meeting her for the first time at our engagement session I was so nervous as I’ve never been photographed professionally before and felt like I was going to be the most awkward person ever and I was sure our photos would not look as natural as I saw in her portfolio - that was not the case - Amanda makes you feel confident and comfortable and I instantly just trusted her vision and ideas (thank goodness because the photos are amazing and natural and I felt beautiful). Fast forward to the wedding day - she captured everything I wanted and more! She went above and beyond my expectations. If I wanted to do something or get something captured but couldn’t visualize how to do it - she had the solution. Our day was amazing and I know she was a big part of that. Then a week or so goes by and we get the pictures - wow - I couldn’t believe it - she captured everything! Looking at the pictures I can relive each magical moment. Amanda captured memories for us to cherish for a lifetime. I can’t wait to work with her again for other events!
Amanda photographed our wedding on June 19th of this year and what a treat working with her was! I was the pickiest about hiring a photographer for the wedding, being that there's a wide variety of skill levels and different styles out there. I hired Amanda because I think she takes the most creative photos and uses light in a beautiful way and I was not disappointed! The photos of our wedding are absolutely beautiful (even having been taken in the middle of the day) and she was great to work with. Amanda clearly has years of experience with photography and has great suggestions for poses that make the photos look natural, but she's also great about capturing exactly what you want and going with the flow. Everyone in my family and wedding party was also thoroughly impressed with her work.
If you are looking for someone with talent and experience I highly recommend you hire Amanda for your wedding and engagement photos!
A picture is worth a thousand words, but Amanda’s might be worth a million. It is so hard to put in to words what the pictures from our engagement session and wedding mean to us- no one could capture our day better than she did! We were given sneak peeks of both of our sessions within 24 hours and our whole album in less than a week! She was so helpful in planning our timeline and making our wedding day flow smoothly. I cannot recommend Amanda enough!
Amanda came highly recommended from my brother and sister-in-law, who are both Des Moines area photographers. Amanda did our engagement pictures as well as our wedding photos. She was amazing to work with. She has a way of making you feel very comfortable while she is working with you. Normally, I don’t enjoy photo shoots but Amanda was able to make me feel at ease and natural while capturing our day. She was quick to get us our photos (both engagement and wedding photos were delivered to us within 5 days)! She was even great to work with when we had to reschedule our wedding and having to move our wedding venue because of COVID. We would highly recommend Amanda to anyone looking for a wedding photographer!
Amanda made all of my wedding picture dreams come true! After seeing her work we fell in love and knew we needed her as our wedding photographer. We took fall engagement photos and had planned a Jamaica destination wedding, but then Covid-19 happened. Amanda was able to work with us to reschedule our wedding. She even helped give ideas for picking a new location. After a couple different location changes we ended up eloping with a few family members to Gulf Shores, AL. Due to having a small group at our wedding my (now) husband and I had a day full of photos. Amanda captured everything and helped the schedule of the day run smoothly. Amanda was amazing at communicating throughout the planning process, capturing our love, fitting perfectly into our group, and the pictures turned out better than I even could have dreamed of. With Amanda you truly get what you pay for! She had so many photos and had to travel, but got us sneak peaks right away and we got all of our photos back within a week. I’m blown away by her passion, dedication, and hard work she puts in. I will never be able to thank her enough for everything and these pictures will be shared for years and years to come.
I couldn't physically put into words how amazing, talented, and wonderful Amanda is, but I am going to try. I have always been a huge fan of her work but was unable to hire her for my wedding due to a scheduling conflict. I hired another photographer for my day, and severally regretted it the second my sneak peeks came back. I was devastated on a level I hope no bride ever experiences, so learn from my mistake and change your wedding date so you can have Amanda. It will be the best decision you ever make.
Thankfully, Amanda graciously agreed to reshoot our wedding pictures and I am so grateful she did. She helped me come up with a plan for the shoot, listen to all my ideas, needs, and wants for my pictures, and kindly talked me through my unrealistic expectations of 10 locations in 2 hours (honestly, she probably would have done it if I insisted, since she is just that wonderful). She was so sweet and kind throughout the whole process and the photoshoot. She got every image I could ever want, and she also grabbed some of the most beautiful candid pictures I have ever seen. She made me feel so comfortable when my husband and I are generally kinda awkward to pose. She also rolled with it with the best attitude when my husband was kinda being a pain after two hours of shooting pictures all over Des Moines.
I couldn't physically put into words how amazing, talented, and wonderful Amanda is, but I am going to try. I have always been a huge fan of her work but was unable to hire her for my wedding due to a scheduling conflict. I hired another photographer for my day, and severally regretted it the second my sneak peeks came back. I was devastated on a level I hope no bride ever experiences, so learn from my mistake and change your wedding date so you can have Amanda. It will be the best decision you ever make.
Thankfully, Amanda graciously agreed to reshoot our wedding pictures and I am so grateful she did. She helped me come up with a plan for the shoot, listen to all my ideas, needs, and wants for my pictures, and kindly talked me through my unrealistic expectations of 10 locations in 2 hours (honestly, she probably would have done it if I insisted, since she is just that wonderful). She was so sweet and kind throughout the whole process and the photoshoot. She got every image I could ever want, and she also grabbed some of the most beautiful candid pictures I have ever seen. She made me feel so comfortable when my husband and I are generally kinda awkward to pose. She also rolled with it with the best attitude when my husband was kinda being a pain after two hours of shooting pictures all over Des Moines.
The two hours running around downtown with Amanda snapping my new wedding pictures will go down as one of the best days of my life. I wish I could post all my pictures here to show everyone, but posting 118 of my favorites is slightly insane. Here are a few of my favorites that show off just how talented and creative Amanda is.
I told my husband before we got married the only reason I wanted to get married was so Amanda could do our photography. She has been incredible, we were definitely difficult customers needing to reschedule a few times due to weather and other issues and she was amazing throughout all of it. When we finally got together for photos she was all we hoped for and more, she made everything feel so natural and fun. She was incredible with our daughter and found perfect places to take photos. The way they turned out was nothing short of breathtaking, even my husband who hates taking pictures enjoyed the session and loves the photos. I would recommend her to absolutely ANYONE that needs an amazing photographer. I will totally book her again for my next husband 😆
We could not have asked for a better photographer for our engagement session! From the very beginning, Amanda was super easy to communicate with and responds to emails so quickly. My fiancé and I aren’t the biggest fans of getting our picture taken and usually end up taking awkward photos, but Amanda made us feel very comfortable and captured our love so beautifully and naturally!! She even got our crazy chocolate lab to smile big at the camera!
Our photos turned out so perfect; I could not be happier!!
She even did all the editing in ONE day, and sent us the link to our hundreds of photos the very next night! Just incredible!!
We are so incredibly thrilled with our wedding pictures! We have received so many compliments not only on how beautiful the pictures are, but also about how efficient she was as a photographer. She knows exactly what she needs you to do to get the best shots, and quickly clicks away so you can enjoy your day.
As for the pictures, they are stunning! Every year when we reminisce on our wedding day and look through these photos, we will be grateful that we were able to book Amanda for our big day.
Before I was even engaged I knew that we would HAVE to have Amanda for our photographer. We even picked our wedding date around her availability, because we could not celebrate our special day without her. We took both our engagement pictures and wedding photos with Amanda, and both times we were equally blown away with the way that she captured these special moments.
We had Amanda travel to Kansas City to capture our special day, and many KC photographers mentioned how incredible she was, and how they understood why we went with her over anyone local!
I work in the wedding industry and see wedding photos every week, but none ever compare to what Amanda captures with her couples. Amanda blows me away with every couple she captures, as her work is always so different, but equally as incredible couple to couple!
I could never say enough amazing things about Amanda and her work!! If you do one thing for your special day, it's book Amanda ASAP!!!!
XOXO
Amanda was my top choice for photographing our wedding and was so happy we were able to book her! Her work speaks for itself. She does such a beautiful job! We received so many compliments on our photos. She was also so easy to work with and very communicative. I can’t recommend her enough!
I had been following Amanda’s photography for years before I ever thought I’d be getting married. Her photography is like artwork and everything that you’d search Pinterest for. We changed our date just to get her and it was by far the best expense for the whole wedding. At one point I think I told her that I felt like we owed her more money because of how insanely amazing our engagement photos were!
Amanda is simply extraordinary!!!
We had Amanda shoot our engagement pictures last Fall and were in awe of her talent and how comfortable we were working with her, we just had to have her for our wedding day too. She is so much more than a photographer on your wedding day, from constantly fixing my dress and veil to being so supportive, encouraging, and positive, there is no one else I could have imagined to be with us on our special day. She captured our love in the most magical way. She is organized, yet laid back and easy going, always willing to do whatever it takes to get the perfect shot. Amanda also worked so well with our family and friends on our wedding day, directing people where to stand and what to do to make sure we had exceptional photographs. Looking through the pictures, we feel like we are reliving the day all over again. Trust me when I tell you, having Amanda capture your special day will be the best thing you could have done for your wedding. We can't wait to work with her in the future again.
Amanda went above and beyond for us! We love every single one of our images so much. She's 10/10! You truly won't regret hiring her. The ease she puts you at while photographing you is just amazing. She truly captures peoples lives and love so well!
If you’re still looking for a photographer for your wedding, look no further! I had no idea what to look for when we started the search for a photographer for our wedding, but the second I saw the photos on Amanda’s site I knew I wanted her to be the one to capture our wedding day. From the very beginning it was obvious she would do whatever it took to get the photos we were hoping for. She rescheduled our engagement 3 times over 3 months when the forecast didn’t show sun or the flowers hadn’t started blooming because she was dedicated to getting us the best photos possible no matter what it did to her schedule. When our wedding venue went bankrupt she was so supportive and open to changing the plan to accommodate what we needed as we adapted our plans. On our wedding day she was flexible and adapted to each and every request. She was creative and had so many ideas for two people who don’t like getting their photos taken and had no creative ideas for what we wanted for our day. The pictures were edited so quickly and there are SO MANY. We instantly fell in love with all of the choices and will have the best memories to look back on for years to come. You will get everything you hoped for and more if you choose this gorgeous human to take your photos!
Amanda was our photographer for our engagement session and wedding day - she is the best decision we ever made! It is difficult to put into words how talented Amanda is and how thankful we are for her capturing our special day! First, she is extremely easy to communicate with which is so important when planning a wedding. Like many couples, Eric and I are not used to taking many photos together; and could say we are usually a little uncomfortable in front of the camera. However, Amanda has such a calming and fun presence that any fears in front of the camera completely disappear! She is great at giving directions and finding beautiful light/angles/non-traditional photo locations that is such a gift and is shown through her beautiful photos. Because of this, I knew no matter where we got married or what the weather was like, she would capture beautiful photos that we would cherish forever. For both our engagement photos and wedding photos we received sneak peeks within 24 hours and had our entire galleries completed within a few days. If you are looking for a photographer to capture engagements, weddings, elopements, family photos, etc look no further - Amanda is the photographer for you! We cannot wait to work with her again in the future.